blacktail hunting

[Joeldk07]

Hey everyone just looking for some advice on hunting blacktail just having a hard time.

[kodiak 907]

Spend as much time as you can in the woods, during the season and off season. Focus on the core area you plan on hunting.

Good luck. Welcome to the club.

[JDHasty]

Hey everyone just looking for some advice on hunting blacktail just having a hard time.

There is a lot of good discussion that has been posted in the last few months.  I think it is going to be hard to get much going in the way of a new thread during the Christmas Season, but that is not going to be much of a handicap.  What we here have been posting is enough to keep you busy for a while and if you ask questions on those threads people will chime in.  Sometimes they disagree, but that is to be expected when dealing with wild animals. 

Best of luck to you.  If you search my posts I have probably commented on most of the blacktail threads and that will be a good way to find them.  Click my name and then under profile you will see Show Posts and click that 

[nickrj11]

Hey everyone just looking for some advice on hunting blacktail just having a hard time.

Are you hunting late archery right now? Or are you looking for advice for next year? Just struggling to find the deer? Where are you hunting?

[bobcat]

Read the book by Boyd Iverson- "Blacktail Trophy Tactics."

[JDHasty]

Don't give up just because you are having a hard time.  Blacktails are not child's play. 

[Joeldk07]

Hey everyone just looking for some advice on hunting blacktail just having a hard time.

Are you hunting late archery right now? Or are you looking for advice for next year? Just struggling to find the deer? Where are you hunting?

I've been late Archery hunting.  And ya haven't seen anything moving.  I'm hunting in the foot hills in the acme valley.

[fishnfur]

Pretty late in the season.  Bucks won't be moving around too much.  Does will feed and bed.  Almost all activity will be outside legal hunting hours, but you never know.  It's still worth going out and trying to find one.  I'd hang near blackberries or trailing blackberries that show recent browsing activity.

If you have a friend in the area that hunts, I'd see if you can get him/her to take you out. 

[Kazekurt]

Go east of the cascades, hunt mule deer in the open country, and then claim they're blacktail😄.   

[JDHasty]

Pretty late in the season.  Bucks won't be moving around too much.  Does will feed and bed.  Almost all activity will be outside legal hunting hours, but you never know.  It's still worth going out and trying to find one.  I'd hang near blackberries or trailing blackberries that show recent browsing activity.

If you have a friend in the area that hunts, I'd see if you can get him/her to take you out.

They will hunker down, that's for sure.  It makes it really hard to archery hunt them. 

[JeffRaines]

This has been my first year deer hunting, hunting blacktail, and archery hunting. What a hellish combination!

With that said I'm no authority on the subject, but one thing I haven't had a problem with this season is finding deer - creating shot opportunities is my issue.

If I were you, the first thing I'd do is find out if deer even use the area. Walk through the areas you hunt looking for sign... that could be poop, hoof prints, maybe a stray rub or two, or game trails. It would be worth spending a day doing this just so you can see where you're wasting time. Bring your bow along, because I've stumbled across blacktail while tromping through woods before. You'd think you have to sneak up on them, but sometimes if you're walking like you're just out for a walk they'll freeze 30yrds or so away and theres an opportunity. This doesn't work all the time, but occasionally it does, and if you're ready...

After you've figured out where they are, then you need to figure out when they use an area. As most have mentioned, they typically bed down during the day. Most of the really open/accessible areas are hit hard, and I've found a lot of sign in those, but I'm thinking that its used outside of hunting hours. I've found activity happening right now where I hunt to be between first light and 10am. Just the other morning I seen 5 doe in a clearcut right around 9am or so. After you figure this out, you can formulate a plan to take advantage of it. It would also be beneficial for you to learn the areas - look at satellite images. If they're moving through a cut and going into the woods on the west side of the cut - whats over there? Whats attracting them to that area?

I'd try for ambush hunting in the morning - set yourself up along their path of travel, minding the wind, and sit on that until 11 or so. Then, go still hunt some reprod or forest until the evening.

It also wouldn't hurt to visit some areas behind gates or barriers - you'd be surprised at the number of hunters who never leave their trucks. Theres one place I go thats behind a berm, and I haven't seen a single soul back there all season. Tons of habitat - and tons of deer, just no hunters.

[sRaud]

If you want to kill a Blacktail spend a lot of time in the timber.. I've personally had a lot of luck in thinned timber. I would also recommend hunting walk in only areas way less pressure. Don't forget the WIND lol

[Eric M]

Another good book is Trophy Blacktails- The Science of the Hunt by Scott Haugen.  It's raining like crazy right now. Watch the weather forecast closely. If you're in a place where there's sign, go in just before the rain lets up. I've had several opportunities this year to kill a blacktail when they started moving after a big rain.

[pd]

This has been my first year deer hunting, hunting blacktail, and archery hunting. What a hellish combination!

Sounds like you (Jeff) are going to be a great hunter.  You have the fundamentals down!  Looking forward to seeing some great pictures in the future!   

[Joeldk07]

The area I have been hunting had deer in there I've seen sign and other people have seen some nice bucks in there.  I'm working on being more passionate and sitting in one area but it just kills me like I'm missing an opportunity in another area I don't know.  There is snow up there now do I think I will stay just below the snow line and see what happens.  I think there is something big timber up high that I might try also. 

[JakeLand]

Today up setting traps in about knee high of snow I saw a nice 3x and several does it was a good surprise especially considering it was about at 11:00 am all along the river up high in the cascades and the best time to hunt blacktail is during the rain

[PolarBear]

Read the book by Boyd Iverson- "Blacktail Trophy Tactics."

[JeffRaines]

The area I have been hunting had deer in there I've seen sign and other people have seen some nice bucks in there.  I'm working on being more passionate and sitting in one area but it just kills me like I'm missing an opportunity in another area I don't know.  There is snow up there now do I think I will stay just below the snow line and see what happens.  I think there is something big timber up high that I might try also.

The way I rationalize it is if I know there are deer that move in a certain area, I could actually be missing an opportunity by moving to another area that I'm not as experienced with. As the old saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush...

This has been my first year deer hunting, hunting blacktail, and archery hunting. What a hellish combination!

Sounds like you (Jeff) are going to be a great hunter.  You have the fundamentals down!  Looking forward to seeing some great pictures in the future!   

I'm looking forward to showing you some great pictures! I'm also looking forward to being a great hunter... maybe one day

[fishnfur]

    That's one to live by.  Don't leave deer to go and find deer.

If there's snow close, I'd go up into it and look for tracks and follow them till my toes froze.

[bowtechian]

Think I had one come out during shooting light this month on trail cam focus on early season next yr & makes for fun off season learning

[Bowcrazy]

I hunt my moms property and really paid attention and put the time in this year and had two bucks come grunting in with a doe on dec 20. Got busted sitting on the ground . Treestand collapsed on me and my buddy and not five minites later the deer came in . Go figure . Deer love ivy this time of year . They decimate at my moms .

[PastorJoel]

That's a nice buck, but 2011??

[jkononen]

Time must be wrong. Doesn't look like an April buck...