What are the main differences hunting BT vs WT?

[Alchase]

I grew up hunting Blacktails, I prefer to spot and stock Blacktails in the timber over trying to hunt whitetails here in Oklahoma.
They are so nocternal you rarely see movement in daylight. And I can’t stand sitting in a stand all day hoping something will walk by.

[CAMPMEAT]

If I can kill a Blacktail, anybody can. I've shot, Blacktail, Whitetail and Mule Deer.

[onmygame]

I think you gotta go quite always northeast to find them whiteys don’t ya 

There are plenty in the SE - though most units are 3 pt or better

[onmygame]

If I can kill a Blacktail, anybody can. I've shot, Blacktail, Whitetail and Mule Deer.

Gotta agree with Campmeat.

Interesting thread - where the BT is the 'hardest thing to hunt' due to unpredictability and inconsistencies -

'The BT never uses the same trail...'

'The BT is nocturnal...'

'The BT lives in the thickest of brush...'

'The BT never has to travel far...'

Unpredictable??

Inconsistent???

What more do you want in terms of behavioral patterns...combine these nuggets with the fact that bucks get flat out goofy around the rut, can be called in with either antlers rubbing brush or calls from a grunt tube, and you have a recipe for steak.

[wackmnstackm]

awesome info thanks everyone 

[3nails]

 I've killed many trophy blacktails and whitetails alike. Many times in the same year by hunting out of state. Blacktails are my first love (hunting wise) but love hunting whitetails so much I bought property in Montana just to hunt them. Hear is my  for what it's worth.
 In unpressured areas you can pattern a whitetail. A blacktail is completely random.
 A blacktail will bed in it's feeding area. Whitetails seldom do.
 Do to so many more predators hunting them a whitetail is very skittish and will flee at the slightest hint of danger. A blacktail will just keep an eye on you through a one inch hole in the brush.
 During the rut; Aggression! A whitetail buck will lose his mind chasing does, running like a bird dog, fighting any challengers, rubbing like crazy. A blacktail will just set a steady pace and walk virtually all day and night. Avoid conflict if possible.
 I don't think terrain plays that much into it. I hunt both in the dense brush and both in wide open meadows.
 To summarize my experience: Whitetails are harder to hunt outside the rut. During the rut they are far easier.

 

 

[Dan-o]

Blacktails:   Sneaky, secretive, reclusive, hiders


Whitetails:   Psycho

[nwwanderer]

Humans tend to name everything, whitetail and blacktail are different species, the mule deer being a subspecies of the blacktail.  Whitetail has been around longer, quite different habits as explained so will by so many.  While the whitetail has been about for millions of years some of the blacktail species may have separated only 10,000 or so years ago.

[CedarPants]

Blacktails:   Sneaky, secretive, reclusive, hiders


Whitetails:   Psycho

 

[Alchase]

whitetail is very skittish and will flee at the slightest hint of danger.
A blacktail will just keep an eye on you through a one inch hole in the brush.

 

I use to hut Blacktails in timber where there is a small opening to daylight  Or sit about 50 yards inside the tree line of a clearcut and glass, glass,  glass looking for a tail or ear twitch.
Blacktails more times then not, will freeze up first, thinking they are invisible.
I have walked within a few feet of Blacktails frozen in the brush or timber, and they stayed put until I was out of sight.


Whitetails will hightail it out of there (literally) if they hear you, see you, or wind you.
I have yet to see a Whitetail freeze up.
 

[jackelope]

The view at my typical whitetail grounds.



The view where I’ve hunted blacktails.


(I’m kidding. I've never hunted here)

[Dhoey07]

Well ya see now, the difference between the two is pretty black and white......


 

[Jonathan_S]

public land areas that hold good bucks are pretty similar in appearance. Jackelope’s farmland looks nice but mountain bucks live in dense brush and timber.

Mature bucks of either species are incredibly wary

[Alchase]

Actually more whitetails that are taken in general season here in Oklahoma are taken from tree farms. I hunt Honobia and Three Rivers GMUs that are weyerhaeuser land in the SE corner of the state.
It looks pretty much the same as the weyerhaeuser land in Washington.
I was surprised how similar they are. Heavy forest with tons of thick under brush, with lots of Whitetail. The NW parts are prairie as fare as the eye can see.

[fishnfur]

Humans tend to name everything, whitetail and blacktail are different species, the mule deer being a subspecies of the blacktail.  Whitetail has been around longer, quite different habits as explained so will by so many.  While the whitetail has been about for millions of years some of the blacktail species may have separated only 10,000 or so years ago.

Maybe.  I've seen more recent studies that question whether the Blacktail might be the oldest species a precursor to the Whitetail species, which eventually spread across N. America.  One study even postulated that Mule deer seemed to arise from a cross of WT and BTs.  I do believe that it is Mule deer that are the newcomers to the N. American deer family, the subspecies estimated to be possibly as young as 20,000 - 40,000 years old. Very likely a geographical separation from the other two species occurred during the period of glaciation around that time (my own conjecture). Certainly, BT and Muleys are closely related as they maintain the ability to crossbreed and produce offspring that are fertile.

Ultimately, the WT is the most adaptable of the three species.  They both occupy virtually every type of terrain and ecosystem within their ranges, but WTs tend to be much more numerous than BTs in many of those settings.  BT would be much easier to hunt, much like those in N. California and S. Oregon, if we removed 80% of the vegetation they call home.  Given the same level of vegetation, I believe WTs would be equally difficult to hunt as BTs, maybe harder, due to their tendency to run forever.  BT have no need to.  They've learned to stop at the first cover and hold, which sometimes doesn't work out all that well for a predator carrying a gun.  You've just got to find them first.