Sick of Deer Hunting!!

[hoyt5199]

I have spend numerous hours and money trying to figure out these black tails on the wet side and it stumps me. I have had numerous videos and pictures of doe and a few nice shooter bucks. Every time I sit in the stand I get skunked and cannot figure it out. I watch the wind, my scent and i try to be as stealthy as possible. What gives? Anyone else here have this problem. Oh I didn't mention all the trails, rubs and tracks I have in one particular area, but still nothing shows.

[Button Nubbs]

keep at it.

[biggamehunter]

pretty slick buggers. keep at it! no one said hunting blackies was easy, spent lots of cold wet time trouncing thru the woods and 90% is done without seeing a thing. good luck and happy wetside hunting 

[Boss .300 winmag]

baitem

[Ridgeratt]

 Guess thats why it's called Hunting


                                                 

[teanawayslayer]

The only time I shoot blacktails is when it is raining.  Do you sit in your stand when it is pooring down rain?  Blacktails are an elusive animal.  Keep after it.  All your time and effort will pay off.

[Jerome]

baitem

Blacktails love apples.

[deerhunter_98520]

thats the thing about blacktails...there not like whitetails...you cant pattern them...they may feed in one area pretty consistently but they will have 30 different trails to that area...as much "skill" as people think they have for hunting 99% of it is luck...being in the right place at the right time...and if you put in enough time and effort it will pay out. keep at it and dont give up....i sit at one clear cut from sun up to sun down...i know the bucks will eventually show up...put in your time scouting in the summer when there more visible so you know whats in your area

[hivito]

All the scouting, trail cams, hard work, and you still need to expect it when you least expect it.....I never saw any of the bucks I posted in the "trail cameras" section earlier today.   The cameras make it fun and remind me that they do exist...if you hunt for 3 point or better, expect to wait and wait...Someone mentioned the rain too....I will agree 100% that closer to Nov 1 with heavy rain is usually as good as it gets...see how many of your friends saw or shot bucks on that rainy Oct 28 this year.   I would rather hunt blacktails and Roosevelt elk than any other game....it is unique to this area and they are in my opinion the hardest and most worthwhile to trophies

[rtspring]

If it were easy everyone would hunt them.

I have been in your shoes and feel your pain.

good luck..

[dirty24d]

If it were easy everyone would hunt them.

I have been in your shoes and feel your pain.

good luck..

agreed.   Get some feed out for em it may help but is no guarantee ask h2ohunter about that one.  they are the slickest of all the washington species in my opinion.

[halflife65]

Hunting is weird sometimes.  You get to the lowest point possible and things change in a manner of seconds.

A couple of years ago, I was having a terrible day.  It started out all starry and warm (Sept archery) when I left the house in the dark and there hadn't been a cloud in weeks.  I was hunting fairly close to home, so I took the minimum amount of clothes.  It, of course, started blowing and raining so I froze my butt off.  That was dumb and I know better.

I had hunted all week and hadn't seen any of the deer that I had scouted pre-season.  That morning I didn't see ANY deer except on private property.  I wasn't seeing good tracks/sign in my first area so I picked up and moved to a new spot.  I got hung up in my bino buddies getting out of the truck and dropped a BRAND NEW $1600 pair of Swarovski binos on the ground and broke the eyepiece (easily replaced and didn't hurt the glass, but I didn't know it at the time.)

Got out in a rainstorm and started on a hunt across this ridge and saw a buck laying down a couple of hundred yards away.  Executed a perfect stalk and shot him at 19 yards when he stepped out of his bed - never knew I was there. 

So, the point is that I was having a miserable day and really, really wanted to just go home after I broke my binos, but stuck it out and kept hunting and it turned into a great day in just a few minutes...it happens at surprising times, just be patient and don't let yourself get too discouraged.  Blacktails are hard to hunt with consistent success but when you get one it'll be rewarding.

[AKBowman]

I'm sitting in my stand now, you can look up my
Posts on all the pics I've been getting and that's
Only a few. I passed two spikes the 23rd and 24th
And haven't seen a thing since. I pushed my bike 950
Vertical ft up over a 2 mile stretch to sit one of my stands yesterday evening only to see nothing fo the 4th day in a row and have my bike tire blow out and wrap around the forks up top. Didn't get back to my truck until 1.5 hrs after dark.
I know guys that luck box into them a lot but most good BT archers in WA put in probably a solid week of hunting before they kill something. There's still a few new rubs around so they are still thinking about the ladies.
I feel ur frustration. I'm no doubt purchasing the modern tag next yr and archery hunting b/c late archery BT rut is spotty at best

[JackOfAllTrades]

Over the years I have met many eastern 'really good' whitetail hunters get totally stumped by western blacktail deer. I refer to them as pimps...  Never in the same bed two nights in a row. Which means it is often quite difficult to pattern them. The older bucks are much smarter than many will give them credit for. They are very reclusive and nearly 100% nocturnal. Dawn and dusk will be your best chances. (right before dawn, right after dusk ) 

-Steve

[jackmaster]

absolute the funnest and toughest game to hunt in north america, ya gotta love it, or it will tear you apart

[hillbillyhunting]

absolute the funnest and toughest game to hunt in north america, ya gotta love it, or it will tear you apart

Drives me crazy when people on TV talk about how hard their hunt was after you just watched their entire hunt that may have lasted 3 days all of which was spent watching a "sendero" (aka road) that is scattered with bait.  This is after they paid some guy big money and picked the buck they wanted to kill in an album of pictures.

There is not a more rewarding trophy than a mature blacktail...  .

[pianoman9701]

I've hunted whities, muleies, elk, moose, and blackies. Hands down, blacktail bucks are the hardest critters to hunt of the list.

[jackmaster]

hey hoyt,how long you been at strictly blacktail and if you dont mind me askn what general area do you hunt, i might be able to help ya out, dont let the grey ghost get ya down, they are tricky, but alot of it is the method in which you hunt and where, it sounds like you got a good spot but you may be hitn it at the wrong time time, ive been in places where there was tons of sign but zero deer and i have been in spots with zero sign but i have killed some of my biggest bucks