Late Season Blacktail Archery 627

[Satyarain]

Hope everyone is doing well this season!
This is my first post so let me introduce myself. My name is Satya and I am 16. This is my first year hunting and it's been something that I've been organizing and pursuing myself. I live in kitsap and am excited to learn a lot about this sport!

Now to my question: How can you get blacktails to come out during the day? I am currently hunting on a friend's property in Hansville (GMU 627) and have a blind set up. I have been setting out apples daily and hunting near daily for the last week. Last week we had a bit of a storm so I attributed no movement to that, figuring they were bedded down.
 After that, I've seen a lot on the cameras we have up. There's a young button buck that shows up and a young doe with him to munch on my apple pile pretty much daily for the last 5 days or so. Seems like a good situation, right? Here's the frustration: They show up at about 6:00 PM! (well after shooting light). They keep coming back intermittently throughout the night but not during the day at all. I have spent a lot of time in the blind over the last week without any movement and have picked up nothing on the cameras.
 
Anyone have any suggestions/tips as to getting them to come out?

Thanks!
---Satya

[pd]

Welcome.

I also live in 627.  The blacktail here on the islands and the peninsulas are quite similar.  We are clearly now in the post-rut period, which means the mature bucks are back to their nocturnal lifestyle.  It is highly unlikely that you will find a mature (anything larger than a forked horn) blacktail during the daylight hours.  Your best bet will be the button buck (immature male) or a doe.  From 11/23 to 12/31 you can harvest any blacktail with an archery tag.  Thus, I would encourage you to do exactly that: Take a doe if and when you can.  The first deer is the most difficult, all of the others come with less difficulty.

To answer your question, there is not much that you can do to get a nocturnal animal to come out during the day.  Be at your blind before dawn, and stay for an hour or two, and then go back late afternoon.

[elkboy]

You can either do temporary setups deeper into the timber (closer to bedding areas, so you might catch them earlier on their late afternoon movement towards open feeding areas), or you can try grunting and soft rattling at this time of year to pull in a curious buck. 

Some good advice here:
http://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/big-game-hunting/calling-pacific-northwest-blacktails/

The books by Boyd Iverson (Blacktail Trophy Tactics) or the very good general reference by Dr. Louis Terkla ("Hunting Blacktail Deer: An Oregon Perspective") also are very good references for approaching different situations.  Both authors discuss what to do if you don't see blacktails in the open during any kind of shooting light-which is pretty much the general situation! 

You can also try still hunting- but you have to move SLOW.  Always into the wind.  Keep behind cover as much as possible.  Take a slow, silent step.  Look all the way around.  Look again, for any part of the deer.  Maybe look a third time.  Take another slow step.  If you get any kind of longer view, slowly raise your binos to your eyes.  Slowly turn, glassing.  Slowly lower the binos.  Repeat until you just can't take it any more.  That's still hunting. 

Best of luck.  Hunting blacktails is difficult business. 

[Satyarain]

Thanks to both of you!

@elkboy by temporary set ups do you mean moving the blind closer to bedding areas?


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[Huntingtony]

I woud head out to coyle and cover as much ground as possible! Might catch somthing after a storm wandering around. Also, peaches peaches peaches

[elkboy]

Thanks to both of you!

@elkboy by temporary set ups do you mean moving the blind closer to bedding areas?


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I should have been more clear- sorry!  Don't move the big blind unless absolutely no daytime deer use is seen. 

By temporary setups, I mean just walking in to heavier cover and finding a spot with adequate cover to hide you and the movement of drawing your bow (when animal is not looking, of course!).  Make sure you have clearance for both upper and lower limbs of your bow.  A roll of camouflage netting and 50 feet of parachute cord can be very helpful (that stuff is always in my pack for deer hunts, east or west of the Cascades).  You can also use a sharp folding knife to cut boughs of hemlock, Douglas-fir, etc. and stick them in the ground, on other vegetation, etc. and give yourself more hiding cover.  After an hour or so, you can make the decision to move to another spot. It helps to have these places scouted out if you have access to the property for a long time.  Then you can move from deer-heavy spot to deer-heavy spot, and spend an hour or hour and a half in each. 

