Seeking to understand these deer...

[chaddnf]

Hey everyone,
I've posted on here a few times in the past and folks have been super kind and helpful. This is my 3rd year hunting blacktail in Washington, the first year I was successful and last year I was not. I've been out in the woods, from before sunrise til dark, for 4 days straight. I've seen 2 does, found good fresh sign, but no bucks. I hunt the Skagit/Whatcom county area(437,407, and a bit of 418) it has been sunny and 68 out which I'm sure is not helping.

My question has to do with finding bedded deer, or just where exactly these deer live? I've scoured and grid searched clearcuts, found the trails and beds, but I know they aren't bedding in them all the time. I've been through the incredibly thing jungle, the devils club and blackberry, sometimes even having to use a machete (not hacking away while I'm hunting of course, but scouting, looking for beds and trails). I've hiked along the powerlines in chest high grass, walked gated logging roads, all ages of clearcut, and  big mature reprod. I can't understand the patterns or where they go. I know they will sneak out the back way if they hear someone coming, but I still hunt SLOWLY. I never hear a sound, a not a leaf crunch, a rustle or anything. Yesterday I was moving quietly and hear something, thinking it could be a deer. Ended up being a grasshopper.

I never find sheds or carcasses or bones. I'm from Montana, and even now with the human population exploding, I'm always finding sheds and bones in the woods when I hike around there. I understand our wet climate speeds decomposition, but I don't think things like antlers or teeth rot away that quickly. Wouldn't there be sheds out in the clearcuts? Are population densities just that low? I'll see fresh tracks and scat over a fairly wide area, but maybe it's just a single buck? I feel like I'm missing something, or maybe my spots are just a bust, and the buck I got was dumb luck. It does seem that black tails truly are ghosts. Anyone offering help, I can even PM you and tell you EXACTLY where I'm hunting, maybe there just aren't many deer around here, or they mostly hang out in town haha. I haven't heard too many gunshots since I've been out, so it's possible that it isn't just me. I hunted early archery this year and passed on a doe, just because she had a young fawn. However I only hunt for meat and will take a doe in late bow season if rifle doesn't pan out. Wondering if I should just stick to bear and elk though!  Thank you in advance for any guidance or insight!

[IslandHunter]

I very much felt the same way as you and still kind of do about the area I hunt. Putting a camera out and seeing multiple different shooter bucks coming through really changed my mind and motivated me to keep looking. I am very far from understanding the deer in my area, but I am slowly trying new tactics, putting my camera on new trails, and learning more. I highly recommend putting some cameras out. This will give you a better idea of what you are hunting. If there are bucks on cam in the middle of the night, once the rut starts you have a decent shot at catching them in the area during daylight, especially if you know doe are in the area. If you are hunting outside of the rut then you have to either get lucky, or find where they are bedded. I have yet to find a blacktail in its bed.


As for the sheds and bones I have the same question. I hunt an area of private land no one else hunts. I have been on nearly every sq foot of the 20+ acres I hunt and also spent my childhood running around the blacktail woods. I have never once found a shed. I'm not sure if they just drop them in the thick bushes where there is little to no chance of finding them or what the deal is there. I have noticed the more time I spend in the woods the more I notice the subtle little signs of deer so maybe with more time in the woods I will eventually learn where to find these sheds.

[bhammac]

They're ghosts when they want to be and I'm always impressed how fast they can vanish in the woods.

You're doing everything right by putting boots on the ground, e-scouting, and just spending time getting to understand it. I grew up in Iowa so this was a learning curve for me as well when I started hunting them.

Game cams during the off-season really helped me and I'd recommend setting up a few in crossings and going from there. They're super active in the summer months, then September comes and they vanish. The bucks start coming out now during the pre-rut and that's the time to really get after them until it ends. Then they go back to laying low.

Don't be afraid to rattle/call during the rut. You can also bait, apples work well for keeping does around, something I took from the suggestions from people on this forum.

