Old gnarly Blacktail down Adventure (updated with Video)

[skagitsteel]

Well I had quite the blacktail season some crazy weather, a bunch of snow, high winds, passing on a few bucks (one or two that made me cringe when they walked away!) then it all came together! Tough, old warrior mature buck that made for a long day! Initial shot wasn't great, taken at first light. I tracked him in the snow with blood for the first hour, then 5.5 hours of almost zero blood and no snow, hands and knees looking for crushed leaves, ect... I waited for thermals to shift and slowly worked down his trail until I caught up to him and finished him off when he stood up in his bed. The buck dropped 1500' elevation in the wrong direction and covered two miles from original shot. I had to drop a couple thousand more feet and 4 +hours down an unfamilar drainage and then hike down the creek through alder and devils club in the dark to get to a road. Entire boned out buck and cape in one solo trip.  I managed to get a text out to a good friend to pick me up on a different road system, but lost signal so I had no idea if he would actually be there, thank goodness he was! home at 11 Pm, what a day!


Here are some video highlights from my season, I have a lot more footage to edit and will have something narrated, longer and better edited this winter, for now here are some highlights
Not a valid vimeo URL

[h20hunter]

Man, that is a hog! Love the scars.  Congrats.

[rackattack]

Great Buck

[lewy]

What a toad

[pianoman9701]

  What a great buck!

[SeatoSummit88]

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

[justyhntr]

That is an awesome buck , congrats!

[X-Force]

Sweet Buck.

Some dandy blacktails taken up there this year.

[BrownGoinDown]

 

Incredible effort to catch up to him! Nicely done. That's a great buck.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Wow! That's as good as it gets with a blacktail. There may be a few that score better, but I'd take this one with all the character any day. Look at that nose....  That is a beast.

[jstone]

H.....U.....G.....E

Nicely done

[Mfowl]

Wow, what a toad! Congrats!

[skagitsteel]

Wow! That's as good as it gets with a blacktail. There may be a few that score better, but I'd take this one with all the character any day. Look at that nose....  That is a beast.

I agree! I knew he was old and big when I shot, when I walked up on him I was not dissapointed!

[JimmyHoffa]

Congrats, such a nice deer.

[Martinhunter]

Wow what pig!! That is a awesome blacktail, congrats and well done tracking him down!