2023 Blacktail Success Thread

[Rogue Bay]

Told myself I was going to wait to hunt the last week or so of the season this year.
Have a three day weekend the weekend of the 28th so I planned to hunt, and figured I’d use Sunday the 22nd as a day to go check out where I planned to hunt.

Well, about 45 minutes after shooting light I spotted this guy 299 yards away from my glassing spot.
One shot with my 7prc and I guess I’m done hunting for the year.
Was nearly 4 miles behind a gate and very thankful for a bike trailer!

View attachment 617665

Yeah I’d punch the clock early for that one too. That’s a gagger of a buck! Congrats and thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[roosiebull]

Told myself I was going to wait to hunt the last week or so of the season this year.
Have a three day weekend the weekend of the 28th so I planned to hunt, and figured I’d use Sunday the 22nd as a day to go check out where I planned to hunt.

Well, about 45 minutes after shooting light I spotted this guy 299 yards away from my glassing spot.
One shot with my 7prc and I guess I’m done hunting for the year.
Was nearly 4 miles behind a gate and very thankful for a bike trailer!

View attachment 617665

Well, that rounds out an epic year for you!! Nice work and beautiful buck

 

[roosiebull]

Found another small 3pt today, didn’t even get to glass him up, spotted him 80yds below me before I lifted the binos

Did find some promising sign that I’m hunting in the morning. Big fresh lion track went right through the whole area I planned on hunting this morning and wasn’t seeing what I thought I should so I walked a couple miles west to make a big loop looking at sign, and as long as that lion doesn’t end up in there tonight, I’m hoping to put eyes on a big tracked buck that is making pretty consistent sign on a ridge

 

[TripleJ]

Congrats on a stud buck @Twitch

 

[Twitch]

Well, that rounds out an epic year for you!! Nice work and beautiful buck

Indeed, this one will be hard to top!

 

[slvrslngr]

Indeed, this one will be hard to top!

What a year Twitch, congrats!

 

[bmrfish]

Indeed, this one will be hard to top!

Fabulous picture taking


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Twitch]

Fabulous picture taking


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, I just use a phone holder on my tripod and a Bluetooth shutter remote in one hand.

 

[Rogue Bay]

Well I found out today that I suffer from buck fever. I’ve been patiently waiting for the right buck to come along because my goal for this season was a big, mature 3 or 4 point.

This morning I passed up a nice, little 3 point that looked to only be 2 1/2 years old. A few short hunts later I find myself on the edge of a very large, very steep canyon. I noticed a bench below me with a little finger ridge running off of it. I thought it looked like a great place for a buck so I start glassing and am immediately greeted by a white face and a decent frame. One glance and I knew it was a big bodied, mature buck. I honestly didn’t take the time to evaluate antlers because he was in the open and very aware of my presence. Given his size I was confident he was a good 3 or maybe even a little 4 point. I quickly dropped the legs on my bipod, got solid and sent a Barnes TSX his way. I heard the thump and watched him crash into some tan oak brush. It took about 25 minutes to find a way down to him. When I finally fished him out of the brush I was greeted with a forky! Not exactly what I was hoping for this season but he’s a mature, beautiful buck so I’m very grateful.

The pack out wasn’t that far, but it was steeper than a cows face, soaking wet, and the ground was littered with logging slash hidden under low growing blackberry vines and black-capped raspberries. It was miserable!

 

[bmrfish]

Thanks, I just use a phone holder on my tripod and a Bluetooth shutter remote in one hand.

It’s the care in composition that really stands out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[roosiebull]

Well I found out today that I suffer from buck fever. I’ve been patiently waiting for the right buck to come along because my goal for this season was a big, mature 3 or 4 point.

This morning I passed up a nice, little 3 point that looked to only be 2 1/2 years old. A few short hunts later I find myself on the edge of a very large, very steep canyon. I noticed a bench below me with a little finger ridge running off of it. I thought it looked like a great place for a buck so I start glassing and am immediately greeted by a white face and a decent frame. One glance and I knew it was a big bodied, mature buck. I honestly didn’t take the time to evaluate antlers because he was in the open and very aware of my presence. Given his size I was confident he was a good 3 or maybe even a little 4 point. I quickly dropped the legs on my bipod, got solid and sent a Barnes TSX his way. I heard the thump and watched him crash into some tan oak brush. It took about 25 minutes to find a way down to him. When I finally fished him out of the brush I was greeted with a forky! Not exactly what I was hoping for this season but he’s a mature, beautiful buck so I’m very grateful.

The pack out wasn’t that far, but it was steeper than a cows face, soaking wet, and the ground was littered with logging slash hidden under low growing blackberry vines and black-capped raspberries. It was miserable!

That buck is cool as heck! It’s obviously an old mature buck, and I like those big forks, I have shot 2 that were 5.5 and 6.5yrs old

I really want another old fork with a bunch of mass, but I am most likely shooting those old forks every time, they are cool bucks, and all they will ever be.

One of the very biggest framed deer I’ve seen was a fork, it was insane… like 140”+ if he was a clean 4pt with good forks, giant frame buck… massive fork. I would rather have that buck than a 150” 4pt, probably would have been up there in biggest fork blacktail ever

Cool buck!

