Blacktail Deer Hunting

[fishnfur]

 [/quote]

Meh none of those things bother me lol. It's more about the bear, and not wanting to go solo. But now I have a 10mm sidearm and pepper spray. I have seen firsthand how fast a black bear can be and how much damage they can do quickly. But overall pain is relative , my pain tolerance is high and I grew up with a lot of these things in the midwest.
[/quote]

Buy a bear tag.  If you buy the tag, it virtually guarantees you'll never see one.    Black Bears, in general, don't like humans.  Neither do cats.  They tend to run away rather than towards.  Sows with cubs (and other hunters) is what you want to keep your distance from - that scenario can turn south on you if you get mama worried. 

Walking into or out from the woods in the dark is a little unnerving for the first few trips.  If you jump an animal, it was probably a deer.  Relax and worry more about getting to your spot without getting lost instead of thinking about the imagined/unseen man-eaters behind every tree.  They're not there, they're in your mind.

[Kc_Kracker]

Krackers tip #1, Yes WA can be a bit intimidating, and for good reason. Anytime you i step into the woods here you can easily run into a black bear or a cougar, and either can clock 35 MPH. The first year i hunted I had to stand face to face with a big tom cat, and stupid me went scouting unarmed.  I was only 100 yards from the highway. I suggest always carrying a sidearm, one you can draw and fire quicker then you can aim a rifle. Something that can put a bear or cat in the dirt, and personally I prefer a large cap mag because its not easy to hit something moving. at any rate, id go with you if i could afford a pass for that area 

[Bogie85]

Boys Irverson Blacktail Trophy Tactics 2 book.  That's my pro tip

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Added to my list to go pickup! Can never learn enough.

[Turner89]

If there are clear cuts I would advise you to spend time behind your binos picking them apart. Most people underutilize glassing when hunting blacktails and they can appear out of thin air in a unit. All 4 deer that myself,a buddy & my 2 boys harvested last year never knew we were there or that the shot was coming.

  get comfortable, and glass. Good luck

[WapitiTalk1]

If nobody has mentioned it, stay at your overwatch position until the last shred of shooting light fades. The mature bucks normally won’t move till right before dark.

[fishnfur]

.....and/or be there 45 minutes to an hour before first light.  As the season progresses towards the rut, the bucks may be out all night chasing, lay down early and rest till 10 AM plus or minus, then head back out to resume the search for a hot doe.  Just when you let your guard down is when they surprise you.   

[deerhunter_98520]

.....and/or be there 45 minutes to an hour before first light.  As the season progresses towards the rut, the bucks may be out all night chasing, lay down early and rest till 10 AM plus or minus, then head back out to resume the search for a hot doe.  Just when you let your guard down is when they surprise you.   

 

10-2pm during the rut is the best time tbh...every mature buck I've shot has been in this time frame

[fishnfur]

Concur.  Your's, plus a hundred other hunters stories who stand by those hunting hours make that fact worthwhile to consider carefully.  I've had little luck with during these times, but when you read similar stories over and over again, you gotta figure there's something to it.  Sometimes it's documented as late as 3:00 PM.  The main point is that hunters should expect that there may be big mature bucks out moving at mid-day once things are really getting going, and they are vulnerable if you can figure out what trails they are moving on.  It is no longer just a morning and evening opportunity.

[deerhunter_98520]

Find a area with good population of does and sit and wait for the action to start 

[Bogie85]

Krackers tip #1, Yes WA can be a bit intimidating, and for good reason. Anytime you i step into the woods here you can easily run into a black bear or a cougar, and either can clock 35 MPH. The first year i hunted I had to stand face to face with a big tom cat, and stupid me went scouting unarmed.  I was only 100 yards from the highway. I suggest always carrying a sidearm, one you can draw and fire quicker then you can aim a rifle. Something that can put a bear or cat in the dirt, and personally I prefer a large cap mag because its not easy to hit something moving. at any rate, id go with you if i could afford a pass for that area 

I have a glock gen 4 g20 15 mag 10mm for that very reason. I have had my fair share of run in's with mountain lions and they are scarier than most bears. But I am not on e to take chances, I would rather be safe than sorry.

[WAnoob]

Bears tend to avoid humans, I have lots of bear signs in my area and only end up bumping deer when I walk in and out at dark. But I grew up in Alaska and bears don't phase me at all.

[Tiger1358]

Meh none of those things bother me lol. It's more about the bear, and not wanting to go solo. But now I have a 10mm sidearm and pepper spray. I have seen firsthand how fast a black bear can be and how much damage they can do quickly. But overall pain is relative , my pain tolerance is high and I grew up with a lot of these things in the midwest.

I come from a place where we have brown bears really intimidating people with their aggressive behavior and started first hunting black bears here with caution in mind. Trust me, black bears are really spooky and scared of people (in my experience), once they see or smell you, they'll disappear in seconds.
 
Don't worry about them, just concentrate on the blacktails, and why not keep a bear tag in your pocket, so you can shoot if you see one. They taste delicious in fall. 

[KevrosWanderin]

I know the weekend isnt completely over. I am excited to hear what you experienced

[Bogie85]

Meh none of those things bother me lol. It's more about the bear, and not wanting to go solo. But now I have a 10mm sidearm and pepper spray. I have seen firsthand how fast a black bear can be and how much damage they can do quickly. But overall pain is relative , my pain tolerance is high and I grew up with a lot of these things in the midwest.

I come from a place where we have brown bears really intimidating people with their aggressive behavior and started first hunting black bears here with caution in mind. Trust me, black bears are really spooky and scared of people (in my experience), once they see or smell you, they'll disappear in seconds.
 
Don't worry about them, just concentrate on the blacktails, and why not keep a bear tag in your pocket, so you can shoot if you see one. They taste delicious in fall.

I am literally going to grab a tag, I found a lot of bear scat in the area I hunted on Saturday. This state is seriously the most beautiful place I could have ever winded up. A bad day in the woods is 1000x better than any day at work.

[Bogie85]

I know the weekend isnt completely over. I am excited to hear what you experienced

16 groups were in or around our area. Only one group saw 1 spike, no bucks other than that. We ourselves saw one doe. We crept up on her but someone else spooked her. I learned a ton, and still have a ton to learn. We did a lot of hiking to try to track down fresh scat or game trails. I found a ton of fresh bedding. The one buck that was seen still had his velvet.

Being that I am a new hunter, and all I have is book knowledge. This is telling me, we may be too early and the rut doesn't seem to have started yet. They weren't responding to calls, it was dead quite. Not even many birds going off. So we tried to make something happen by hiking into the mountains went up about 500 foot in elevation to get away from other hunters. All we found was older scat probably about a day old. I didn't even get a buck yet, but I am hooked. It feels natural, and we learned a ton about the area we are hunting now.