Lets talk BLACKTAIL!

[kglacken]

Now that the majority of my tags in the west have come back with the oh so familiar 'Not successful', its time to start focusing and planning for the fall OTC hunts. Im looking to spend some time really chasing blacktail. I always go every weekend I can during the season, but have never really committed to finding a mature buck. Ive killed several 2 points but I'm hoping to wrap my tag around a good mature buck this season. I hunt in an area that has some access, but is not incredibly pressured like some units. I know there are big bucks around, because a few get killed in the area every year, but majority of them are just pure luck.

However, there seems to be guys on here who pull decent blacktail from the nasty wet hillsides each year. Im looking to spark a conversation on how others like to do it. I tend to spend a lot of time covering a ton of ground and doing a lot of sitting and glassing. Whether it be constant hiking, or moving from landing to landing in the pickup and glassing, I have had good luck finding bucks, but haven't been able to find a real masher yet. Ill be 100% honest, I'm not much of a patient hunter. I like to move and "run and gun" so to speak, but I can change tactics if needed. Im curious on opinions. Do you like the high country? Thick reprod on steep hillsides? Sit and glass? Run and gun? Still hunt the timber? Do your tactics differ based on whether?

Im very confident in my abilities to find a legal buck, but this year I'm hoping to put a nice mature blacktail on the ground. I consider myself to be a decent hunter, but I'm always willing to listen and learn. I think there are so many hunters out there who are afraid to ask and admit that they are not experts! I plan to commit more to scouting and hanging cameras in my areas this year in hopes to find a mature buck and concentrate on that area. Hopefully we can get a good thread going on finding one of the most elusive animals in the U.S! Thanks in advance everyone!   

[257 Wby Mag]

For me there are about 3 days worth hunting, and you better be out there from daylight til dark. Use your binos. Hiking is not hunting... mature bucks use use Clearcuts and openings, beyond popular belief. "Boyd Iverson" RIP. Those 3 days aren't in late buck. HINT

[deerhunter_98520]

You need to have patience....although it's nice to get trail cam pics of big bucks its not necessary....all of my big bucks I have harvested were the first time I've seen then is when I shot them...find the does....find a good area that holds alot of does....it will create competition and bring in the big bucks....I sit and wait and glass, sun up to sun down....11-1 is the key hrs for these big bucks...do NOT go in for lunch...they will chase all night and bed down about first light then get back up around 10-11 am to chase again when the does get up to feed....the last few days of season is the best if you ask me...I have the last 5 days off and will live in the woods during those 5 days...you can run and gun but I think you will just spook more game that way....still hunting can be very successful if you take your sweet time and go very slow and know the area...I always hunt clearcuts in the 5-7 yr old range...the ones I like to glass are old enough and have enough cover the deer are comfy enough to stay in it all day and have feed and big timber/reprod around it for a quick escape if they need to


Here's a couple pictures of the type of units I hunt...the first 2 pics have a deer in them







And this one is an ideal unit I like to hunt

[Pete112288]

