Blacktails and roosevelt elk?

[sterlryu]

Have been hunting a tree farm on the coast this rifle season for deer and keep seeing small herds of elk in clear cuts and have only seen a single doe in the four days I've been out. I have seen deer sign in these clear-cuts while scouting, but do blacktails avoid elk herds stomping around? Or do they prefer different feed in October? I've been glassing these clearcuts at first light and last and sitting on saddles and benches where I've seen deer sign during the day.

[Westside88]

With the weather we’ve been having, black tail haven’t been showing up much at all in clear cuts. Keep after it, look around
The edges in the thick stuff too. I saw 9 deer today, much better than it’s been up until now.

[highside74]

I believe the deer go where less elk are for sure. Look no further than the Kapowsin tree farms and vail tree farms. Kapowsin is covered in elk and deer have been going down for years. Vail has very few elk and the deer are thriving. Winston deer population is doing real well also and the elk in that area are not doing as well as they used to. 

[fishnfur]

My quick answer is yes - Blakies are generally freaked out by all the noise elk make.  I have plenty of game cam videos of BTs running helter skelter just befor a herd of elk comes into view.  Once the elk moved on, the deer returned to their normal habits.  If you're seeing really fresh elk sign, then I would hunt areas adjacent to where the elk are grazing. 

On the other hand, there's plenty of reports of trophy sized BT bucks hanging close to the an elk herd - and I'm talking about right in the mix of all those bigger animals.  One guess for this behavior is that elk put out sentrys that watch major trails leading to the herd's location.  If one of those sentry elk gets spooked by a predator, it runs straight to the herd - they know what that means - time to sneak o9ut or run wildly to get out of Dodge.  Big bucks may be using them as predator alarms, or perhaps just attempting to use the large size of those animals to remain less visible/obvious to predators. 

I used to concentrate my deer hunting close to roads believing that elk stay wll away from roads if at all possible.  That tends to push deer to the peripheral areas of their territories, especially so for doe.  Down here in SW WA, the doe populations tend to be less skittish around roads so they tend to be comfortable using those areas (since there are no elk there).  My thinking was that if the former was true, then it would just be a matter of time, as the rut approached, untill bucks moved towards areas where the doe were.  I believe that is true -  I saw a lot of doe near roadside areas but I never did see a buck coming in to check on the girls.  All in all, it's a real conundrum because you will find plenty of fresh deer sign mixed amongst the fresh elk sign which makes you believe that the deer are still there.  All that being said, I'd recommend hunting away from fresh elk sign.  It's a tough hunt for bucks if you're working close to the elk.

[Humptulips]

I have seen deer in the middle of a dispersed herd of elk, run elk by deer without bothering the deer and once shot a bull with a buck standing no more than 50 feet away from the bull.
That being said I don't think deer are as likely to be seen where there are elk. I think it is a matter of feed. A herd goes through, and they get all the good pickins. Units that elk frequent a lot I see not as many deer. There are still deer around, they just don't spend as much time where elk have cleaned the table.

[bkaech]

I don't know the "answer" to your question, but for me, I wouldn't consider the presence or absence of elk sign when looking for blacktials. If there is deer sign, there is deer around I wouldn't worry about the elk.

[sterlryu]

Thanks everyone - based on all of your insights, I'll probably hunt this last weekend away from where I've seen herds, but still close to where I've seen deer sign.