2020 Blacktail rut/pre-rut and post rut thread

[Pacific Ghost]

Great information.  Thanks to everyone.  There is still time to fill the quality tag and then the late season. Gonna work it hard. You all are a wealth of knowledge. 

Keep us posted on how your permit hunt turns out. I am entrigued. The biggest bodied, and grayest colored deer I shot in 663 was several minutes before dark, the last day of late buck in 2012. Raining sideways, down in a hole. And yes, go figure, a 2 pt of course.

[fishnfur]

Don't say that like it's a bad thing.  I think big/wide mature old forkies are the coolest deer around.  They are the epitome of a classic coastal BT.  I'd kill a mature wide forkie way before I'd kill a small four-point hanging with him.  But that just me   

That's a really good buck you took back in 2012, even though he's missing a bit of character.

[highside74]

Don't say that like it's a bad thing.  I think big/wide mature old forkies are the coolest deer around.  They are the epitome of a classic coastal BT.  I'd kill a mature wide forkie way before I'd kill a small four-point hanging with him.  But that just me   

That's a really good buck you took back in 2012, even though he's missing a bit of character.

I agree. My dream is an 18x18 forky. 18 wide 18 tall

[Pacific Ghost]

Ya, better than small 3 or 4, but not better than tall/wide/heavy 3 or 4.

[fishnfur]

Agreed, but then again.....  Check out some of the monsters on this thread.  The old guy at the bottom of page 8 will put you on the floor!  Enjoy!

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,198136.210.html

[highside74]

120" forked horn.  Come on that's just dirty. You just don't see perfect 2s like that. Don't get me wrong all big bucks are awesome.

[SeatoSummit88]

I'll be holding tight on that first cut I had in mind then! Maybe day 1/majority of day 1 will be glassing and glassing

[fishnfur]

Not a horrible idea, but never be afraid to go with your gut.  Sometimes that period between 1:00 and 3:00 PM gets me up working some close by timber, then I return to the cut for the last 90 minutes of light.

I haven't killed many bucks, but I've killed them in both the morning and at last light as they were coming out of nowhere to join a doe out in the cut that was waiting for Mr. right.  It's hard to second guess sitting on a cut, especially if you know there are deer actively using the area you're watching. Let us know how it turns out.

[TheStovePipeKid]

Pulled some pics today. There is a pretty nice deep forkie that's moved in at my stand and showed up twice this week in the morning cruising through. That makes a spike and forkie in our spot. I'm hoping we can get it done o  both our tags for late rifle. We had a small forkie on cam just before modern general that I haven't seen since.

[fishnfur]

No obvious rutting activity in the last 24 hours.  Windy rainy night may have impacted normal movements.  Lots of doe up feeding between the hours of 0800 and 0900 today. 

[SeatoSummit88]

Weather looks solid for Thursday-Sunday where I'll be hunting... Trying to figure out my staging on the cut though, as the wind looks like its going to screw me. Even though it's going to be blowing,raining and cold..All great BT hunting weather needs...My position at the end of the landing road I was hoping to walk down and set up shop for glassing, is not set up for a South or SW Wind...As it would be to my back.  On this landing, there is a bottom cut below me and about 380 yards across to the North, with a small gut of big trees at the bottom, is another hill side cut that I like to look onto, that has a landing road on top.  Typically I like this Southside hill as, I can easily catch movement below me easier than I can a few hundred yards away, plus the northside hill is larger to look onto and glass... This secondary landing road to the North of me is accessible by a branched landing cut off road about 1/4 mile back on the main logging road.  I'm probably answering my own question here...But I'd imagine if I stayed with my primary choice landing, I would just blow out any animals with my scent being dragged down and out.  I'd head East if I decided to jump down in the timber and go for a bush walk/new area exploration.. So maybe I chalk it up to less hillside glassing from the North landing road, and having to listen more and look straight down without binos a bit more to see if anything gets up or moves, so that I don't blow my chances with any deer caching my scent.  Almost was a perfect scenario.

[fishngamereaper]

Convinced the kid today was our day... hammered out his school work and off we went.

I lied.

Lots of sign, found a rub line with trees every 20 yds hit..but nothing moving at all.

Until an hour after dark just before our driveway a local buck was chasing a doe .

Two days left ..and motivation is pretty low for the kid .

[fishnfur]

Sucks that it's been so poor for your son - expectations for great hunting make it that much worse.  The good news is that even if he doesn't fill his tag by the weekend, he's still got late buck to hit it again, and you don't have to drive south to hunt. 

Both Sat. and Sun. have pretty good BT weather, though I like the higher winds predicted for tomorrow afternoon.  Sometimes that gets them really jumpy and moving out into cuts or standing up in a clearing in the woods trying to look for predators (since the wind is defeating their hearing). 

Good luck!

 

[fishnfur]

Couple of YouTube vids: 

One a buck slowly grunting at and then false charging something in the woods - Start at 1:10 into the vid.

The second, an interesting discussion of post-peak of the rut hunting on a mountain up in Canada.  I'm thinking that it is very likely that his idea of finding "the pocket" applies everywhere BT live, and why it seems BT vacate many spots leaving the woods  seemingly empty during peak of the rut and beyond.  Not always, but during those times when the woods seem completely devoid of deer.

[SeatoSummit88]

Steve Ishdahl is an amazing BT hunter...although the bucks he targets are alpine deer, I believe the same concepts can be applied...I downloaded his app and subscribed to his YouTube channel.. he has killed the biggest BTs I've ever seen in my life.  Theres another SE AK hunter that kills Sitka BTs and I follow his channel religiously too. One guy uses calls and one guys goes into their home and brings out his inner ninja/stalker.