Also hunting out of stands can be helpful, more for getting the wind right. They have a super small range and can live in the smallest of areas so once you get on them, chances are next year there will be deer in those same spots.

Good luck.

[In_Grained_Outdoors]

I don't have a tin of time this morning but here are a few tips from the peanut gallery. 1. Hunt weather, if you see rain and wind coming, that is the time to beat brush. 2. If you have heavy hunting pressure find a good spot and put up a blind. 3Those last 4 days are like magic!!! Good luck buddy, let us know how the season progresses.

FYI Buck activity has been super low so far this year. I have seen over 26 does and only one spike that I passed on. They will come out but it's going to take some time.

[KP-Skagit]

I have noticed that blacktail like to hold tight rather than run off. Probably a byproduct of how thick it is where they live. I would probably roll the dice the same way if I were them, run off and you are guaranteed to be noticed. Hold tight and? I have taken three blacktail bucks in my life. First was at 10 yards, second was at 2 yards and the last was a whopping 12 yards.

As others said, they get really nocturnal, even the does. Putting up a cam can help you gain confidence there are deer in the area. Once you know where there are deer creep through the area. All the time you hear "I saw an eye looking at me in the brush", "I caught a tine in the reprod". You also hear... "It was the last day of the season and it walked up to me in the middle of the road."

Finding blacktail sheds during the fall is very challenging, growth rates of undergrowth around here can be measured in feet. Sometimes I swear I am starting grow moss after a day in the woods. All the BT sheds I have found have been in the spring before things start growing.

[Janitor123]

I have about the same experience as you (3rd year hunting, harvested in yr 1 but not yr 2). From my limited experience I'd agree with the camera ideas. I bought cheap cameras on amazon prime day last year and placed them on the best trails I could find in my local 500 acre spot....I was shocked to see two 3X3's one 4X4 and one 5X5 (none of which I've ever seen in in real life). They were very active all summer on my cameras, in the daylight. It certainly encouraged me to stay active in this one spot, otherwise I'd never had known they were there.

[ASHQUACK]

I've hunted blacktails for over 40 years. I've killed some decent bucks that said they've all been during the rut, the big ones. I'm hunting a stand location this year for the 1st time in my life. I have a good crop of does and fawns. I watch them closely, but that said still can't believe how fast they disappear in the brush. Literally watching one walk around then they're gone. The best advice I can give you is use good glass and pick stuff apart, look at that bush and look again. I've found many many ear tips or the white part of their eye being the only thing visible. One other thing is watch their behavior, does will tell you with signs that other deer are in the area.

[brokentrail]

One of the items in your post stood out to me and that was pattern.  I haven't yet been able to pattern blacktail like I can  whitetail.  If there is a pattern, it sure doesn't seem to be daily.

All of my more mature blacktails have come the last 4 to 5 days of October or in the late 4 days in November.

I have harvested blacktails earlier in the season but I really just think it was right place and right time vs. any specific skill.

During the early season, if we don't have weather (wind and/or rain)  I am usually glossing a clear-cut between 3 and years old, that you can't drive to and hopefully it has a section that is just plain difficult to get to.  I find the deer like to use those sections of cuts more-so than where there is easy access and possibly where they have ran into humans.

If we get weather, I am still hunting timber usually around clearcuts where I have seen fresh sigh or does and in some cases in clearcuts themselves.

The last 4 to 5 days I am sitting in pinch points or funnels that look to me like a buck might use to cruise between doe bedding  areas.  I often sit from before daylight until end of shooting light.  The bucks are usually cruising and I've found if I sit long enough,  I will eventually get an opportunity.

Late season is often more of the same, sitting, unless I think there is a buck locked down with a doe, from trail cam pics or seeing them.

I try to hunt behind gated pieces that are hard to access and I'm usually on my mountain bike with my trailer.

Hopefully some of this rambling,  as I'm sitting glassing a cut, has some of what you were looking for.

Best of luck, with each passing day, your odds go up ime!