Been Doing it Wrong....

[TheGDog]

What’s your opinion on timber tigers? Those damn chipmunks start squeaking and never seem to stop.

When I'm on sit with the 3D Leafy... nothin' knows I'm there. Humans included.

Even Hummingbirds come right up to my face/head and check me out. Bees occasionally too. They're curious about this bush... but then figure out it's not for them, when I puff a breath at them.

That's another one ya gotta learn not to react to... when you hear a Hummingbird buzz up inches from your ear! It'll freak you out the first few times it happens.

Or resist the urge to turn your head immediately when you hear a "small" leaf rustle somewhere nearby you. Most of the time it's just the lizards or small birds. Occasional rodent. You don't wanna blow your cover with that movement. Not until you've had a chance to scan with eyeballs first to ensure the area in FOV is clear and no deer, then maybe a lil rotate of head to further scan the FOV to make sure no deer. Then... curiously check into what was making that "small" sound nearby you.

 

[CCooper]

In Western Oregon we get a total of generally 5 weeks during general season rifle. I have hunted this season myslef and with friends and family for over 20 years. We do not hunt hard until the last 2 weeks as the rut approaches. Rain is paramount for daytime blacktail activity. Wind get's them moving as well. I have only killed a few on a sunny day/ mid day bedded in logged units. The last 15 minutes of light in the evening can be magic. My all time favorite condition is when it rains hard all night and clears early to mid morning. They will be moving. The most successful blacktail rifle hunters I know have 2 common denominators: 1)They know there areas well- Scout and do their homework. 2) They play the weather- this can mean being prepared to go out any day of the week if it cooperates. Hope my $.02 helps a little.

 

[aman]

Sitting down for hours has never worked for me. Only saw animals when slow hunting.

 

[roosiebull]

There were a bunch of times where I busted deer out of beds and never got a chance to really see anything but their butt. Thanks for the pointers! I’ll be spending a lot more time out this year before the season. Hopefully I get the multi-season tag.

As mentioned above, scouting in July glassing cuts for the first couple hours of light tells you where bucks are so you are confident during season.

a really big thing for me is scouting during season... I walk areas out until I find sign that excites me then build a strategy. I have killed some bucks just “hunting” but the vast majority of the time I hunt up sign, find sign I like, then hone in on that and kill the deer leaving the sign.
Current buck sign is key to me, and finding that sign in a place I can kill him.

mature bucks don’t put up with much human pressure, if you bump one, you will at least change his program for a couple days, and more than likely keep him in cover during daylight... bump him a couple times and you just made things difficult.

when I find fresh sign from a mature buck, I am careful how I approach it... finding that exciting sign is hard enough I don’t want to mess it up... figure out a strategy, and don’t be intrusive hunting it or you just won’t kill him.
When rifle hunting, I like to hunt cuts because you can do it without being seen or smelled, I tend to avoid hunting the thicker stuff unless I’m confident I know where he is coming from and going and I can do it without getting seen or winded.

if you are hunting through the timber and the wind is bad or swirling, you aren’t being productive. Still hunting timber can work well, you just need good wind to do it.

don’t spend too much time in areas you aren’t seeing deer, or at least a good amount of fresh sign.

you need to find a way to gain confidence in what you are doing.... knowing a good buck is in the area helps.... scouting in summer when bucks are visible helps, and hunting buck sign during season helps more... being strategic helps because you can know he’s likely still around (especially if you keep seeing his sign)

killing a mature Blacktail is never an easy task, and even finding sign of one to hunt isn’t always easy, but once you do you need to be patient without bumping him, and let him make the mistake.

for rifle season, Oct 20th timeframe is when I feel like the chance of catching a mature buck out in daylight is a very likely scenario... I’m mainly trying to gather intel until then. Rainy days are a good chance to catch a nice buck out that normally wouldn’t be out, but just stay positive, cover country and make it a goal to gather intel and not bump deer for the first half of the season and get a little more aggressive later... not to say you won’t kill a pig early season, but don’t go busting through bedding areas early season running off the bucks that become killable later in the season... the whole process takes effort, thought, and finesse... don’t rely on getting lucky and stumbling into one.... that’s the strategy of most but it’s not a good one.

I avoid easy access areas, whether that’s distance or terrain... easy obvious spots, or just spots that get a lot of pressure are areas I avoid... you want to hunt deer that act like deer

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

@roosiebull isn't saying it, but he kills and helps kill multiple nice blacktail bucks every single year. I'd be taking notes if I were planning to hunt the little guys.

