Eating Tag-Soup again 3rd Year. Mentor needed.

[Helix]

For my third year in a row I've hunted black tails.  For my third year in a row I've been out matched by my prey.  For the third year in a row I'm eating Tag-Soup.  Skunked.  Not even any oportunites for a shot.  It seems I get closer to taking deer with my bumper driving to and from my hunts than I do while I'm out hunting.  I think I need a blacktail hunting mentor. Even with all that disappointment I'm not really complaining.  I hunt hard,  I put a lot of miles on my boots I climb and wade and have a great time and a lot of adventure. I feel blessed to get to be out in God's creation enjoying nature and testing my limits.  So far hunting has just been short of a payoff for me.  My wife is starting to look at me like why are we buying you tags to go hunt?  You can just as easily go tromp through the forest for free as with tags in your pocket 

[1morebuck]

Really you are getting the best out of the outdoors. Simply getting out there is medicine for the soul. As for getting a buck, you are finding out how the Grey Ghost (or any deer) works and what not to do. There are deer in your area, I am sure of that. Take some time starting now to scout throughout the year. Invest in a trail camera and go out now to see what the deer are doing and find the areas where bucks are chasing doe. Then take some time and find them in late winter, spring and summer. That will give you a general idea of where, and what they are doing.

Sent control, hunting the wind and food are keys in my eyes. Get off the road and take your time.

Good luck!

[robodad]

For the third year in a row I'm eating Tag-Soup.  Skunked.

From where I stand the best 4 days of blacktail season is still to come !! Don't give up now !!

[lokidog]

You're not out yet, still have late season.  If you are seeing deer on your way to your hunting spot, maybe try to get permission to hunt those areas if possible.

Good luck.

[Helix]

No late season where I've been hunting,  I'd have to start from scratch and do some major driving to get to an open GMU.  I'm in Snohomish.   

[Buckmark]

Seasons not over yeat, just on hold for 2.5weeks, any blacktail hunter will tell you that the 4 days in november can be alot better than the 17 days in oct.
Less leaves, crappier weather (which you want), possible snow, deer are grouping up, less people on thursday and friday, more bucks moved in during the rut.
Get were i am going with this??
It's safe to say almost as many blacktail bucks hit the dirt in those 4 days as do during the general season.
Other than that get a bow and hunt them during rifle season in places were firearms are restricted.

[Glockster]

I think the internet 'success' stories might make it seem like everyone else is getting them but you.  But you gotta keep in mind that for every kill story on blacktail you read here, there are at least 20 guys just like you who are in the same boat.   Not very many people will post about lack of "success" unless they can blame it on Indians and wolves.  LOL  It's all about time in the woods and trying to think like them. 

These are the toughest deer to hunt in the country.  There was an OR Dept of F&W blacktail study story in NW Sportsman this month that shows 92% of a B.tail buck's activity occurs at night.  That's why you don't see too many TV shows on blacktail.  They are just too tough for your average Hollywood Hunter. 

Keep at it!  There is an excellent book by Boyd Iverson called Blacktail Tactics...very good reading to get you pointed in the right direction.  These are definitely the most frustrating deer to hunt (unless you have private property on an island and a big apple orchard to sit on).

[JohnVH]

Dont feel bad, I have no deer luck either, Ive never shot a buck.

[Heredoggydoggy]

That's why It's called "Hunting".  If it's just meat you want, go to Safeway.  Only the anti-hunters think we just walk out into the woods and the animals are waiting to be shot.  If I had a dollar for every time I got back to the truck with the same amount of ammo I left with, I could have retired a rich man!

And, the day you go into the woods without a tag, is the day you'll be trampled to death by 5 big bucks! 

[Bean Counter]

My first several years of hunting I never killed I think. Most of my tags in recent years have gone filled. There is a learning curve and if you're good at evaluating what you did and learning from it, you'll get better. Don't give up.

[wence5]

Helix, you are after one of the toughest game animals to hunt in North America. Don't fell bad, use the last three years experiences to gain more knowledge of your prey, do more home work during the off season with scouting and researching the habits of the Black Tail with a trail camera. Oh, and you aren't skunked yet for this year, the best four days are yet to come during the late buck season. 

[Helix]

And, the day you go into the woods without a tag, is the day you'll be trampled to death by 5 big bucks! 

True,  whenever I go out for a hike in the spring I seem to get run over by bears and all manner of woodland creature. 

I tell my wife that is why they call it "hunting" not "finding."  I figure if it was easy everyone would be doing it. 

