Big Black tail Buck Habits???

[Birddogman]

The Blacktail bucks in my back yard (North Bellingham area) go completely nocturnal during the hunting season.  Although, during the rut i have seen nice bucks 4x4 plus chasing does up Hannegan (a major road up here) with no care to cars.  So if you shoot a bow you have the best shot at killing a blacktail.  As people mentioned patterning, trail cams and finding rubs.  All of that is what I look for and what I'll do is set the tree stand up and away from that rub knowing I may only get a late evening shot.  The higher you go in the mountains the aspects change.  Not as nocturnal, but their range is larger and pattern is not always the same .  Blacktail are not as predictable as a whitetail and won't give you a second shot like a mulie, they are the hardest deer to hunt in my opinion.

[jess]

as soon as a big blacktail looses his velvet he turns in to a ghost until the last few days of october when he starts lookin for doe's thats the time to get a buck like that... Also urban blacktails move more than you think up to a few miles for the best food cover and doe's... I know lots of guys who hunt rifle deer season with a bow for this last week in october after these urban bucks...

[Kowsrule30]

They will sit there while you walk by.... Then follow you to see what you do so it knows for next time.....

[blacktailcody]

Around here the park is the best habitat.

[trophyelk6x6]

by the time hunting comes they are nocturnal. Summer and spring just tease us. They are the toughest to kill, record book BT's that is.  The rest of the country doesnt know that. They all go to southern oregon or Cali to kill what they call BT's in the big open meadows and bedding down below the big oak trees.    Tree stand for your one week per year during the real rut if you can figure it out in your area then you have a chance. Get into the timber where they are active more than a couple hours per day.

[Jordanskylery]

I know it is hard to give an exact date for the black tail rut but if you were to describe the general time when would it be?

Also when do they typically shed the velvet?

 I haven't seen the big buck in those photos for several weeks however, I have a Glendel buck target to practice my shots with a realistic target, I set it up for the first times twice on Saturday and both times in the same day he made a presence to see what was going on and just stood around checking it out even while I was shooting the bow at it!!!  Also I noticed a large amount of brush hanging off his antlers....

does this mean he is starting to try to rub off the velvet?

[Jordanskylery]

So when in general is the black tail rut? 

when do they start shedding velvet?

One other thing... when does antler growth usually stop? Does it end when they start to rub the velvet?

How much can the antlers grow per week or two?