Another tactic you may want to consider is the use of a tree stand.  I took my first blacktail at 20 yards from a tree stand (it was with a rifle, but could have been archery equipment).  If you identify a spot where there are crossing deer trails, an area of browse within the forest, lots of deer sign, etc., then hiking a "climber" tree stand in can be great.  It gets you above the brush (pretty important in many of our forests), deals with the human scent issue to some degree, and gets you above the prying eyes of the crafty blacktails. 

Best of luck.  I am not the greatest hunter out there, but these are some things that have worked for me on both whitetails and blacktails. 

Hope that helps! 

[fishnfur]

If your spot is in a sunny location in the am, then when we get sub-freezing temps (if that ever happens - perhaps Monday), does will often come stay out in the sun in the early morning to warm up after a cold night.  That may be your one opportunity to see them out in daylight.  If it is not a sunny spot, a little early morning scouting on a COLD morning will reveal where the does come to sun.   

Putting your apples out an hour or so before first light for several days might also condition them to come looking for them in the early morning and keep them there feeding at first light (for your pleasure).

Post-rut and heading into winter, the quality of food available to the deer is greatly diminished so they essentially are on a starvation diet.  They have the capability to decrease their metabolism, which reduces their energy needs and lowers their body temps., but also keeps them bedded most of the day.  In order to conserve energy, they travel very little to feed, which keeps them close to or in their core areas.  Long stretches of cold rainy days kill more deer than freezing clear days.  It can be a tough time to hunt.

[eastfork]

Couple suggestions.......i know it may be difficult but try putting apples out around 8-9 in the morning. Only put out 5 gallon bucket of apples per day.  Move you baiting area into heavier cover if possible and then use a tree stand.  Rattling still works in some areas also. But i would scout around, look for big tracks and relocate baiting area to where the deer feel more secure during day light hours.

[Satyarain]

Sounds good. Thank you everyone! I will give it a shot and check back in!


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[nanserbe]

Satya,

DICK's is selling climbing tree stands on sale right now if you are considering one.

I believe they have one for $90 that looks like a good start.

https://goo.gl/NEH5ev

I'm new to hunting blacktail so I feel your pain.

[Satyarain]

**update**
I got one!
Here's how it goes:
I have to exit the blind before overall shooting light ends because of less ambient light in the blind, and so pins are dark.
As soon as I'm out however, I can still shoot for another half an hour or so. I was standing there by my apple pile, about to pull the apples that night (in the hopes of discouraging nighttime feeding) and I was about to put the SD card back in the camera. I starting thinking I should stay out a little longer, as anything could happen in the good light. The moment that thought crossed my mind, a chunky doe simply walks out from behind my blind! I froze and in that moment I had to put my bucket down, nock an arrow, and draw, while standing in the open. I did this as slowly and quietly as possible and as soon as she exposed a shot, THUMP!
After waiting 15 minutes, I tracked here down into the timber.
I did not get an opportunity to weigh her so if anyone who knows deer well has a guess on weight, let me know. For a frame of reference, I'm 5'8" and 165lbs
Thank you all for the advice, it's invaluable to me.


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[MADMAX]

congrats
kitsap is not easy

[Alan K]

Way to go! 

[HunterofWA]

Sweet! I'm glad you got one, thats a fat doe too! 

[Widgeondeke]

Way to stick with it and congrats 

She is a factor for sure

[fishnfur]

Way to go man!  Good to see you got it done.   Hard to tell how much she weighs from the photo, but she looks mature, so the range could be from 100 ish to maybe 140 max.  If you weighed all the meat that you took off her, you can find calculations to determine the pre-butchering weight through a Google search.

[Lefthook]

Good job! Way to hang in there and not let your guard down at the end of the day, literally. She is definetly a mature doe, a trophy with a bow for sure and a great amount of meat. Hard to estimate her weight from the pic, 130 maybe, just a guess.

[Satyarain]

Thanks! I've been loving the experience all the way


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[Tbob]

Nice job man! Those are not easy to take with archery equipment! Way to stick with it and get it done! That will be some good eats right there!

[Tbob]

Being this is your first deer, how did the process go for gutting and breaking her down? Just curious.. Did you do it solo or have an extra hand?

