Blacktail Hunting Info Needed

[Rodngun01]

Thanks for taking time to read my post...Moved back home after being gone 29 plus years with the military and living in the south. Just a couple of questions since I haven't hunted these critters in the western part of the state in a while and got spoiled hunting over food plots and feeders out of a shooting house or tree stand....Not asking for honey holes, I like scouting and I have a lot of free time being retired, besides that's half the fun of hunting..

DO FOOD PLOTS WORK HERE?...Have access to some private property by Capital Peak.

DO CALLS, SCENT & RATTLING WORK?....Kind of tone deaf after 21 years in the infantry, couldn't hear the difference between the whitetail grunt call & Blacktail grunt call.

Those are my questions. thanks for taking time to read and respond. Looking forward to scouting/hunting North Pe Ell when I get my packet. Good luck this season.

[chester]

I'd suggest spending a lot of time glassing older clear cuts. Works best in the permit area. Or wait for a big storm and cover a lot of ground in the rain.


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[Rodngun01]

Thanks.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

• DO FOOD PLOTS WORK HERE?

I have no experience, but they sure do like to eat my Rose bushes, and when they are ripe, my tomatoes and strawberries. Most guys I know start an apple pile and get does during the day and the bucks at night (on camera)

• DO CALLS, SCENT & RATTLING WORK?....

Mixed results with calls and rattling, sometimes they come running, some times they run away...  I try to smell THEIR scent.., you find a good set of rubs that stink, you have found a good spot to hunt. I cannot smell it if I am wearing it.  I do know a few guys that hang scent wicks to get the deer to walk over to a specific spot, so yes it works.. but I have not noticed them actually being attracted to it, more of a curiosity.
[/list]

On those days when you just don't want to go outside, go anyways.
I actually have seen a lot of deer around 1:00-3:00 in the afternoon, so hunt all day.

[Rodngun01]

Understand the Rose and Tomato plants...My dad sent me a pic of 4 deer ransacking their potted tomatoes and roses on their back patio. Thanks for the info, appreciate it.

[montana44mag]

....Not asking for honey holes,

...Classic 

[Rodngun01]

....Not asking for honey holes,

...Classic 

There have been plenty of posts on here where people have said that. Then in a round about way asked for them. Sure didn't seem like this guy was doing that.

No Sir.....I wasn't trying to get locations. Learned that lesson during one of my turkey season in Mississippi trying to help someone out. Posted one of my spots and it was like a Sunday church meeting when I got there. So I won't ask and have another hunter experience that....it sucks. Just wanting to see if some of the things I was doing down south for whitetails would work for Blacktails. Looking forward to getting back to doing spot and stalks in the hunting arsenal and watching my son earn his stripes dragging animals up and down hills/mtns like I did for family members. Definitely doing the lot of glassing and covering ground, appreciate the help. Good luck this season.

[fishnfur]

Welcome to the site and thank you for your service to the country.

 I would try almost everything that you did for whitetails down south.  Many, many people have success with rattling and grunting, though typically more quietly for BT.  I suspect that the BT grunt tube you tried is exactly the same as the WT, with only the name being changed to improve marketing for the niche market - and likely why you didn't hear any difference.

Forget looking for scrapes as BT's, for the most part, are not know to do this.  Instead hunt active rublines, since that will be the only way you can come close to patterning a BT bucks movements.  Also, instead of considering putting effort into food plots, seek out permission to hunt timbered edges of private agricultural lands.  Somebody's already done the food plot work for you. 

Mostly, be patient until things heat up around Oct. 25th or so.

Have fun

[huntingbaldguy]

Late rifle last year, i sat on a big scrape area.  I scraped a couple trees with a stick, put some active scrape scent on them, backed off about 40 yards and did about a 30 second routine i talked about with a friend, rattling and making noise with my feet on the ground, as well as grunting.  No sooner did i finish than i heard a buck literally running in snorting, he sounded mad.  He got within about 30 or 40 yards of the "clearing" i was sitting on and stopped.  I could hear him snorting, then he started moving to flank me, down wind.  He ended up spooking after getting down wind of me, and i only briefly saw him.  So calling can work but you have to have the right set up.  I didn't have it and never got a shot on him.  I think he was a 3 point.

[Rodngun01]

Welcome to the site and thank you for your service to the country.

