Been Doing it Wrong....

[Oregon]

Some great advice from a couple folks above. Scout when their antlers are fuzzy. June/July.
I used to do really well on blacktails. Back when I had the motivation to scout in that time frame. Now, with my job, it's absolutely impossible to go looking around at first light, cause I'm working every day. In the evening I'm to tired and usually in bed by 730pm.
My other favorite tactic is watching that radar and doing a good guess when the heavy rain is about to stop. Insane how those deer have to get up and shake off a bit and feed when it quits raining. No matter time of day. I'm fortunate to be hunting 10 minutes from the house so that tactic is doable.

 

[Sundance]

Consistently harvesting mature blacktails in WA on public land is a near impossible feat. You can't pay for guaranteed success which makes it that much more special. Just when you think you have it all figured out you can go on a 2-3 years blank streak. Even the best hunters will tell you they are constantly learning.

My advice is learn an area that has good genetics and hit it hard. Persistence, patience, and a lot of luck goes a long ways. I've found I have to put in 10-20 days a season (hunting days) to maybe have a one chance at a buck that breaks 120". Some years my only opportunity has been a split second as a buck is busting away or a shot window that I can't make. I've eaten several tags because I was holding for a P&Y buck and couldn't find one to make the mark.

I've taken the majority of my mature bucks between October 25th and the 31st by staying out all day long.

 

[StuckoYota99]

Hunting blacktails in the Mt baker area is definitely humbling. I have seen some bruiser bucks that lived in thick steep terrain that has very little human pressure... but they are truly ghosts.
I've also seen record bucks walking down the side walk in bellingham.
It seems like the individuals who kill a blacktail every year really commit a lot of time in learning areas and deer behavior in those areas. And when they figure it out they keep it to themselves.
Pnwild just did a podcast with some information on blacktails.

 

[Blacktailchaser]

Start looking for deer sign where is steep and nasty thick and you will find good bucks.

 

[Lwing]

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.

If your busting deer, there there, your going too fast, slow down, was happening to me and that’s what I was told. Three slow steps, pause assess, walking like a deer helps,
pits helped me

 

[Kotleta]

They see us before we see them. IT boils down to luck on public lands; you dont know how many other hunters were out there yesterday when you werent there.

 

[TheGDog]

You *may* also wanna checkout some boot coverings made for quieting down the footsteps. There's multiple manufacturers. I happen to have SneekTec's. They help a lot in quieting down your steps. But when you're thick in the Oak Leaves there's only soo much quieting it'll do. But... if the dirt you're walking on is hardpack with some sand/gravel dusted upon it.... there it helps very well. Also I've noticed that if I leave them on when on my sit in the morning, those extra covers seem to help my boots not lose heat from the cold ground being in direct contact with the sole of the boot, once I've stopped and am on the sit. So it helps on those unusually cold mornings in SoCal that you don't expect as often. They're not so great if you need to go up a rise though. Much better than you'd think they'd be. But certainly less grippy than the boots regular soles for that purpose.

 

[Bubblehide]

They see us before we see them. IT boils down to luck on public lands; you dont know how many other hunters were out there yesterday when you werent there.

They see you because you are moving. You really need to get to a spot the deer move through at least 1/2 hour before first light. Tuck yourself in to a spot and don't move. let the place settle and the animal will follow their normal pattern, if other hunters are not disturbing them. Or tuck yourself into an area that is an escape route if there is other pressure in the area.

 

[TheGDog]

They see you because you are moving. You really need to get to a spot the deer move through at least 1/2 hour before first light. Tuck yourself in to a spot and don't move. let the place settle and the animal will follow their normal pattern, if other hunters are not disturbing them. Or tuck yourself into an area that is an escape route if there is other pressure in the area.

^^^ Thanks to THIS MAN telling me THIS piece of info... I've managed to get 3 deer solo so far by using this info starting from total n00b in 2014.

