Free: Contests & Raffles.
Here is another vote for blacktail hunting being at its best in the rain. In my experiences, the nastier the better unless theres lightning or falling trees. Heavy rains with less wind and I tend to find them in the timber, everything from 6-10ft tall reprod and jack firs, to the big old timber. But if the rain is lighter, check small patches of grassy or brushy openings in the timber or along the edges. The absolute best luck I have had in nasty weather is the reprod/jack firs that are just tall enough and open enough for you to walk upright through, and the prime areas like this are the ones that have just enough light penetrate through to grow some ferns and other underbrush but the main surface of the ground is normally mossy dirt and fir needles. Makes for quiet walking, esp in the rain. The rain in my experience really gets them moving, I love gloomy days. If it is too windy they will move but will be happy to slow down through some of the best brushy areas with food under the reprod and medium size timber. That takes a lot of wind though. What I tend to like to do in nasty weather is either find a spot that has good deer traffic (I dont feel comfortable doing this unless I have scouted a year or two in the area and really know its a good spot) and post up in the brush or in a tree and sit ALL DAY. Like I said, I dont feel confident about that unless I have put the work into it and know they travel there that time of year. Also, I get restless unless I stick myself in a tree (for some reason that makes me more patient). Most of the time what I do is just cover ground. I get soaked, rain gear or not, but it just boosts my morale more (guess I may qualify as a born and bread west side hunter haha). I slip through all the timber and reprod I can, I get away from the roads, find benches, or any unique lanscape features (anything that is different than the norm for the specific area) I push myself all day, eventually I just get wet enough that I will be too cold if I stop moving so it just keeps me going. Key point to this though is be quiet and dont let yourself stick out too much, kinda think like a cougar, take a step or two, pause, slink along another couple steps, pause. I have found a few areas that are awesome in nasty weather. In the big timber a few hundred yards in from a clear cut and a couple hundred yards from where the big timber goes to medium sized dark dirt floor timber. Right were the dark timber starts there is a bench a few hundred yards long and 30-40 yards wide. then there is one spot in the big timber where a couple trees fell down years ago which allows enough sun through to grow grass. So right in the middle of the big timber there is this 20 yard by 20 yard area of pristine grass, some salal, and 1 small alder sapling. The key to me though for blacktail hunting is spend A LOT of time in your area year round. For blacktail hunting I am in the coweeman unit, on wyco land where you can hunt a huge extent of land, far from any paved road (just covered in log roads) But my area is only 2 square miles tops, and it surrounds the end of the actuall paved road and a few homes along the road. In the center 1/4 square mile area, each year scouting I identify between 15 and 20 big 2 points or bigger bucks. Then hunting season I may see one or two in person, but the rubs, tracks, and trail cam say they are still in that little area. The biggest thing I can say about the habbits of blacktail is they are sneaky lil buggars. Hope my experience helps.