 I would try almost everything that you did for whitetails down south.  Many, many people have success with rattling and grunting, though typically more quietly for BT.  I suspect that the BT grunt tube you tried is exactly the same as the WT, with only the name being changed to improve marketing for the niche market - and likely why you didn't hear any difference.

Forget looking for scrapes as BT's, for the most part, are not know to do this.  Instead hunt active rublines, since that will be the only way you can come close to patterning a BT bucks movements.  Also, instead of considering putting effort into food plots, seek out permission to hunt timbered edges of private agricultural lands.  Somebody's already done the food plot work for you. 

Mostly, be patient until things heat up around Oct. 25th or so.

Have fun

Thanks, definitely will be looking for that.

[Rodngun01]

Late rifle last year, i sat on a big scrape area.  I scraped a couple trees with a stick, put some active scrape scent on them, backed off about 40 yards and did about a 30 second routine i talked about with a friend, rattling and making noise with my feet on the ground, as well as grunting.  No sooner did i finish than i heard a buck literally running in snorting, he sounded mad.  He got within about 30 or 40 yards of the "clearing" i was sitting on and stopped.  I could hear him snorting, then he started moving to flank me, down wind.  He ended up spooking after getting down wind of me, and i only briefly saw him.  So calling can work but you have to have the right set up.  I didn't have it and never got a shot on him.  I think he was a 3 point.

Yes Sir, I did a similar routine for whitetails down south. Good to know, appreciate it.

[rasbo]

look for a canopy of  trees that is dark in the daylight,with clear cuts near,get inside and rattle...

[fishnfur]

I love that avatar Rasbo - I crack up every time I see it!

Just to clarify, BTs do rub trees, especially Alder if they are available.   They do not make scrapes on the ground and use licking branches like WTs.  (there are reports by some hunters of seeing ground scrapes created by blacktails, but it is generally considered to be a behavior of WTs not BTs.)

[deerhunter_98520]

Rattling does work

I've taken several bucks doing it...it can be hit and miss....took me a few years to figure it out...just don't give up with it...the closer to the end of Oct the better....what style of hunting do you like? I mainly glass cuts and am very successfull at it....the key to this method is PATIENCE...don't be in a hurry to leave a cut...deer will bedown in them and be hidden...hunt the cuts that are at least 4 yrs old and have enough growth for the deer to feel secure enough to bed in them...I like to glass cuts that have no road access into them with doghair/timber around them....I find a spot and stay there all day long....the big bucks will feed at night and into the first half hour or so into daylight then bed down and get back up between 11-1...that's the witching our for me...I've killed all my big bucks between 11-1 so do not go back in town for lunch ....if you like to walk I would hit big timber or reprod  and still hunt...walk slow...stop and glass every 5-10 yds...you never know when your going to walk up to that buck of a lifetime...and remember don't look for the whole deer...look for an eye, ear, tail flicker, leg, back line, something that just doesn't belong there. Good luck with your adventure 

[Rodngun01]

Rattling does work

I've taken several bucks doing it...it can be hit and miss....took me a few years to figure it out...just don't give up with it...the closer to the end of Oct the better....what style of hunting do you like? I mainly glass cuts and am very successfull at it....the key to this method is PATIENCE...don't be in a hurry to leave a cut...deer will bedown in them and be hidden...hunt the cuts that are at least 4 yrs old and have enough growth for the deer to feel secure enough to bed in them...I like to glass cuts that have no road access into them with doghair/timber around them....I find a spot and stay there all day long....the big bucks will feed at night and into the first half hour or so into daylight then bed down and get back up between 11-1...that's the witching our for me...I've killed all my big bucks between 11-1 so do not go back in town for lunch ....if you like to walk I would hit big timber or reprod  and still hunt...walk slow...stop and glass every 5-10 yds...you never know when your going to walk up to that buck of a lifetime...and remember don't look for the whole deer...look for an eye, ear, tail flicker, leg, back line, something that just doesn't belong there. Good luck with your adventure 

I like Bow, Muzzle Loader and Modern Firearms.....But if had to choose just one it would be Bow Hunting. Had a blast bow hunting Turkey's down in Mississippi and Hogs in Georgia. I'm doing modern firearms this year till I learn the area (s). Probably put in for the multi-season permit from here on out, Hopefully I'll get drawn every now and then. Thanks for the tips, good luck this season.