Blacktail - Late Season(s), 2020 - Harvest Report and Discussion

[WapitiTalk1]

Gave out 2 bleat calls, waited a min, rattled for 20 sec an this buck should up.   145 yards shot to the neck an dropped him.
First blacktail buck. An first time ever rattling anything in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow.  That's a toad.  Good job.

No doubt about that, congrats on a great buck mister

[stickbuck]

Gave out 2 bleat calls, waited a min, rattled for 20 sec an this buck should up.   145 yards shot to the neck an dropped him.
First blacktail buck. An first time ever rattling anything in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Stud buck! Congrats!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[blackveltbowhunter]

Nice bucks killed everyone!

[fishnfur]

   Good going Jr - Love the color of the antlers.  That's a hunt you will remember for years. 

[fishnfur]

Had a quiet end of the MF season (like bad fireworks - it fizzled out  Pffft).  Hunted till 0930, once again, didn't hear a shot from any direction.  Fun was over - packed up, went home.  I think I heard three, possibly four shots in the four days of late buck, less than a typical number for a single morning or afternoon in any other year.  I can only guess that the rut is protracted again this year. 
   Cams in the back yard showed a buck chasing on the 19th, and another still hanging around on the 20th.  That is on par with last year.  Normally, I'd never capture a buck on my backyard cams after the 12th, so something is certainly different.   It will be interesting to see how the hunter success numbers turn out (though I always suspected that WDFW pads the numbers to keep hunter's hopes up and buying tags).
   The good news may be that if you still have an un-notched multi-season tag, there might still be some pretty good action for the next week or so. 

[Dark2Dark]

Had a quiet end of the MF season (like bad fireworks - it fizzled out  Pffft).  Hunted till 0930, once again, didn't hear a shot from any direction.  Fun was over - packed up, went home.  I think I heard three, possibly four shots in the four days of late buck, less than a typical number for a single morning or afternoon in any other year.  I can only guess that the rut is protracted again this year. 
   Cams in the back yard showed a buck chasing on the 19th, and another still hanging around on the 20th.  That is on par with last year.  Normally, I'd never capture a buck on my backyard cams after the 12th, so something is certainly different.   It will be interesting to see how the hunter success numbers turn out (though I always suspected that WDFW pads the numbers to keep hunter's hopes up and buying tags).
   The good news may be that if you still have an un-notched multi-season tag, there might still be some pretty good action for the next week or so.

I saw 17 does in three days. One spike a couple I don’t knows. Not sure what it means for the rut, other than it’s not hot and heavy at the moment.

[Jrtishchuk]

Thankx guys.  Was very blessed to harvest an animal like that.. only been hunting 4 years of my life so I’m still learning..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[scottfrick]

7:50 ish this morning. Right place at the right time. Very thankful for this cool 2pt. Had to work the last three days so today was my Hail Mary.

[WoolyRunner]

Hunted this morning until 930. Didnt hear any shots and saw 3 Does with no bucks. GMU 660

[Buck Rub Jr]

Saw 11 on Thursday, one possible small spike. 17 Friday, 2 spikes and 2 forks. One of the spikes and forks were sparring. Some of the other deer that busted out when I shot mine could have been bucks but couldn’t confirm although I’m fairly confident that the buck I shot wasn’t the buck I saw initially. Didn’t see any Saturday morning when I went with buddies and stayed home today. Didn’t seem like any crazy rut activity where I was. Was an odd year for us as well. 3 bucks harvested in the group, one buck missed and one 3pt gave us the slip so it wasn’t horrible but not as good as last year.

[Skyvalhunter]

I think the main BT rut has passed. Perhaps the secondary one will come thru fater the first of Dec

[SeatoSummit88]

When you come across an area (behind a gate, 1 main road, with 2 small spurs off of it...about a mile in length total, turns and twists and all) that has over 30 rubs with active trails everywhere...but no deer in sight period...would that mean they are actively rubbing and cutting through the trails at night? I guess hard to say without cam footage.. As mentioned prior, there were bunches of rubs between 1-2 in a spot, and all the way up to 8 in a line...whats the likelihood there is more than 1 buck in this small of an area? Or would a dominant buck have already pushed them out? Just seems too insane to have that fresh of rubs without live animals in the vicinity, that we could have jump/spot. We are talking bark shavings curled on the ground below, blood red exposed bark that has clumps of hair still stuck to it. I have a ton of photos, but my pictures are all to big

[Griiz]

Sit in a lawn chair on road with those rubs. A buck will eventually cross. Don’t get up from stand before 11am if sitting in morning.

[Onewhohikes]

 what about hunting from a blind

[fishnfur]

When you come across an area (behind a gate, 1 main road, with 2 small spurs off of it...about a mile in length total, turns and twists and all) that has over 30 rubs with active trails everywhere...but no deer in sight period...would that mean they are actively rubbing and cutting through the trails at night? I guess hard to say without cam footage.. As mentioned prior, there were bunches of rubs between 1-2 in a spot, and all the way up to 8 in a line...whats the likelihood there is more than 1 buck in this small of an area? Or would a dominant buck have already pushed them out? Just seems too insane to have that fresh of rubs without live animals in the vicinity, that we could have jump/spot. We are talking bark shavings curled on the ground below, blood red exposed bark that has clumps of hair still stuck to it. I have a ton of photos, but my pictures are all to big

Unless you had been in the area recently and not seen the rubs (where there are now rubs), then that is the only way to know how fresh they are.  Most of the rubbing takes place prior to the peak of the rut, to the point that I'd say there's almost none going on now.  By all accounts the rubbing activity ends when breeding begins.  Whether or not that is correct, only the deer know.  Those shavings and hair from the rubs will lie there on the forest floor for weeks without changing appearances much so unless you see the buck  make the rub, or you know for sure that it wasn't there a couple days ago, then all you can surmise is that it happened somewhat recently, like in the last month or so.  The good news is that it does mean that there is still a buck somewhere close by, unless it got harvested.  Active trails and lots of sign should keep you hunting that area frequently.  There are definitely deer there, which is way better than hunting an area with no deer.   

It is hard for humans to interpret rubs - you can only best guess why they are there.  Deer intentionally leave their scent, presumably related to territoriality in some rubs, and at other times express sexual frustration by thrashing small trees or making some massive rub line with many  (30 is a lot) rubs while they are waiting for the doe to come into estrus. Some rubs are used by multiple bucks, such as in a rut hole, where many bucks all contribute to multiple rubs repeating over many years.  There are also the rubs on small sapling fir and alder that bucks use to remove velvet at the end of August.  All in all, you can guess what is going on, but you can probably never be sure.  Once again, the important thing to a hunter is that you now know that you are close in a buck's home turf.  You may not see him, but he is likely somewhere close doing what deer do.