 

[7layerburrito]

@roosiebull -- what sort of sign do you find to be the most important or exciting? big fresh tracks, i assume?

 

[3pointer]

I believe Chuck Adams said blacktails on public land is the most difficult. 3 out of 7 years ain't terrible.

Yes !!! Blacktails on public is hardest by far in my book, if you can kill blacktails on public , Mule deer hunting tends to come easy , of course in the right locations

 

[MeatMissile]

Well, I ended up drawing the multi-season tag for deer. I will be able to hunt from September 1 to December 31. I will probably hunt local for early archery starting Sep 1 and use that time to find elk. The early archery season for elk coincides with the end of early archery for deer. If I don’t take a blacktail during archery, I will continue to stay local for muzzleloader season. If I still don’t tag out, I’ll head over the mountains for mule deer or whitetail with a modern rifle. If I’m still empty handed, I’ll come back and finish October with a rifle for blacktail and hopefully catch the beginning of the rut. I’ll then hunt late rifle for blacktail. If I’m STILL empty handed, I have all of December for late archery.

I really hope I get one!

 

[7layerburrito]

I drew too -- your plan sounds good! I'm just looking forward to having so much time to hunt.

 

[tttoadman]

Tagging onto "CCooper" and "Roosiebull" these guys are spot on. I lived my whole life in western OR until I moved to FL like a Dumb$%^&. I only hunt wilderness areas. I don't hunt cuts or timber co land.
my only adds:

• Stress the weather. The only time I truly expect to get a big blacktail is weather clearing after a hard night of rain or steady rain. Deer don't like to sit in the trees when it is raining because the excessing "plopping" noise of rain dripping off the trees in the western forests freaks them out. They will bed and hang out in more open areas and lay in the rain. The fun plan is to head out in the middle of the night while it is pouring rain for the 2nd or 3rd day solid with a forecasting clearing off in the morning. Get up high. Try to sleep for a couple hrs with the rain pelting your shelter. When you get up hoof that final 1/2mile and "IT IS ON".
• Trails are a necessary reality for western OR and WA hunting to cover a lot of ground in a hurry. I find that game paths are paralleling the people trails. It may only be a 100yds, but that is where they are all day. The people that bitch about not seeing anything from the trails are just acting like 1000 hikers a week that these deer have learned to avoid all summer.
• Be conscious of elevation and migration. The 2018 blacktail I got was a 5000ft+ elevation buck. These higher elevation blacktails may start migrating down after mid October. Others noted the final couple weeks of season for best hunting, but you may need to factor in elevation also. If you are a week or 2 late on the high elevation blacktails they are gone, and your scouting efforts and prep may have been for nothing. I hunted numerous wasted weekends at 6000ft in Oct 25-Nov5 time frame to figure out they were all gone. The first 2 weeks of Oct they were thick up there. They just don't live up there and tough it out like Mule deer will.
• Noise in the western forest is a funny thing. I watched a podcast with a couple real successful blacktail guys. They noted a funny observation that I have now found to be spot on. Here it is...A quiet western forest is a forest on high alert. every critter pays attention to every other critter. You are in the zone when surrounded by birds and critters running up and down the trees making a bunch of noise. A big buck is way too smart and knows that silence is the alert and will move out ahead of you and you never even knew he was there.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Having lived and hunted NW Washington I felt your pain. I have almost nothing to offer other than the guys in California is nowhere close to the same Blacktail hunting in NW WA. Terrain, habitat and deer are very very different. Regardless of where the "official" demarcation line is....you're hunting southern Sitka type deer. And like habitat.

Back Yard Blacktails are enormous. Finding the same out in the tules is a whole nother thing.

 

[screedler]

This thread has some great information in it, I need to study this! Only got my first blacktail deer last year out of sheer luck in my buddy's back 40 after seein' nothing in the national forest with him all day.

 

[Weber]

Thanks for the tips! There is virtually no good glassing ground where I hunt, just thick forest and a few small muskegs. I feel like I just get lucky on the few times I've had success. I think my strategy this year is to hike out in the dark and try to catch them transiting in the early daylight. It's real crunchy or soupy depending on the weather and it's super loud to walk.

How do y'all determine the freshness of sign? There is so much poop everywhere, but no deer. It's like their ghosts.