[pd]

congrats
kitsap is not easy

 

Welcome to the Kitsap blacktail club.  It can be a frustrating experience, let me tell you.  Savor this hunt, but do yourself a huge favor: Put your boots back on, and start scouting right now for next year.  Why?  Now that the leaves (especially the broad leafed maple) are down, it is much easier to find game trails.  Put in a lot of hours between now and March---look for trails, but especially for where trails cross other trails.  Also look for rubbed brush---this is where the bucks will be come late October next year.  Get to know 2 or 3 completely different areas (Plan A, Plan B....).

[huntingbaldguy]

Nice work.  Kitsap is a good unit, tons of deer.  Problem of course is lots of people too.  Peoples every day schedules effect many of the deer on private property and what time of day they will be out and about.  That said blacktail aside from rut time, are just inherently nocturnal.  You stuck with it though, and that's what it takes.  Can't get one if you don't spend time out there.

[Satyarain]

I had a buddy help me with field dressing (who's property I was hunting)

My dad and I skinned it in our daylight basement hanging up. He had never done it either.

I hung it for 4 days at about 42 degrees and the meat dried out a  bit more than I would have liked. Especially the lower legs/shanks.

Any suggestions for hanging time without meat drying out?
I ended up cutting a lot of roasts, some steaks, and burger meat, along with pieces of blackstrap all frozen.


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[Encore 280]

If the temp is cool enough when hanging just leave the hide on if it's only going to be a short time then only the inside of the rib meat dries a bit but cut the tenderloins out so they don't dry.

[bur04024]

No need to "hang" wild game meat, I was taught this from a gentleman who was a professional butcher and an amazing hunter. His garage was like a professional meat processing facility each year with his game animals harvested and those of family or friends who dropped by to get help processing theirs. He explained that since deer and elk have little to no fat marbleing in the meat, the meat will not have the same amount of enzymatic breakdown that takes place from hanging. The highly marbled livestock have greater amounts of natural enzymes along with the proper meat structure to benefit from hanging and or "dry aging". So bottom line, just hang to cool the meat then process it. Hanging it just dries out the meat more because the lower fat content can't protect the meat from drying out (which makes it more tough).

[Crunchy]

I typically hang meat for at least few days just to get organized prior to butchering.  Usually for late season archery, I can hang it outside or in the shed.  This year's deer I hung for 10 days, and the meat cut just fine.  I have never noticed the meat drying out, and it seems very tender to me.

[fishnfur]

Here's the recommendations from Clemson University, which follows pretty much every other recommendation I've ever seen:

Aging Meat: Aging meat is the practice of holding carcasses or cuts of meat at temperatures of 34 to 37 °F for 7 to 14 days to allow the enzymes in the meat to break down some of the complex proteins in the carcass. Aged meat is often more tender and flavorful. Do not age any game carcass if it was shot during warm weather and not chilled rapidly, if the animal was severely stressed prior to the kill, if gunshot areas are extensive, or if the animal was under 1 year of age. Aging is not recommended for carcasses with little or no fat covering because they may dry out during aging, and are more susceptible to deterioration through microbial growth. If the meat will be ground into sausage, aging is unnecessary.

-Leave the hide on and maintain the proper temperature when aging a carcass. Aging game that has been skinned often results in drying and high weight loss. For this reason, properly chilled game should be aged with the hide on unless it is to be aged in a cooler where humidity is high. If you do not have the proper cooler space, spoilage or dehydration may result.
-Do not trim fat from game meat before it is aged because the fat protects the meat. However, fat should be trimmed after aging to avoid undesirable flavors associated with the fat.
-Limit aging to a maximum of two weeks at 34 to 37 °F. At this point tenderization slows down, and bacterial slime develops which then must be trimmed.
-Cold shortening, which causes meat to be tough, occurs if the internal muscle temperature drops to 32 °F within 12 hours after the kill, such as if carcasses under 100 pounds are slaughtered when the temperature is below freezing. Frozen carcasses should be thawed and aged at 34 °F for 14 days.

[Satyarain]

It went well;I had varying degrees of help
 Some of the meat dried out. I hung it at 42 degrees F for 4 days in my basement with an industrial fan running for airflow.

Any suggestions for how to hang it better/differently.
FTR the skin was off


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[BlacktailBowhunter]

Congrats on your deer.

I sent you a pm before reading the entire thread.