Blacktail success thread

[257 Wby Mag]

Tough to beat a good blacktail thread....

[BOWHUNTER45]

for me 11-1 is primetime

  After the season closes... If I had the choice when I could hunt it would be Nov 1st - 10TH ...But we all know they will not let us hunt at the peak of the rut ...Also if this weather continues that we are having look forward for things to start a little early this year ...This is how I know ...My niece killed this buck a couple days ago ! Never seen one this swelled this early 

[westsidehntr]

Tough to beat a good blacktail thread....
[/quote

 
So let's keep this one going! I dream about these bucks all year I'm definitely addicted. I can find them on camera and find some good spots but haven't been able to run into them in the woods yet. Keep them coming! BH I love the timber and have had my closest chances in it.

[westsidehntr]

That's awesome I have to get out as much as I can the rest of season if the rut might be early. The end of season will be killer!

[deerslyr]

Tough to beat a good blacktail thread....

common Jud.. you gotta post at least a couple of yours.. grin

[ridgefire]

trying to figure out the blacktail thing myself. would much rather shoot a decent blacktail than a muley or whitetail. hunting alders is the ticket for blacktails?

[257 Wby Mag]

Tough to beat a good blacktail thread....

common Jud.. you gotta post at least a couple of yours.. grin

Jon, pm me some good spots in montucky and I'll think about it!! Grin...

[wooltie]

First blacktail, first deer for that matter.  Shot him last year at 38 yards, around 8:30, on flat land in a clear cut.

We scouted the area for two days, saw trails and poop everywhere, so this made for day three.

I setup along these clear cuts that bordered a swamp.  Specifically, I setup in a bottleneck that connected two large clear cuts, bottlenecked between the swamp and a road.  Hence the 38 yard boom. 

Figured if they were moving through, then they would come through this bottleneck and avoid the road/open area.

I heard some swoosh swoosh through the ferns, saw 4-5 does and this guy in the hauling tail through the cut.  They went behind a log, out of sight, dashed under the log and came out in plain view.  The does came out first, so I setup my gun and waited.  Soon as the buck came out I let out a "maaaa" and he stopped and looked right at me, broadside. 

Boom! Dropped right there.  Boned out 70-80 lbs of meat.

[ridgefire]

Very nice wooltie. Congrats

[westsidehntr]

Wool tie that thing is awesome!! Great details too!

[Halo]

A few of my blacktails from the past.

[westsidehntr]

Halo you have some dandies! What's your poison?

[Halo]

Halo you have some dandies! What's your poison?

I just try to be out hunting when the time and weather are right the deer are active and be where they are at the time. Glass the edges of clearcuts in the morning and evening, hunt the timber when its rainy & windy, cover ground checking a lot of little out of the way spots that get overlooked by other hunters. When I'm in an area that is hunted heavily I try to go at it different than the masses, approach it differently and not go glass from the same stump every other hunter has every day for the last several seasons and not sit on the stump with the butt imprint in it. I like to keep an eye on the semi-tame yard deer around and see what they are doing at any given time to try to predict what the majority of the deer may be doing. but mostly just stick with it.

[wooltie]

I'm still figuring out blacktail, and elk for that matter.

But I will say that if there are animals in the area, you will see sign.

I locate clear cuts first, drainages/draws/creeks second, and scout those areas first.  If the area is solid timber, then I'll look for the creeks, benches, steep areas.  I try to begin scouting based upon changes in the land contours.  Then get out, check it out.  If I see sign in this area, but not that area, I ask "why?".  For example, hunted a permit only elk unit a month ago for bear, and shared the space with two elk herds.  Elk sign was everywhere.  Noticed that every freaking creek/drainage had an elk trail going through it.  Why?  Who knows, but I'll remember that time I'm elk hunting...

If I don't see trails and poop, then I move to a different area.  Blacktail can be anywhere, but they won't be EVERYWHERE, is my thinking.  So I keep moving until I see sign.  I used to wonder "where to begin?", but now I'll go out anywhere--cause there are deer all over place--but you will run into areas void of any sign at all.  Such was my experience opening day.  Combed through timber for hours but saw nothing.

Many successful people on this forum say that for blacktail, you have to look close and move slow [through the timber] and forget those huge, practically non-existent hundred yard open areas that you see on TV and on the east side.  So I creep through the woods with a light, short rifle, and a 3 pt sling which comes in handy, looking for that short shot.

[gr8whthunter]

....So I creep through the woods with a light, short rifle....

uhhhh what you doin with a light creepin through the woods with a short rifle.... looking for 2 round yellow/green glowing dots?.....