Big Blacktail Down

[7mmfan]

I was able to kill the biggest blacktail of my life Sunday. I've maybe seen 3 or 4 bigger than him all my life.

I'll start on Saturday morning. My Dad and I hiked into this area, about 2.5 miles behind a closed gate. I knew there was a fair number of animals in the area, but I hadn't scouted or hunted it in a few years. Dad and I made it to the first cut we wanted to glass just before daylight. We took a few minutes to air out and change clothes. As daylight was breaking, the fog was rolling in and out, sometimes cutting visibility down to 50 yards or less. We agreed to split up. I would hunt up the ridge through the newest cut, and he would walk the road through some switchbacks, and we would reconnect where they met each other half a mile away or so. I had no more than left him, maybe gone 40 yards, when I looked up on the ridge I was about to hunt and there was a spike and doe sky lined at about 100 yards. I hustled back and got Dad's attention. He was looking for meat and shooting any legal buck. After a few shenanigans and waiting for the buck to step off the skyline, Dad made a perfect shot and dropped him in his tracks. The does didn't budge for nearly 10 minutes after the shot. We waited, hoping another buck would emerge, but no such luck. While Dad worked that buck up, I continued hunting up the ridge, seeing a few does, tons of sign, but no bucks. We loaded his deer up into the packs at about noon and hiked out. I had a party to get my kids too that afternoon, so the timing was just right. We planned on being back there at first light Sunday.

[Taco280AI]

Lucky man, my dad was never into hunting or fishing. Great times right there 

[7mmfan]

Lucky man, my dad was never into hunting or fishing. Great times right there 

My Dad is my best hunting partner. He's always up for whatever hairbrained idea or grueling hike I come up with. He's packed far more of my game out of the woods than I have his, so I'm always glad to pass an opportunity to him when I can. He's 67 years young and an absolute mountain goat, so I hope we have several more years of good hunting together.

[pianoman9701]

Lucky man, my dad was never into hunting or fishing. Great times right there 

Same here. Once a year he'd take us deep sea fishing. Most of the time he took us to Fenway Park, never to see the Sox win a WS in his lifetime, born in '24 and died in '87. He was in WWII and never picked up a gun again.

[7mmfan]

Sunday, The weather report was for classic Blacktail hunting weather. Heavy rain and blustery winds. It in fact poured rain all night. On the drive to the gate, it was coming down in sheets with strong winds. I looked at the radar as we neared our parking area, and it appeared to be breaking up. As if by divine intervention, the rain stopped the moment we parked, and only picked up again a time or two during the rest of the day. I was actually hoping for more weather throughout the day, as it keeps those deer out in the open, but I'm not one to complain. I was going to spend enough time in the brush that day that I would be in raingear the whole time anyway.

We made our hike and started at the same spot as the day before. Hunted up the same ridge, seeing lots of fresh sign, but no deer. I decided I was going to check an off the beaten path clear cut that was only accessible via an overgrown spur road. When you walk out into it, you are on a mid-elevation bench. You can see up fairly well, but to see the bottom of the clear cut you have to navigate through it about 150 yards to get to the drop off. Anyone who has spent time in Western WA clear cuts knows, this is a challenge. Between blackberries, weed growth, and especially the slash left from the logging operation, quiet movement is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. However, I found an old skid line that was pretty clear and I was able to move down to the edge almost silently. The bottom of the cut is a bowl, about 150 yards long and wide. Its very uneven and overgrown in areas. When you see deer here it is often fleeting as they move through the brush and into unseen holes and depressions. You really need to pay attention and glass every bit of it. Often, I've seen deer that just "appear" after being there for a significant amount of time, or visa versa, where they disappear, never to be seen again.

My rule as I approach drop offs and edges, is to always start glassing from way back as new ground reveals itself. Too many times over the years I've too quickly approached edges of some form without looking just to spook game that was close by. If I'd slowed down and glassed the ground a step or two at a time as it revealed itself, I would have seen them before they saw me. I'd been doing a good job of that all day, until right then. I saw a stump I wanted to get to that was about 15' away from me. Instead of glassing the small amount of ground I could see ahead of me, I got low and tried to sneak to that stump. 5' short of the stump, I looked up and there was a doe 40 yards away staring at me. I was partially screened, and in a bit of a depression, so I'm not sure she knew exactly what I was, but she was nervous. Luckily, she never really spooked, she just nervously moved away toward the tree line. I opted to just stand still and glass from where I was instead of further exposing myself. I glassed the tree line she was heading to, picking up 2 more does. Then a flash of white and some movement caught my eye. I pulled up the binos and walking quickly down the tree line was a very nice buck. I pulled up my gun and had just enough time to get him in the scope before he disappeared. About 5 minutes later as I was continuously glassing that edge hoping he'd reappear, I see a deep deer chest and leg behind a low hanging Hemlock branch. I know immediately that it is him, but I cannot see his head to confirm. I got the scope on him and waited. And waited. And waited. All deer, but especially Blacktail, have the unnerving ability to stand completely still in one spot seemingly forever. I bet I watched this deer for nearly 10 minutes, and he never moved. When he did finally move, he turned directly away from me and walked into the brush, just giving me a brief glimpse of his headgear to confirm it was him. Dang it.

