So what methods and techniques are used to take blacktails here?

[Parasite]

So what methods and techniques are used to take blacktails here? I'm interested in the common and uncommon. For instance, living in North Carolina it's traditional to run whitetails with dogs. And in Missouri you can hunt them with a spear. Michigan allows airguns. I'm mostly interested in the common stuff, but I do always find the uncommon stuff interesting.

[Skyvalhunter]

If you do a search you will find a ton on this very subject there isn't a week that goes by when there isn't something about hunting blacktails posted.

[Viking360]

Go to the wdfw website and look up the hunting regs.

[Parasite]

I forgot to add ... what are the most frequently used methods.

[nwwanderer]

From my observations, patience beyond nuts and dumb luck.  Forgot to mention, you are in a state, Washington, that likes to complicate and control most everything, no dogs, spears, air guns, traps and they own the deer, you can not touch them without following all of the constantly changing rules and boundaries.  Be careful out there

[bobcat]

That's what I was just going to say- luck. To be lucky it helps to be out there every day the last week of the season, especially be sure you're hunting all day on the 31st. And next year the last day will be November 1st, which I don't ever remember blacktail season being open after the 31st. So that's going to be a good day to be in the woods. I just might have to buy a Washington deer tag next year just for that one day.

[MADMAX]

As the others have said
Luck
Timing
Persistence

[Curly]

Common methods?  I'd say sitting and watching clear-cuts and road hunting are two of the most popular methods. 

Some of the better methods are sitting in tree stands, rattling, and still hunting.

[7mmfan]

Most common method for hunting blacktails in Western WA = sitting on 3-7 year old clearcuts all day waiting for one to poke their head up out of the brush. It's mind numbing, but it's effective.

Number 2 method would be hunting those clear cuts, but doing it quickly and covering ground. Walk up to one, glass it until you're satisfied you've covered it, and then move on to the next one. The goal being that by covering enough clear cuts you find one up and about. This is especially effective later in the season when the rut is beginning and the bucks are starting to cruise.

Number 3 method, get into the oldest timber you can find that has ferns and some underbrush, and still hunt. Move excruciatingly slow, and then move slower. Use Binos and pick the place apart looking for a white throat patch, ear or antler sticking up out of the ferns, or anything out of place. If you can find a good trail in these areas, sitting on it all day can be a great recipe for success.

Guys hunt from treestands, ground blinds, sit on trails, on bikes, in pickups, or just walk all day looking around. Some call and rattle with success, most don't. Basically take every hunting method for every other species of deer and it can apply here. It's finding the one that works for you and your specific area.

I personally like to hunt on my bike, cruising clearcut to clearcut all day the last week of the season. It's nothing for me to cover 20+miles in a day on my bike. Our crew does pretty well. Most of my deer are killed between 10:00-2:00, so again, stay out all day.

The best piece of advice I could give you is to wait for crappy weather, i.e. wind and rain, and stay out ALL DAY. My best blacktail hunting days were spent out in the field shielding my face from the driving rain and listening to trees crashing down in the woods. The animals will move out into the clear cuts on days like this and become highly visible.

[JimmyHoffa]

Most popular:  Get in the biggest, loudest diesel you can find.  Cram everyone inside dressed in full camo with orange on.  Drive the roads at 4 mph, don't let anyone pass you.  Blare that Jason Aldean music.  Stop every 20 minutes to take a pee break at a landing, and scope everything around.  Maybe fire a few shots to check your gun.  Move another twelve cans of beer from the bed to the cab and head for the next landing.

[WapitiTalk1]

Most popular:  Get in the biggest, loudest diesel you can find.  Cram everyone inside dressed in full camo with orange on.  Drive the roads at 4 mph, don't let anyone pass you.  Blare that Jason Aldean music.  Stop every 20 minutes to take a pee break at a landing, and scope everything around.  Maybe fire a few shots to check your gun.  Move another twelve cans of beer from the bed to the cab and head for the next landing.

 

[7mmfan]

Most popular:  Get in the biggest, loudest diesel you can find.  Cram everyone inside dressed in full camo with orange on.  Drive the roads at 4 mph, don't let anyone pass you.  Blare that Jason Aldean music.  Stop every 20 minutes to take a pee break at a landing, and scope everything around.  Maybe fire a few shots to check your gun.  Move another twelve cans of beer from the bed to the cab and head for the next landing.

I had this typed almost verbatim, but I didn't want to offend the majority.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

The best piece of advice I could give you is to wait for crappy weather, i.e. wind and rain, and stay out ALL DAY. My best blacktail hunting days were spent out in the field shielding my face from the driving rain and listening to trees crashing down in the woods. The animals will move out into the clear cuts on days like this and become highly visible.

^^ This ^^
Last week of October-December.
If the forecast is for nasty weather, hit the woods.
Either that or scout all spring and summer until you find one, then find the thickest patch of crap in the area and find a spot to watch it from before daylight until after dark.
The ones that live by me come out at the strangest times.
Mostly only have bucks at night, but sometimes they show up between 12:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon just to mess with me.
Evil little *censored*s.

[Bowhunter3]

Most popular:  Get in the biggest, loudest diesel you can find.  Cram everyone inside dressed in full camo with orange on.  Drive the roads at 4 mph, don't let anyone pass you.  Blare that Jason Aldean music.  Stop every 20 minutes to take a pee break at a landing, and scope everything around.  Maybe fire a few shots to check your gun.  Move another twelve cans of beer from the bed to the cab and head for the next landing.

   I have never read a more accurate description of the colockum

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Glassing clearcuts is a productive method, but I usually do that first thing in the morning and the last hour before dark.  Then I like to still hunt adjoining timber patches.  This involves SLOWLY making your way through the woods, stopping often to look and listen. Shots will usually be 50 yards or less.  Sometimes if I find a good opening/view point, I'll just sit and watch for a while.

When I was young and learning to hunt, we never hunted clearcuts. We hunted the timber in Capitol Forest. My dad and uncles grew up in the Mox Chehalis valley, and knew every ridge and canyon and how they all connected and where the choke points were. We made drives, usually with one or two people on stands but not always.  On these drives we'd hunt similarly to still hunting, except you'd move a little faster and being perfectly quiet wasn't necessary. The purpose wasn't so much to sneak up on a deer to get a shot, but to get them moving.  Blacktail like to double back on you. So if you jumped one, there was a good chance he'd run into one of your partners trying to circle back on you.  Some times if we knew we moved deer around, we'd turn around and hunt back the same way we had just come and get deer on the second passage. Dad and the uncles had hunted those woods for so long, they knew where deer would go when pushed which was invaluable when putting people on stands. And often we'd do multiple drives during the day to get deer moved to certain areas And then do a drive through a canyon where we figured the deer may have piled up.  Our drives consisted of anywhere between two people and eight was probably the largest. Four or five was probably the most common.  Sometimes we'd have two different drives going on with plans to meet at a third location and all hunt there together.  we would often get multiple deer on one drive.  Not many people hunt that way any more, but it was very common in the 50s, 60,s and 70s in that area.  Lots of large families hunting together. And from down on the family ranch, you'd hear shooting all day long.  I started hunting at 10, and it wasn't until I was 18 that I was introduced to hunting clearcuts. Before that, it was always in the timber.