 

[Bubblehide]

Thanks for the tips! There is virtually no good glassing ground where I hunt, just thick forest and a few small muskegs. I feel like I just get lucky on the few times I've had success. I think my strategy this year is to hike out in the dark and try to catch them transiting in the early daylight. It's real crunchy or soupy depending on the weather and it's super loud to walk.

How do y'all determine the freshness of sign? There is so much poop everywhere, but no deer. It's like their ghosts.

I am not at all afraid to trim out shooting lanes, a path to within shooting distance to a bed... when the animal(s) are not there. I will also go in with a rake and rake my paths clean of the crunchies (again when the animal(s) are not there. This process can take several trips over several months. But, once it is done (in an area I know holds animals), I have options within the chosen hunt area.

As for knowing fresh sign, when scouting, I often carry a small rake and my shit shovel. I will use them in the more ideal locations to leave small areas that are now prone to animals leaving tracks. I have often used this technique when pig hunting dry areas (they simply are not leaving tracks in dry hard ground). So I soften up small areas and rake them, then check them the next morning.

Simply put, in thick country, you need to find high traffic areas. Preferably with several merging trails, and be patient. Obviously, some luck does not hurt. But in that thick country, you need to create opportunity, which can be a real investment sometimes. Toss in some game cameras, and you may gather info on the time animals are coming through certain areas. However, come opening, those patterns often change, so don't stop the scouting effort once season opens.

 

[Weber]

However, come opening, those patterns often change, so don't stop the scouting effort once season opens.

Scouting is a real problem for me. The island I hunt on is about 3100 round trip to get too haha. I've never messed with trail cameras but will give them a shot this year. There are a few places on the island I believe to be a "crossroads" and it'd be cool to prove it out.

Is it believed they change habits year to year? even on a 7-mile island?

The raking idea for droppings is a good idea, toss everything in the immediate vicinity first day, quiet like, and see if anything is there the following.

@Bubblehide any trail cam recs?

 

[Bubblehide]

Scouting is a real problem for me. The island I hunt on is about 3100 round trip to get too haha. I've never messed with trail cameras but will give them a shot this year. There are a few places on the island I believe to be a "crossroads" and it'd be cool to prove it out.

Is it believed they change habits year to year? even on a 7-mile island?

The raking idea for droppings is a good idea, toss everything in the immediate vicinity first day, quiet like, and see if anything is there the following.

Generally speaking, I take the long term approach to any areas I plan on returning to hunt. Meaning, I can drive to the area and scout it several to numerous times per year. Your case here sounds very different. So I would take a modified approach. I do not like to spread my scent around during the season, generally. But in your case, you may not have a choice in that (but you can limit that). I think choosing a few "crossroads", 2 or 3 blind areas at each (for wind) and trimming the area so you have shooting lanes, it may open up opportunities. However, it may also spread your scent in those areas and shut them down for a few days. It is a risk you may have to take. But if you plan on continuing to return, I think a few trail cameras in some key locations may be eye opening. And some trimming for future hunts may make a world of difference.

I do not see the animals changing habits from year to year per say. What I do see, is the environmental changes that occur, directly affect what the animals do and where they will be. For example, in an area I hunt local to me (non migratory mule deer, not blacktail) I generally set camp about 5 miles in and hunt out further from there. The country is steep, the canyons are very steep. The top has some oaks and oak brush. During dry years, like currently, the deer generally stay deep in the canyons. I have simply gotten to old to go down into those canyons after deer, and pack them out. During the dry years, there are zero acorns on top and sometimes no acorn crop at all. Thankfully it is a long season, and I simply hunt the weekends on top and wait for later in the season when things cool down and those deer start to utilize the top of the mountain. Patience like that has allowed me to fill my tags every year, with the exception of the year before last (I thought meeting F&W about a poacher was a bit more important that filling my tag). Simply put, I can and do predict that during the opener and a week or 2 after, the deer will be in the canyons, and toward the end of the season, the spot I hunt comes to life and my tags get filled. However, I am after mature bucks, so some patience is necessary.

I hunt another area (a 5 hour drive) with migratory mule deer. Where I hunt there are resident deer (they still migrate, when needed), but the quality of the hunt is weather dependent. Based on the environmental conditions, from information I gathered and pieced together, I have found that their whereabouts is predictable. I have also hunted blacktailed deer plenty but not extensively like I have mule deer. In the areas I have hunted blacktailed deer (both non migratory and migratory), I have also found them predictable; but they can be very elusive.

