Deer wintering spots

[RustyNail]

How do you find where they winter at? Where do they winter at. I’m talking about Blacktail deer. Thank you!

[Onewhohikes]

What area you looking at? If you are in a higher elevation spot  then look river valleys, alder patches, etc

[vandeman17]

Find feed and protection from the elements and you will find deer

[RustyNail]

the hunting spot is at about 1000 ft in elevation.

[MooseStock]

Blacktail don't winter like the herds of Mule deer do...they pretty much live their lives in an area maybe several miles square...if the weather is bad they may be on a south slope or out of the wind but they know their area totally...Bucks may wander in the rut but then they go home...Thats why they are the toughest hunt in the deer world IMO...Les

[grade-creek-rd]

WDFW is currently doing a study of blacktail bucks with GPS collars, using 50 bucks as a sample (and when one dies they replace it with another buck in the local area)...so we will hopefully have some data soon (I think they are in year 3 of a 5 year study) and they did a one year study on does. The average home range for a blacktail doe was just around 270 acres (I think 274...been a while since I reviewed the data) and one doe lived in 40 acres for an entire year. Blacktails don't move around much, but they go "nocturnal" most of the year so we don't see them that much. There's always exceptions to the rule, such as Olympic National Park deer that summer high and migrate down as well as the "Cascade" bench deer.

Grade

[Buckhunter24]

WDFW is currently doing a study of blacktail bucks with GPS collars, using 50 bucks as a sample (and when one dies they replace it with another buck in the local area)...so we will hopefully have some data soon (I think they are in year 3 of a 5 year study) and they did a one year study on does. The average home range for a blacktail doe was just around 270 acres (I think 274...been a while since I reviewed the data) and one doe lived in 40 acres for an entire year. Blacktails don't move around much, but they go "nocturnal" most of the year so we don't see them that much. There's always exceptions to the rule, such as Olympic National Park deer that summer high and migrate down as well as the "Cascade" bench deer.

Grade

Thats wild. I knew they.had a tight radius, didnt realize it was quite that small though they really are ghosts

[fishnfur]

Every thing I've seen/read/heard says they bed and winter very close to a food source. 

The area should provide thermal protection from the elements (rain/snow/wind/cold) but be close to food, since they will not travel in the winter to feed.  In many cases, they are in full energy conservation mode and cannot intake enough calories to offset daily caloric burn required to just stay alive.  They subsist on a starvation diet in hopes of surviving till spring.  This is not really the case in lowland areas unless it is an unusually cold and rainy/snowy winter.  Most seasons, the lowland deer seem to survive with body fat reserves still intact.

Upper elevations, the deer congregate around the largest conifer trees that provide the most falling moss during wind or weather events.  Lower down, you've got to figure out what they're eating.  Typically small woody browse like Huckelberries and vine maple buds as well as any remaining trailing and other varieties of blackberry, sword fern tips, salal, etc.  You may often find that they're eating W. Hemlock seedlings tops, which is considered to be one of the browse forms that indicates they are starving.  I'm not so sure about that 'cause I see that happening a lot.  Elk hit them too.