 

[Nwghostgetter]

Told myself I was going to wait to hunt the last week or so of the season this year.
Have a three day weekend the weekend of the 28th so I planned to hunt, and figured I’d use Sunday the 22nd as a day to go check out where I planned to hunt.

Well, about 45 minutes after shooting light I spotted this guy 299 yards away from my glassing spot.
One shot with my 7prc and I guess I’m done hunting for the year.
Was nearly 4 miles behind a gate and very thankful for a bike trailer!

View attachment 617665

Goodness gracious!

 

[Rogue Bay]

That buck is cool as heck! It’s obviously an old mature buck, and I like those big forks, I have shot 2 that were 5.5 and 6.5yrs old

I really want another old fork with a bunch of mass, but I am most likely shooting those old forks every time, they are cool bucks, and all they will ever be.

One of the very biggest framed deer I’ve seen was a fork, it was insane… like 140”+ if he was a clean 4pt with good forks, giant frame buck… massive fork. I would rather have that buck than a 150” 4pt, probably would have been up there in biggest fork blacktail ever

Cool buck!

Thank you very much for the kind words roosiebull. Big forkies are definitely cool, especially when they come with age. I’d love to see (or better yet, shoot) one of those absolute giants like the one you described. It must not have been during season, huh?

A couple of years ago a local logger showed me a photo of the biggest fork I’ve ever seen, taken the day after season. It was a giant! I had killed a 7.5 year old forky that year, which is the older buck I’ve shot, and was pretty jazzed, but this same guy shows me a photo of his buddy with a forky that mine would have fit inside of lol. It still wasn’t as big as the one in the photo though.

My twin daughters both have buck tags so my time in the woods isn’t over yet. I can’t get enough of this blacktail hunting!

 

[TripleJ]

Great buck @Rogue Bay , big forkies are cool! You held out for a mature buck and that's what you got. It's pretty common trait for mature blacktails, that's all they will ever be. My oldest son killed a really big forky (21" spread) on a youth tag when he was 12, ODFW aged it at 7.5 years old.

 

[Rogue Bay]

Great buck @Rogue Bay , big forkies are cool! You held out for a mature buck and that's what you got. It's pretty common trait for mature blacktails, that's all they will ever be. My oldest son killed a really big forky (21" spread) on a youth tag when he was 12, ODFW aged it at 7.5 years old.

Thank you so much. Any 21” blacktail is a toad, let alone a 21” forky! That’s so cool! I’d love to find one like that one day.

 

[LoggerDan]

You guys have all taken some really nice animals and pictures. He may be from the lower 48 or from up north, he could be your first or your fiftyth. But our Blacktails sure are a special animal and they live in some special places. Good job and good luck everyone.

 

[roosiebull]

Thank you very much for the kind words roosiebull. Big forkies are definitely cool, especially when they come with age. I’d love to see (or better yet, shoot) one of those absolute giants like the one you described. It must not have been during season, huh?

A couple of years ago a local logger showed me a photo of the biggest fork I’ve ever seen, taken the day after season. It was a giant! I had killed a 7.5 year old forky that year, which is the older buck I’ve shot, and was pretty jazzed, but this same guy shows me a photo of his buddy with a forky that mine would have fit inside of lol. It still wasn’t as big as the one in the photo though.

My twin daughters both have buck tags so my time in the woods isn’t over yet. I can’t get enough of this blacktail hunting!

It was October 20, I had an archery tag and was out scouting… 10:30 high sun, and he knew I wasn’t hunting him, after he bounced off, I snuck up around the corner and he’s standing there about 20yds quartered away without a care

One of the most impressive blacktail I’ve seen. Good luck to you and your daughters connecting on a couple more!

 

[Rogue Bay]

It was October 20, I had an archery tag and was out scouting… 10:30 high sun, and he knew I wasn’t hunting him, after he bounced off, I snuck up around the corner and he’s standing there about 20yds quartered away without a care

One of the most impressive blacktail I’ve seen. Good luck to you and your daughters connecting on a couple more!

I swear the deer know when you can’t do anything. When the general deer season used to break for the Cascade elk season, we would see nice bucks with much more consistency. Once deer season started again they all disappeared.

One year on opening day of elk season I saw 14 legal bucks (back in the forky or better days), including a couple dandies. I killed a bull and we made plans to hunt the same area when deer season opened again. We hunted two days and only saw 3 deer. One was a nice 4 point that a kid in our group shot, but it pretty much turned into a ghost town.

Thank you for the encouragement and hopefully I’ll have some photos to share of my kiddos with their first bucks! Best of luck to you on the rest of the season!

 

[Quicksilver]

First buck found him high in the cascades warming up in the sun. 19° that morning and the deer were feeling it!! Nice forky with a big body. Mountain deer are built different.

 

[Rogue Bay]

First buck found him high in the cascades warming up in the sun. 19° that morning and the deer were feeling it!! Nice forky with a big body. Mountain deer are built different. View attachment 619589

That’s a beauty! Congrats!