So in short, what I am saying is that if you have enough experience hunting a particular area, and you learn how the deer react to hunting pressure and changing environmental conditions, with enough experience and knowledge, they can be predictable.

 

[Weber]

with enough experience and knowledge, they can be predictable.

Sounds like I'll just need to plan on going back every year

 

[Bubblehide]

Sounds like I'll just need to plan on going back every year

Wit draw zones taking years and years to draw, I simply made the choice long ago to put the work in and successfully hunt some of the crappiest zones in my home state. The nice thing is that I am hunting close to home, and I get out there often, very often.

 

[TheGDog]

I have to reiterate what @Bubblehide said about taking some time at the few areas you've chosen for sit location and really clearing away the potato chips (dried Oak Leaves). Not only at the spot you intend to sit at behind a natural blind you've built up with deadfall... but also clearing a path, as needed, up to 20-25 yds away from your blind so you can walk over there and pee or poop and it keeps the smell out of the wind which carries along the trail you're currently posted up near.

Also physically sit down at that spot you decide you want to make a stand at. And look around the FOV. ESPECIALLY if it's Bow!!! And see if there are some shrubs or small budding trees it might be a good idea to trim. Typically with a few scouting missions into there, you'll see how the deer pass thru that area. Some of the lines they typically tend to take. Use that deadfall to your advantage! Use it to help control the path thru this area you want to allow them to take!

I've got this one sit that faces a gullie. There are two trail lines which criss-cross near the gullie. One of these two trail lines crosses the gullie at like a 90 degree. To prevent them from continuing to travel along within that gullie, I drug a bunch of nearby deadfall and put it into that gullie just after where that trail line crosses the gullie. I made sure to put enough that they can't just jump over it easily. And that has paid off dividends.

Likewise on some bigger more established trees near this same spot I'm talking about, I've NOT trimmed off these scraggly dead branches that have cracked and fallen over to the ground, but are still connected to the tree, because it provides me this great opportunity to drawback a bow or raise a weapon once I've seen them thru the regular leaves on that tree on the center and other side of it. AND that fallen over branch also guide them toward the trail line that comes up and out of the gullie!

Also... if and when you decide some areas need a bush trimming or a young tree trimming... in my example where I sit at on this spot I've chosen which overlooks all this.. I'm inside a field of poison oak at the base of this large California Oak. So... I make sure then from my vantage point... when looking at these holes I've opened up in brush near the gullie and trail lines... that I've also make sure to trim out sort of a trough thru the poison oak pointing at these few holes, to make sure the tallest pieces of poison oak sticking up don't inadvertently screw up a shot opportunity!

Work like this to change the layout so they traverse it more like YOU want... you need to be doing this very early on so the forest has time to calm back down and them to get used to this change and your scent to wear out and be gone LONG before the season starts. AND you can confirm your changes are working as desired by carefully setting TrailCams to document how they go thru.

 

[TheGDog]

Sitting down for hours has never worked for me. Only saw animals when slow hunting.

Well, then you may need to scout and place trailcams more extensively in your area in order to figure out the places where they DO come by a decent percentage of the time.

I was doing this (taking up an ambush sit and remaining there) in CA's D15... which is THEE lowest success rate zone in the state. Indeed, there are days when I may not see a single critter on a particular sit point. But that's when you have a B and a C site that you might elect to move to mid-day to try sitting out to last light there instead.

In the area I'm thinking of, it borders some private lands... AND... from my scouting in the summer time, camping out in that area... I learned (by hearing) that the private land had horses! (So therefore they have horse troughs... i.e. WATER!) I also learned (by hearing) that a dog would bark in the middle of the night. My presumption was it was likely because it detected the deer coming in to drink.

That and the sign corroborated this theory, and it paid off.

Also... those dudes on the private put a hurtin' on the deer too... so... sometimes I'd be out there and I'd hear multipl shots ringin' out from the direction of the private land... so I knew to perk up and remain alert! Sure enough, before long a young buck comes into my scene, very obviously nervously trying to put some distance between himself on their properties. This gave me opportunities. Also I got these opportunities from how I drug a buncha deadfall into this gullie my sit faces... so these nervous ones trying to hug the gullie to keep out of sight had to take a small detour to come up out of the gullie where I desired them to! Cha-Ching!