Old gnarly Blacktail down Adventure (updated with Video)

[ebusa]

Great Job! Congrats! What a TOAD Blackie!

What caliber did you use? Might be time for a magnum? lol 

[skagitsteel]

Great Job! Congrats! What a TOAD Blackie!

What caliber did you use? Might be time for a magnum? lol 

300 win Mag, berger VLD.  Frst animal I have shot that has left the scene after being hit with that combo!  My initial shot placement was off, would not have mattered if it was .338 Lapua.

[JDHasty]

Heavy...HEAVY blacktail. That tracking story is over the top. Thanks for posting and congrats, you're an inspiration.

Probably wore out the knees on his pants is what I was thinking. 

[skagitsteel]

Heavy...HEAVY blacktail. That tracking story is over the top. Thanks for posting and congrats, you're an inspiration.

Thanks! For me Heft is king! Add that to a big frame and it's the ultimate buck for me.  I knew odds were against me in tracking that buck down, there were about 3 different times I though I would have to give up after losing his trail (like when he ran through the occupied deer beds and sent several other deer running, leaving a scene of fresh trucks running every direction!) however I decided I would go until my cutoff time (2-3Pm) to get back to atleast familiar ground by dark.  I was 3 hours from the truck at intial shot and buck was running downhill away from truck!  I was getting closer to cutoff time and looking over a bench thinking I will probably make it to the edge of that bench, but then be out of time and have to turn back.  I was mentally pretty fried.  I noticed a coyote slink away in front of me and I thought, it could be! The thermal had shifted so he could no longer wind me if he was still below, I continued and just 100 yeards below where the coyote was he stood up.

[REHJWA]

Congratulations, awesome job sticking with it, and an amazing deer. Thanks for sharing!

[Odell]

What a toad! What a great story as well, man that tracking job is insane!

 Please post up the taxidermy photos when he's done. I know that will take a while, does your taxidermist offer a 'rush order' price? If so I say we start a go fund me here so we can see it sooner!! haha

[Rainier10]

Wow, got a text last night to look at this thread and just now got around to it.

What an awesome buck.  Glad that you were able to track him down and close the deal.

Thanks for posting.

What a buck.

[zagsfan1]

Congrats.  Amazing buck and Story to go with it!!

[Boss .300 winmag]

Whoah! That's a big ol' gnarly blacktail alright! Nicely done!

 

[couesbitten]

Wow, beautiful monarch buck, congratulations, thank you for sharing and please post up a picture of the mount when finished.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Skagit, how bad was he hit with the initial shot? There is a learning experience here for a lot of us. #1 it's amazing what an animal can take and keep going. #2 be patient and do your best at following up. There are many who just give up if they don't find an animal in the first 10p yards or so. I remember spending an afternoon looking for a buck my brother shot when we were kids. He was using a shotgun with buckshot and swore he had hit it.  It was a rainy day.  What little blood there was, was soon washed away, but my dad found one or two drops where it jumped over a log so we kept looking. It had ended up in a salal patch in a gulley and that salal was well over your head. Dad found it while fighting his way through to see if there was any sign on the other side.  I also tracked a buck over a mile that a buddy had gut shot on Kodiak. It had circled a bowl up in the Mts. then crossed the trail almost where he'd shot it and dove down in a thick alder patch. I caught up with it in the alders but it still led me on a long chase before I was able to finish it. I'd see it but usually it's but or just a patch and it would go some more. It finally stopped in a small clearing on a hillside and I got a clean shot. #3 if there is even a chance you connected, you owe it to the animal to give your all to find it.

You passed the test in my mind and I have great respect for your perseverance. 

Oh there is a #4. Sometimes in spite of all our effort a wounded animal gets away. Some survive and some don't. It's gut wrenching if you care at all about hunting. The best that can come out of that situation is to really think over the whole situation from the shot until you had to give up and figure out what went wrong and do everything in your power to make sure it doesn't happen again.  I've been there.

[gonehuntin68]

Wow, just wow.

[Matth]

Totally  awesome, old timers like that don't come along every day.

[Timberstalker]

I had to come back and look at this buck again; Wow, he is still a slob.

Awesome buck and congrats.   

[skagitsteel]

Skagit, how bad was he hit with the initial shot? There is a learning experience here for a lot of us. #1 it's amazing what an animal can take and keep going. #2 be patient and do your best at following up. There are many who just give up if they don't find an animal in the first 10p yards or so. I remember spending an afternoon looking for a buck my brother shot when we were kids. He was using a shotgun with buckshot and swore he had hit it.  It was a rainy day.  What little blood there was, was soon washed away, but my dad found one or two drops where it jumped over a log so we kept looking. It had ended up in a salal patch in a gulley and that salal was well over your head. Dad found it while fighting his way through to see if there was any sign on the other side.  I also tracked a buck over a mile that a buddy had gut shot on Kodiak. It had circled a bowl up in the Mts. then crossed the trail almost where he'd shot it and dove down in a thick alder patch. I caught up with it in the alders but it still led me on a long chase before I was able to finish it. I'd see it but usually it's but or just a patch and it would go some more. It finally stopped in a small clearing on a hillside and I got a clean shot. #3 if there is even a chance you connected, you owe it to the animal to give your all to find it.

You passed the test in my mind and I have great respect for your perseverance. 

Oh there is a #4. Sometimes in spite of all our effort a wounded animal gets away. Some survive and some don't. It's gut wrenching if you care at all about hunting. The best that can come out of that situation is to really think over the whole situation from the shot until you had to give up and figure out what went wrong and do everything in your power to make sure it doesn't happen again.  I've been there.

Some solid advice, I learned a lot that day.

1st shot was neck that ended up just going through rutted neck flesh.  Second broke his leg on the run, never even realized I hit him again until I found him.  Last shot was broadside double lunger and that did it. Never lost an animal and Never in my life have I had an animal go more than 20 yards after being hit.  One clue I used in tracking was that I recognized a limp the way he was sluffing his tracks on steep side hill. It got to a point when he got on game trails that I had no more to go off than recently compressed pine needles