grunting blacktail

[Fishpimp]

 i  have hunted since  i was 10{21 seasons now} and have been very successful with killing 20 deer. i have spent a ton of time in the outdoors and i have never heard a blacktail grunt or really make any noise, until this year. i was hunting a small,thick area around a beaver pond and we saw 3 huge bucks, all were very vocal.   is this normal?
 for example i was walking along this bottom and there was a ridge on my right and left, on the ridge from the right i heard a  buuuurrrrrrpppp noise. i had never heard it before  but it sounded like a whitetail grunt call  i see all those guys in tree stand blow on tv.   is what i thought was weird was he kept doing it and he started crashing around{maybe rubbing a tree,not quite sure} so after about his 20th bbbbuuuurrrrp  in about 2 minutes i tried to mimic it and i got an answer,from behind me. there was a monster looking at me at about 60 yards away. i turned around and shot and missed,i dropped to 1 knee,got a rest and missed again.{ i later found out my gun got dropped by a family member a week earlier in idaho and nobody told me.  it was shooting great a week before so i didn't shoot it,stupid me, the gun was 2' left and 2' high at 100 yards. i have heard stories of that but i experienced it first had,very crappy feeling} anyway i ran into a big white faced buck in ther ethe next morning that was jogging down a grade bbuuuuurrrpppp-ing just before shooting time and he almost ran me over. he was dumber then a post. i heard him coming for about 1 minute then he just appeared infront of me at about 12 paces.
so after this really long write up and aimless rambling i am basically wondering   is this normal? have anyone ever heard a blacktail be vocal or should i  say "that vocal". i ended up grunting in a few smaller ones and i shot a nontypical. i already put his pic. up a while back but i will throw it up again.

thanks for your  input on this

[ICEMAN]

I have heard a blacktail grunt before. An old whiteface buck I shot. I had finished hunting and was walking back to the car making a ton of noise. I actually was kicking rocks down into the timbered dark ravine to the side of a road and after a rock tumbled down, he made the noise...it caused me to look his way and see him looking in the direction of the stone I kicked. I shot him. Wynooche area probably 15years ago.

What I really want to know is which family member of yours dropped the rifle and didnt tell you? 

[catwithboost]

Fishpimp what area do you hunt? I will go look and hear and see if it is grunting you are hearing.  Sound like a idea to me

[ICEMAN]

I want to go fishing with Fishpimp.....in case you guys dont know....he is a fish pro too!

[7mag.]

I have often heard blacktails grunt in the pre rut and rut. I have also heard does blow at me and stamp their feet, some young bucks too.

[huntnphool]

Thats one unique buck

[bowhunterforever]

That buck is awsome! Did you get him mounted?

[mossback91]

never blacktail hunted BUT i feel your pain with the family member dropping a rifle and not beign told about it........I missed what would have been my biggest whitetail buck a true wall hanger twice at about 75 yards because of that same thing 


Cool lookin buck you got there

[rasbo]

nice buck,I grunted one in during muzzy season 3 yrs back it was cool came right at me

[Sneaky]

good buck and epic beard..



In my experience, blacktails are even more aggressive than whitetails during the rut in some instances. I often hear them rather than see them in the thick stuff that they call home.

One of the drivers where i used to work got stuck behind two nice bucks fighting in the middle of the road up by where 18 meets 90. He sat there and waited for close to ten minutes before they got off the road, all the while laying on his air horn.

[Fishpimp]

I want to go fishing with Fishpimp.....in case you guys dont know....he is a fish pro too!

ssshhhh that is top secret    thanks for the kind words. i actually don't fish much anymore { i am weeks behind on orders as is}. i gave up guiding and just stick to making the steelhead worms and jigs.

 as for the deer noises. i have heard does blow and stomp there feet but never a buck  make a peep till this year. after reading all of this i was thinking. all the bucks i had make noise were monsters. i never heard a smaller buck grunt. could it be a more "mature" buck thing? my dad , grandpa and both uncles {all have hunted there whole lives and are very accomplished outsdoorsmen} have never heard a blacktail grunt, but after this year my uncle bought a grunt call.

thank you guys for the input

[rainshadow1]

I've had this discussion in the past with friends. Consensus is, they don't, except for maybe 10 days per year. 355 days per year they're silent. Not a hard fast rule, but a theory with some good stories to back it up.

[fc2038]

I have heard them many times. Normally it was out scouting before late rifle season. Seen two in a clearcut grunting and then they had a little tussle and then walked away. Was pretty cool. That is a nice lookin buck. Weird lookin on the right side!

[ABugg]

BT does are actually fairly vocal with young fawns; bleats/grunts are very soft and easily missed.

[furbearer365]

I am a huge believer in grunting blacktails.  During that certain time a year my grunt call is almost more important to me than my binocs.  I have personally grunted in two big bucks and my dad has also grunted in two.  One of the bucks my dad grunted in charged him and he shot it in the neck about 15 feet away.  I was with him so I know it happened.  The best way to do it is to grunt once or twice, stand there for a couple minutes, if nothing comes, walk about 50 or 60 yards a grunt again.  It will test your patience but work wonders.  Will try to get pics of my dad buck, it is a very gnarly 5 x 5 not counting eye guards.