Patterning black tails

[ackbizzle]

so over the last 2 months I have been trying to pattern some black tails I keep getting all these pictures from. got 3 bucks coming in every night and then a few days where they come by around noon. just last week I got my first picture of a doe so hopefully that will keep these 3 bucks on the property till archery opens back up. with the temp change will they start showing up during the day or will they pretty much stay nocturnal? got lots of pictures of them sparring already but at midnight.

[westsidehntr]

They will pretty much stay nocturnal until they start rutting. Better be out there the last week of Oct and late buck if you don't connect. I assume your hunting modern?

[Special T]

Read Boyd iversons blactail trophy tactic 2

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[JDHasty]

If you have been putting out feed or have a food plot, once they go into the rut the bucks may disappear on you.  YMMV, but that is our experience.  They seem to stop eating when the rut is on.  Same with their feeding areas, if there are not does using the feeding areas the bucks have been using during the rest of the year... once the rut is on you may not find the bucks there either. 

[kodiak 907]

On the island it was tough to pattern and hold bucks on property. Once the rut starts they might be long gone and different bucks can move in that you have not seen before. If you can keep does on your property that is. The Bucks move around quite a bit over there.

[deerhunter_98520]

All I can say is good luck on patterning them....I've been hunting blacktail for just over 20 years and haven't patterned them yet 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Good luck with that one ! Maybe on the Islands you can but main land bucks , not likely !

[fishnfur]

Perhaps just hunt all day long where your camera is.  I doubt you'll be able to time their arrival, but if they are using the area now, they will likely, at the very minimum, come and go though the area your cam is over the course of a few days time.  (just a guess).  It seems that you are somewhere in their current core area.

[AKBowman]

Find a rub line on a remote bench or swamp and sit on it. Be there from 10am to 2pm during the last week of October and you'll get a chance at one of your bucks.

[huntingbaldguy]

Hunt every day that the weather changes to and from rain.  I've noticed daylight activity, even if just barely, on days that it rains.  They come out after rain to dry off and feed.  I had nocturnal does even, then last friday we had that morning to afternoon rain.  Wife and i sat in our blind that night and had deer come in at 6pm when i hadn't seen that on that cam yet.  She put one down about 7.

[JDHasty]

Hunt every day that the weather changes to and from rain.  I've noticed daylight activity, even if just barely, on days that it rains.  They come out after rain to dry off and feed.  I had nocturnal does even, then last friday we had that morning to afternoon rain.  Wife and i sat in our blind that night and had deer come in at 6pm when i hadn't seen that on that cam yet.  She put one down about 7.

[headshot5]

All of the above, and if you are hunting the last week of October, hunt where the does are.   The bucks will come to you.  They are out cruising, and if you know where the does hole up, the bucks will be trailing them in.

[ackbizzle]

Im an archery hunter so I got to wait till Nov 25th before I have a chance. if I keep a food source will they come back to it post rut?

[JDHasty]

All of the above, and if you are hunting the last week of October, hunt where the does are.   The bucks will come to you.  They are out cruising, and if you know where the does hole up, the bucks will be trailing them in.

[Natas5150]

Read Boyd iversons blactail trophy tactic 2

 
Highly recommended read!! I learned a lot of new things on hunting BT's reading this book.

[JDHasty]

Im an archery hunter so I got to wait till Nov 25th before I have a chance. if I keep a food source will they come back to it post rut?

Absolutely...sometimes.  I don't mean to be snarky, but yes they sometimes do.  Is that because the one you were recklessly eyeballing all summer and right up until the rut kicked in got shot while out cruising for some blacktail tail?  I think that has quite a bit to do with me saying that.  Even if they are hard on a baited location, they don't always come back right after the rut.  But I have seen a buck show up the following year that did not show back up right after the rut. 

I think that right after the rut they may just be to tired to GAS about much of anything and if they are lying up close by they will show up, but if they have to travel far then they just don't bother. 

[JDHasty]

Read Boyd iversons blactail trophy tactic 2

 
Highly recommended read!! I learned a lot of new things on hunting BT's reading this book.

I re-read it every year right before the season. 

[JackOfAllTrades]

Much of the above is true.  I wouldn't put too much weight on the 'they'll come out after the rain stops to dry off'... They'll come out IN the rain.  You need to start thinking like a blacktail buck. More like a bank robber on the run that needs to hide 300 day's of the year. Find beds on knowls in thick cover where you can look down ridge in at least three directions. And have at least three escape routes. He'll use the wind patterns to choose that bed too. Just like a pimp, never in the same bed two nights in a row.

-Steve