Blacktail question?

[300rum]

Here is my  .  I look back at my notes, about 20 years worth and just like in town the monsters start to come out around Halloween.  The bigger bucks necks swell up earlier, stink, etc. then the young bucks do.  I always consider Halloween the time where the bigger bucks start letting their guard down and come out earlier and stay latter etc.  On the Monday before Thanksgiving two years ago I watched a very nice 4-point  breed a doe multiple, multiple times.  There were 3 other bucks, one that was pretty nice himself watching, the bigger buck would chase the doe around a bush in a circle for about 5 minutes sometimes, she would stop and he would do his thing and he would go lay down (and have a cig) and she would go bed down in another place about 50 yards away.  He would get back up about 20-30 minutes latter and the whole thing would start over again, this took place for probably 4-5 hours.  It is the only time that I have seen a buck actively breed a doe.  I would have tried to put a sneak since the two were preoccupied but I was worried the other bucks would bust me.  I don't know if this would be the "second rut" or not.

[buckhorn2]

Seems to me the rut is somehow tied into the game department where I live on the coast you usually see the biggest deer that are really in the rut right in elk season

[BlackTail]

I'm with 300rum and buckhorn2.  Where I am (the coast) seems like things start happening around the end of October and I, without fail, see the biggest buck of the year during elk season.  Haven't hunted the late season over here the last few years but I know that can be productive too.  A mature Blacktail is one of the toughest animals to hunt, in my opinion.  They are tough to pattern and with a little pressure can turn entirely nocturnal.  They may spend their whole lives in a small area and they know every trail in and out.  They can hold tighter than a pheasant and let you walk right by them or they can sneak out the back before you ever knew they were there.  I've seen a buck belly crawling through knee-high grass so as not to be spotted (darndest thing I've ever seen). 

Scouting early while the bucks are in velvet is extremely helpful.  In my experience once their horns get hard the big bucks get scarce.  I see less and less of them, but if I've spotted them during July and August I know they are around.  I like to glass clearcuts at first and last light and still hunt big timber during the day.  I especially like timber that I can see into a creek bottom that has good cover or timber that butts up to some reprod.  Lots of times I like to find a good spot in the timber where I can see some well used trails and just sit for as long as I can.  It can be slow at times but it's how I've had my best luck hunting these ghosts! Good luck!

[300rum]

  I've seen a buck belly crawling through knee-high grass so as not to be spotted (darndest thing I've ever seen). 

I thought I was the only one!  Saw that once my self.  The buck was on the other side of a bush from me, maybe 20 or 30 feet, not yards.  I was waiting for him to come out the other side, when he didn't I looked on the other side of the bush and he was crawling out the other way.  We saw each other about the same time and I missed as he boogied out.

[bucklucky]

Mid august about 7 years ago I was checking a stand of timber I usually hunt. About 50 yards aeay there stood a deer, looked like a doe until I realized the horns were way wider than I am used to seeing, he was about 23-24 wide and just a big 3 point. Told my girlfreind at the time to watch that buck I wanted to get a closer look . That I walked almost straight to him but had a little clump of brush I had to go around. He disapeared , I kept going right to where he stood and nothing. This is a flat wide open peice o ftimber with 2 ft tall ferns. The only thing he could have done was crawl away!

[300rum]

Mid august about 7 years ago I was checking a stand of timber I usually hunt. About 50 yards aeay there stood a deer, looked like a doe until I realized the horns were way wider than I am used to seeing, he was about 23-24 wide and just a big 3 point. Told my girlfreind at the time to watch that buck I wanted to get a closer look . That I walked almost straight to him but had a little clump of brush I had to go around. He disapeared , I kept going right to where he stood and nothing. This is a flat wide open peice o ftimber with 2 ft tall ferns. The only thing he could have done was crawl away!

We should probably start a topic that goes something like this.....Have you ever been tracking an animal and the tracks just disappeared into thin air?

[Bigshooter]

Last week of October is my favorite time to hunt blacktails.  You will get some rutting then.  But if you are hunting up high late buck is usually better than the last week of October.