Find out when the rut tends to peak around your area. Depending on area it could varry a decent amount. I have seen areas with heavy necked bucks chasing does the last week of Oct and in a different area the same year we didnt see any heavy rutting activity until the late modern season in Nov. My favorite time is the dismal misty days. The days where its not raining in the traditional sense, it just feels like an exteremely heavy fog coming down. Where it stays grey all day long. On these days I love to stay up under the reprod. The age that is just big enough you can walk under but young enough that it is dark and tight under it with little vegitation. This makes for easy quiet walking. MOVE SLOWLY!!! and stop often to look for anything that could be a sign. a flick of an ear, a grey face staring at you (cause 99.9% of the time they still see you first but they will watch you from time to time and slip around you) a horizontal line among the tree trunks, this may be a back or a belly of a deer. Under this kind of reprod there is often draws of young alder and other leafy brush where small springs run through. These tend to be key areas I find animals. Also, any benches or level areas within the reprod that are not part of the normal slope of the hillside. And any part of this kind of reprod that boarders other timber or a clear cut. My best results have been areas under this thick reprod within 1/4 mile of a good clear cut. Or the first 200 yards of some of this thick reprod just in from a thick older clear cut. Where the trees in the cut have grown so thick with other brush and such that you cant even walk through it. The kind of clear cuts that you would have to belly crawl through if that. Well, where the reprod boarders that is a key edge that seem to pull a lot of deer because the cut is so intensely thick they are protected from ever being detected and then they can pull into the more open reprod to move around more freely and still feel protected. Besides under the reprod the next best key area I have hunted is under bigger timber in the draws where some of the big timber have fallen over time and more light gets to the ground. So in the draw it is crazy thick vine maple type brush among all the fallen trees and such. The best of these areas are within the big timber and not along the edge of the timber or along a road. Get in the big timber out of sight of the road and find one super thick draw. Play the wind right and sit and haunt the bottom end of these thick draws. A treestand in the bigger timber 50 yards off of the draw (line of sight permitting) is a great plan. Find and check out these areas before season. See if you can find a key entry or exit of the draw. The exit is often at the bottom of the draw. Like I said, these draws are thick and in bigger timber that is open enough to see a ways and the big timber that has just ferns and an occasional vine maple under them but otherwise clear. Then you get to the draw and it is SOLID brush and fallen trees. I have pushed through one of these that was only 15-25 yards wide and 100 yards long. I had to belly crawl many times to get through it. Had others sitting in the big timber watching from both sides. As I headed to the bottom of the draw to work up it, I didnt circle far enough away, a big buck busted me and took off out of the bottom of the draw before I had a chance to do anything. Then I headed up from the bottom through it. I could hear very little because to move in there I was making too much noise. My buddies were able to see 6 other deer in there that I never knew were there. They would move a little away from me, hunker down, I would pass, then they would slip out the bottom of the draw. Most were does and they said there was at least 2 small for horns or big spikes. Like I said, this draw was not large, it was just a key area with how it was set up. Closest road was 1/4 mile away and it was deep in the big timber.
Hope this helps a little. And I hope to see some other advice on here, chasing mature blacktails is one of those things you can not stop learning about.

[grundy53]

Some great advice so far. Whatever you are doing do it slower.

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[Boss .300 winmag]

How many can spot the deer? 

I did. 

[deerhunter_98520]

How many can spot the deer? 

I did. 

I was asked how the hell i spotted both of them from guys standing next to me 

[EyeTooth]

Tagging

[Pete112288]

How many can spot the deer? 

I did. 

I was asked how the hell i spotted both of them from guys standing next to me 

I found the one in the first pic, not the second one though 

[Crunchy]

Most mature blacktails are almost completely nocturnal.  Notching a tag on one during early season can be REAL tuff or REAL lucky.  If you are a rifle guy I would spend the early season finding the does.  You will see the smaller bucks mixed in with the does towards the end of early season waiting for one to go into heat.  Come late season the big boys move in and kick the smaller bucks out.  Hunt those same areas and you should see some big boys.

I also hunt clearcuts that you can only see into from great distances like 500-800 yards.  Any closer and you cannot see over the growth.  Those are my favorite places to hunt, and most hunters don't even try or don't spend the time seriously glassing.

[andrew_in_idaho]

I think I spotted both deer but need confirmation


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[Boss .300 winmag]

I think I spotted both deer but need confirmation


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The first pic has a doe sitting above the white log center pic.

The second pic has a doe sitting below the stump middle pic at about five o'clock looking straight at the spotter. 

[257 Wby Mag]

Once again, , the last few days of general deer, all day long... the bucks in lewis and Thurston county's will be searching for does.... period

Mature bucks chase before immature bucks.... hint

[257 Wby Mag]

No no no I'm lying, late buck is the best!! Grin

[andrew_in_idaho]

First pic was pretty easy. Still not understanding your explanation on the second but I think we are looking at the same deer, although I thought it looked like it was facing to the left with its rear toward the spotter


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