[bobcat]

Don't feel bad and as others said, try to hunt the 4-day late season if you can. I hunted every day of the rifle season, except for one. I had five trail cameras out for the last 6 months to try to pattern them. I hunted out of tree stands, ground blinds, over piles of apples that deer had been coming to every night, as the trail cameras showed. I hiked 2 1/2 miles on a gated road to a clearcut that holds a lot of deer. I used a doe bleat call, rattled antlers, and used doe in heat scent. Never saw a buck in all that time, except for maybe a tail running away through the brush. Finally yesterday morning, my brother and I are sitting in the truck at a gate, waiting for just a little more light, and a buck walks out of the brush 20 feet in front of us. That's what it took for me to get a buck. Just nothing but luck and being in the right place at the right time. The one thing I learned from this experience is that the truck can make a great blind. 
 
 

[3nails]

Don't feel bad and as others said, try to hunt the 4-day late season if you can. I hunted every day of the rifle season, except for one. I had five trail cameras out for the last 6 months to try to pattern them. I hunted out of tree stands, ground blinds, over piles of apples that deer had been coming to every night, as the trail cameras showed. I hiked 2 1/2 miles on a gated road to a clearcut that holds a lot of deer. I used a doe bleat call, rattled antlers, and used doe in heat scent. Never saw a buck in all that time, except for maybe a tail running away through the brush. Finally yesterday morning, my brother and I are sitting in the truck at a gate, waiting for just a little more light, and a buck walks out of the brush 20 feet in front of us. That's what it took for me to get a buck. Just nothing but luck and being in the right place at the right time. The one thing I learned from this experience is that the truck can make a great blind. 

Did you post it?

[bobcat]

Well, of course I forgot the camera, as it seems I always do when I have a need for it. So all I had was the cell phone camera. This is the best picture I got, not good, but better than nothing:
 
 

[3nails]

 Alright! Nice buck. Beautiful animal!

[topnotch]

Yea I have tha same problem. Haven't seen 1 buck all season. Miles and miles of hiking. Found quite a few rubs and tracks and beds, no deer tho. I did some calling occasionally. I'm starting to think walking is too noisy, maybe just sitting in a good spot all day will produce better? blacktail woods are too thick and too many branches on the ground on old roads. What does everyone else do? I can walk quietly but a person needds to go so slow to do that it seems it would be better to just sit. Suggestions?

[gotshot]

I've harvested lots of deer in my day but yet I am on a three year dry spell also. It can even be a worse feeling knowing what once was is not anymore. Keep at it, it is a matter of hard work and luck, sometimes luck being way more important.

[bobcat]

Yea I have tha same problem. Haven't seen 1 buck all season. Miles and miles of hiking. Found quite a few rubs and tracks and beds, no deer tho. I did some calling occasionally. I'm starting to think walking is too noisy, maybe just sitting in a good spot all day will produce better? blacktail woods are too thick and too many branches on the ground on old roads. What does everyone else do? I can walk quietly but a person needds to go so slow to do that it seems it would be better to just sit. Suggestions?

 
I sat, and sat, and sat, and sat this season. For hours. Never all day though, only morning and evenings. Don't have the patience for an all day sit. Maybe I should have tried it though- I think I could do it if I brought a good book to read. The big problem with just sitting on the ground, is your scent. I got busted twice while sitting on the ground, both times with only 5 to 10 minutes of legal shooting time left. One time a deer walked downwind of me, about 20 yards away. I had no idea it was there until I heard it run away. Then the next night in the same spot, a deer walked to within 15 FEET, but upwind this time. It was really too dark to shoot, even though it would have still been legal (I was in the timber). When the deer got there, I could see a dark object there that wasn't there before, and assumed it was a deer. It stood there for maybe 15 seconds, then turned and ran. I don't know if it saw me, heard me, or smelled me.
 
A tree stand helps a lot with the scent problem. Your scent most of the time will stay above the deer so they won't smell you, even if they are downwind. But you really need to spend a lot of time scouting to find the right spot. I had a ladder stand up this season that I hunted out of a few times, and all I ever had come out was a doe and a fawn. Next year I will take more time in finding the perfect spot. I think the problem with this location is that it was on the edge of a clearcut. The bucks just don't seem to be willing to come out in the open during daylight hours. I thought I would have a chance at this spot, since there was virtually no hunting pressure. But that didn't seem to make a difference. The bucks still are smart enough to stay in cover during the day.

[Heredoggydoggy]

Try hunting them in the middle of the day.  I'm told that once the rut is on, the bucks spend all night sowing their oats, then sleep until 1:00 pm and then come out to eat.  Might try it myself this late muzzy season.  Come to think of it, most of the bucks I've seen have been in the after noon to dark time frame.

[Blacktail135]

 I second Glockster's advice to pick up Boyd Iverson's book. I've read it a few times and have upped my success. The "spot" I hunt now is about as perfect of a spot as I've ever hunted. I use a Treelounge climber but, if I get there late (within 3 hours of dark, evening hunt) I'll setup a ground blind. The treestand is a little noisy to use that close to showtime. I setup to intercept between bedding and initial feeding area. Setup is around 100 yards from their bedding area. I've had some great experiences with deer there as close as 1 foot away from me, never knew I was there! My furthest shot was 30 feet away, never knew I was there.  Hunt smarter, not harder works better for me. Keep your eye's and ear's open and your brain in gear and you'll figure it out. 

