Hunting Washington Forum

Community => Taxidermy & Scoring => Topic started by: grundy53 on January 19, 2011, 08:57:42 AM

Title: western vs columbian blacktail
Post by: grundy53 on January 19, 2011, 08:57:42 AM: I just got my copy of northwest big game's record book for Washington. In it it says any blacktail west of I-5 is a "western" blacktail and anything east of I-5 is a "columbian" blacktail. Yet there are several bucks from pacific, grays harbor, clallam,Jefferson, etc counties under the "columbian" section. Can someone who knows about this stuff explain this to me. Maybe I'm a little slow. Thanks.
Title: Re: western vs columbian blacktail
Post by: STIKNSTRINGBOW on January 19, 2011, 09:14:10 AM: I asked about it myself a while ago...
still not sure.... :dunno:
near as I can figure out, "columbian" was the origional classification, and "Western" was added later...
It is pretty confusing because "Western Blacktail" is west of I-5, And "Columbia Blacktail " is between I-5 and "Cascade Blacktail" (west of PC trail)
I think it all depends on the guy putting the tape to the deer, and his opinion on where it fits......
Title: Re: western vs columbian blacktail
Post by: jackelope on January 19, 2011, 09:16:03 AM: Bow4elk is our resident expert on this topic.
Hopefully he'll chime in.
Title: Re: western vs columbian blacktail
Post by: PolarBear on January 19, 2011, 09:18:45 AM: This is why I don't take the record book seriously. There are too many factors determined merely by an imaginary line. There are far too many "cascade" blackies that are most if not all mulie (as has been evident on this site) and a lot of "western" blackies that are without a doubt bench legs. You can have pure blackies on the Pacific Crest all the way to the coast. You can't be 100% by just looking at physical characteristics. The only way to be sure is a dna test and not some line drawn on a map.
Title: Re: western vs columbian blacktail
Post by: STIKNSTRINGBOW on January 19, 2011, 09:35:45 AM: Quote from: PolarBear on January 19, 2011, 09:18:45 AM
This is why I don't take the record book seriously. There are too many factors determined merely by an imaginary line. There are far too many "cascade" blackies that are most if not all mulie (as has been evident on this site) and a lot of "western" blackies that are without a doubt bench legs. You can have pure blackies on the Pacific Crest all the way to the coast. You can't be 100% by just looking at physical characteristics. The only way to be sure is a dna test and not some line drawn on a map.
DNA or not, I look at the tail, if it looks like a BT, it IS a BT, I dont care where it was harvested.
But then I have never shot a deer bigger than a 2 pt..
not much of a deer hunter, I just shoot the first legal one thats dumb enough to get in front of me while elk hunting.