I am not getting it.

[AKBowman]

And those Klick bucks can be a LOT easier to find than a real BT on the wet side! In all seriousness I've hunted 4 days and have seen 1 doe. It does get tough at times.

You just never know:

On Saturday I got to the gate 90 minutes before first light. I biked/hiked (pushed bike uphill) into my spot to get to where I wanted to be first light. Got completely hammered by rain and wind. Hunted steady until 1pm.

On my ride out I ran into a guy packing out a VERY nice, mature 3x4 with thick bases and great eye guards. Come to find out he showed up about 7:30am and shot the buck right off the main Rd after it stepped out in front of him. Said it even turned broadside for him.

To his credit it sounded like he had been hunting hard and just got lucky. You never know.

[Wetwoodshunter]

I decided to give blacktail a shot this year with a rifle. It has been a struggle for real, I have been going every day after work but skipping the weekends due to my experiences on opening day. I may hunt this Sunday if I still have a tag in my pocket. As far as seeing deer, in the 6 days that I have been out so far I have laid eyes on 7 does and not one buck.

You just have to believe and stick it out! Rifle only gets better the later this first season gets and once you spend the time you will appreciate it a lot more. Blacktail hunting is hard to be successful on a buck, let alone a mature one. Keep at it and trust that if you know there are deer there a buck will make a mistake, but it may be day 10 or day 1 you never know.

[Deerelk37]

My group went 3/4 on Saturday. Saw a buck the next morning that got pushed out by another hunter. No hunters since, also no deer since. The sun is a BT hunters worst nightmare. And it looks like almost all sun through the last day. First and last light will be the best bet-unless your know how to hunt them when the sun is out shining...which I don't lol. I end up taking a long lunch and lots of hiking without spotting.

[Deerelk37]

Here's the other buck

[Rob Allen]

Went out this morning in West Klickitat got there  before shooting light bun not as early as I wanted  didn't see anything but lots of animals around.  8 miles yesterday about about 5 this morning my feet ache  i am sitting it out tonight..  next year  Mulies out east..

About noon I i was about an hour  away from my truck and i was seeing lots of evidence of elk  so i followed Randy Newburg's advise and looked  for the nastiest stuff i could find, turns out it was a slope of 20 y/o reprod  it was thick   couldn't see 10 feet  and you had to pretty much crawl through it. I was done really hunting so i thought what the heck. 10 feet in a very fresh pile i slowed down and 2 steps later i head something bounding away, it was no more than 20 feet away  but i never say it. I follow it   sitting down every  8- 10 feet  to try to get a view.  I go  about 50 feet and the woods  erupts and i see a tan and brown shape crashing down the hill 30 feet away didn't see if it was a cow or a bull  but it was alone, doesn't that usually mean  bull???

 anyway  if i had an experience like that every time out i'd never need to kill anything.

 the question should never be  " why do you hunt"  it should be  Why wouldn't you?

[fishnfur]

Yup!  Those experiences stick in your brain and keep you coming back for more. 

[AROTTY]

I've been hunting 388 and 578 as well this year. Seen a ton of does and a couple forkies.

 The deer are under a lot of hunting pressure and all the cougars aren't helping either.  They haven't been moving much during the day. If you are near the canyons, glass from non obvious angles. The deer tend to hide out of an easy sightline. If you are further west on the timber property, get there super early, walk down a closed road to a spot and sit and watch. There will be some pre dawn activity.