Soon, all the does in the cut made their way into the timber and disappeared as well. I backed out and found my Dad, told him what happened and I decided to go back and sit on that cut for a few hours. Given that I didn't really think that the deer had spooked, and the only one that was really nervous at all was the one doe I saw, I figured I had a good chance of those deer coming back out later in the day. It was about 10am now, and with the weather the way it was supposed to be, they should be coming back in within a few hours. I worked my way back down, glassed everything well this time, and then found a good stump with a deer bed next to it to settle in on. I'd been sitting there about an hour and 15 minutes, was nodding off, trying to find things to keep me awake. I looked down at the bottom edge of the cut about 150 yards away and noted movement. I pulled up the binos and couldn't find anything. I had learned areas where deer moving along the edge tend to be visible, so I just stared at that point and about 1 minute later a doe walked through, coming from the right. Then 2 more filtered in a moment later. These were new does, not ones from the previous group. They got to the spot where the buck had disappeared and started feeding. One was really rambunctious, jumping around, doing little races and then walking back. Making lots of noise. I'd been watching them for about 5 minutes, and they all perked up and looked into the woods... "Oh boy, he's coming", I thought to myself. I got my rifle on the shooting sticks, dialed my magnification up a little, and then fixed the binos on the spot the buck had disappeared into a couple hours before. After a couple minutes, there was a leg, and then finally that white face and dark brow stepped into view. Thump thump, thump thump, went my heart.

He stood under those same Hemlock trees for close to 5 minutes, just watching the does that were 20 yards away from him. I really wanted him to come out into the open a bit before I shot, but I was starting to get antsy. I had to tell myself to sit tight, and enjoy the moment. Enjoy just looking at him. He had the classic white face of a mature Blacktail, with a black brow. I could clearly see the mass and burrs on his antlers. The chocolatey cinnamon color of his hide was striking. His neck was a little swollen, but not too much yet. He finally started to move a little and disappeared behind a stump. He began rubbing a young fir tree. I could hear it clearly and see the top of it shaking all over. Then he came out with his head down, moving in to sniff the doe that had been racing around. She jumped and scurried to the tree line. He took two or three steps toward her and then stopped. This was the first time I’d gotten to see him next to one of the other deer, and the body size difference was stark. He was enormous compared to the does that were near him. I’d guess nearly double the size. He was quartering steeply away and standing facing uphill looking to his left. He was approximately 100 yards away from me and probably 50' in elevation below me. This was the first clear shot I had of him the whole time I'd been able to see him that morning, and I didn't want him moving back into the timber after that doe, so I gauged the exit point of the bullet at that angle, put the crosshairs on the last couple ribs, breathed, and squeezed it off.

I had forgotten to put my earplugs in, so the bullet impact was obvious. I had a great shooting setup with my back against a stump and the gun on shooting sticks, so I was able to immediately get the scope back on target. I watched him do one big jump, try to move towards the woods, and then tumble head over heals down the embankment he was on, out of sight. I knew the shot was good, and based on what I had just seen, I assumed he was dead right over that embankment. I watched for a couple minutes and saw no movement down where he'd gone. The does milled around for a while and eventually disappeared into the timber. My Dad was up the ridge exploring, probably 1/2 mile away, and immediately called me to confirm that was me that shot. I told him he better get down here, we've got meat to pack out. I noted where the buck had been, and mentally marked a few landmarks, and then started down through the cut to him. This cut was unreal. The amount of sign was staggering, but it was obvious why deer liked it. You could have had 100 deer in that cut and not been able to see any of them if they were in the right spot. There was so much cover, and undulations in the topography that were not visible from above. They had trails and tunnels and beds everywhere. It was actually very easy to navigate because the deer had made very easy to follow trails. Based on the age of this cut, we might be lucky to get another 2 years of hunting out of it before it's too overgrown to see.

I got to where he'd been standing when I shot and immediately found blood. Then got to where he'd been when he stumbled and fell and the ground was painted red. Just over the edge where he'd tumbled, there he was about 20' down the hill, laying on his back all 4 legs sticking up in the air. The entrance wound was exactly where I'd aimed, but I'd misjudged the angle just slightly, but it worked out for the best. The bullet entered about the 2nd rib, broke multiple ribs on impact, travelled through one lung, and then severed the aorta just above the heart, exiting through the soft spot just above the brisket. Every critical function had been destroyed immediately, and best yet, not an ounce of bloodshot or wasted meat. The only meat we didn't pack out was a small amount of rib/flank from around the entrance wound.

Dad made it down about 20 minutes later. We hugged and got to work taking pictures and admiring the animal. He was a true specimen. The mass at the base of his antlers was substantial, and his teeth were worn down almost to the gums. He was an ancient old Monarch of the mountain. We managed to get him broken down, loaded into our packs and to the truck just before the forecasted rain for the day set in. At home I weighed each bag of meat as I put it in the fridge.

Bone-in Front and Rear Quarters - 80#
Neck/Rib Meat/Heart/Liver - 20#
Backstrap/Tenderloin - 10#

110# total. Obviously the trimmed/packaged amount will be quite a bit less than this, but that's a BIG BODIED BLACKTAIL!

Anyway, thanks for reading this novel, it was a fun hunt, I wanted to share it.

[Sneaky Squirrel]

Great Story and a Heck of a Buck! Congrats fella!

[Taco280AI]

That buck is a stud!

What combo did you use on him?

[Dan-o]

That's a beauty!!!!

Congrats.

[npaull]

Congratulations on a great deer!

[cohocrazy]

Congrats, great blacktail!

[bearhunter99]

That is a beauty blacktail!

[jrebel]

Great buck!!  Thanks for the story and congrats!!! 

[Blacktail Sniper]

Great story!!  Beautiful buck!

[lewy]

sweet buck good work. did you take a pic of his teeth?

[7mmfan]

That buck is a stud!

What combo did you use on him?

7mm Rem Mag - 145 LRX pushed by 63gr IMR4831. It sure does the trick!