[kglacken]

For the third year in a row I'm eating Tag-Soup.  Skunked.

From where I stand the best 4 days of blacktail season is still to come !! Don't give up now !!

[Smokepole]

If you want a mentor, I'd be glad to help you out.  I'm very experience with eating tag soup & would be glad to show you the ropes.  I have some recipes to share & I'm sure after a while the soup will grow on you, like it has me.  I feel like going back for seconds already...

[sebek556]

the secret to a good tag soup is the seasoning that you use, I go for extra spices in mine along with some frank's redhot

[akashasdaddy]

I am a rookie and at this point I am eating tag soup also which is even worse I did shoot a buck last saturday but had someone steal it from me. I hiked about 10 miles yesterday with my little brother didn't get out today cuz I have a 5 year old daughter that wouldn't let me she wanted candy but I WILL be out the entire late season. Gotta put in work if you want the reward this isn't tee-ball not everyone gets a trophy.

[Helix]

even worse I did shoot a buck last saturday but had someone steal it from me.

Did you call the gammie?  My hunter ed teacher showed me a trick to make sure that if anyone ever steels an animal from you that they get nabed for it.  I'll share in PM if interested. 

[Dmanmastertracker]

For my third year in a row I've hunted black tails.  For my third year in a row I've been out matched by my prey.  For the third year in a row I'm eating Tag-Soup.  Skunked.  Not even any oportunites for a shot.  It seems I get closer to taking deer with my bumper driving to and from my hunts than I do while I'm out hunting.  I think I need a blacktail hunting mentor. Even with all that disappointment I'm not really complaining.  I hunt hard,  I put a lot of miles on my boots I climb and wade and have a great time and a lot of adventure. I feel blessed to get to be out in God's creation enjoying nature and testing my limits.  So far hunting has just been short of a payoff for me.  My wife is starting to look at me like why are we buying you tags to go hunt?  You can just as easily go tromp through the forest for free as with tags in your pocket 

 Do you spend a lot of time in the woods scouting and just becoming familiar with deer habits? For two full years prior to my first hunting season I did nothing but scout almost every weekend for blacktail, just becoming familiar with their habits. If you do this long enough, you will get the "feel" for when you should be out and what you should be doing, a mentor might help, but in some cases may not help at all, it depends on the person and their level of motivation, as well as the mentor. The last two blacktail I harvested in Washington, I actually told my wife the morning of on the cell while getting to my area that today was the day, you just know eventually, it's hard to describe but all I can say is put in the time and it will happen.

[BOWHUNTER45]

nothen easy about it for sure ...just have to get out there and hunt ... learning the ways of the animals you are chasing is a must ...as far as blacktail you need to find fresh sign ...fresh rubs and fresh tracks ..thats a good start for knowing they are in the area ..then you need a good pair of binos to glass clearcuts because they are very tough to see ...I usually move slow threw an area where I think they might be ..stop alot and listen ..move really slow threw the timber and stand around for a little bit ..like for 25 min. or so then move again stopping and just hanging out and never just show up in an area once during hunting season because you did not see anything because you can do there the next day and there he is just like my buck this year ..I pounded the same areas over and over because I knew they were there and it was a matter of time before one made a mistake !!

[Helix]

Thanks for the encouragement guys.  Nice looking buck BH45.  I've been scouting a lot since deciding to take up hunting but prior to that spent a lot of time out in the woods hiking and rescuing lost/injured hikers and a few hunters (SAR), and unfortunatley didn't have deer/deer behavior on my radar. Now it's all I think about when I'm out in the woods. 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Thanks for the encouragement guys.  Nice looking buck BH45.  I've been scouting a lot since deciding to take up hunting but prior to that spent a lot of time out in the woods hiking and rescuing lost/injured hikers and a few hunters (SAR), and unfortunatley didn't have deer/deer behavior on my radar. Now it's all I think about when I'm out in the woods.

  nothen ment ..just giving you my advice ... I learn something everyday or I would not be out there !! good luck !

[bigbucks1985]

Good luck on your late hunt. I feel your pain, second year hunting whiteys and i switched to archery this year hoping to get it done this late season. Have 6-8 bucks moving through my spot but they are all moving at night, Hopefully once the modern season is over the less pressure will get em moving during the day.

[JKEEN33]

Unless you are pretty lucky it takes time to get get succesful at any type of hunting. I spent several years learning what I was doing wrong. Got lucky this year, had two tags and finished filling the second with my bt today. Nothing huge, but it was the only dear we saw all day so I took it. Good luck.

[hendog]

Late season is the reason I rarely eat tag soup