 

[Bubblehide]

^^^ Thanks to THIS MAN telling me THIS piece of info... I've managed to get 3 deer solo so far by using this info starting from total n00b in 2014.

I hunted with a friend (until he moved out of state) who was an upland bird hunter. I introduced him to deer hunting. I took him to that land of milk and honey, i.e., a honey hole. I woke him up at O-Dark-30, we dressed, ate and hit the trail. I stopped at a good glassing location about 45 minutes before first light. I napped until first light. We glassed, I napped and he kept glassing. After about 2 hours, we moved to a different glassing location and we did the same, with me napping on and off for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, then glassing... After about 2 hours, he was getting antsy. About then I spot a nice buck.... Later he confessed that he was thinking my method was a waste of time because he thought deer hunting would be like bird hunting, where you walk until you find the birds. He expected to walk and walk and walk into the deer eventually. After putting him on a different buck, that he took, he realized that hunting deer like upland game would be a huge mistake, and he confessed such to me.

Deer's eyes, the rods and cones, are very different from ours. Theirs are specifically designed to pick up on movement from miles away. The only way to beat the perception for movement is to move in extra slow motion. Studies show that deer's hearing is no better than ours for detecting sounds. However the studies exhibit that deer's hearing is incredible for detecting unnatural sounds, like a person walking. Anything out of place sets off alarm bells in their brains. We also know that their sense of smell far surpasses ours. Their sense of smell works much like their hearing; if it is not naturally occurring in their environment, those smells will set off alarm bells. You simply cannot beat their vision if you are moving. You cannot beat their hearing if you are making noise, and you cannot beat their nose if you are up wind from them. Thus the need to be set-up prior to first light. Keep in mind that we here in southern Ca, have a dry noisy environment to hunt in with very low deer density/herd numbers. Consistent success here comes from doing everything you can to have every advantage you can have (legally of course).

 

[TheGDog]

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

And perhaps that works and makes sense in your area too. The biggest hindrance in the place I'm thinking of is it's LOUD AS HELL to walk around in there! A blanket of Loud-a$s crunchy "potato-chips" (dried and crunchy oak leaves) is everywhere, not to mention dried grasses too.

Other spot is very Open Country with big tall Desert Mtn Ridges. If not tucked into the Junipers / Scrub oak everything will see you.

This new spot I'm going to though. Alpine type terrain. It's a lil bit Open in visibility.. but.. there are a lot of tall trees. Once you get up a slope or two and not just standing around where a buncha pine cones have fallen and congregated... that terrain a person *could* potentially creep around in still-hunting. Because there's not the blanket of oak leaves, and it's not so wide open where you stick out like a sore thumb from a long ways away.

 

[Weber]

Posting this here since it was pretty relavent.

Southeast Alaska Rut Hunting Tips

Hunting Southeast Alaska for blacktail bucks. Southeast Alaska Rut Hunting Tips by The Mediocre Alasken will help you find more success.

www.rokslide.com

 

[fishsticks]

Lots of good info in this thread. Thanks to all for sharing.

 

[MeatMissile]

This is what I was looking at today. Saw several does bedded in the open. How would you all hunt this?

 

[MJB]

Some advice on here is for SoCal hybrid which is nothing like hunting blacktails.

Carry on......

 

[TheGDog]

This is what I was looking at today. Saw several does bedded in the open. How would you all hunt this?

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Get down just barely into the "Edge" of that opening... with the Sun at your back... sit down low with Tripod and wearing concealment gear such as leafy suit, backed up into a bush so your movements become much harder to see. Glass around... find one... plan how to cut the distance... creep around just inside the tree line a bit so the concealment gear can do it's thing if they spot you and you have to play the "freeze-game" for a bit.

Bring some Kwik-Stiks or if pack weight not too bad bring a Primos Trigger Stick Tripod.

One thing though? You're gonna have to make note of how the wind currents in the morning travel. From where TO where? Note when that current of typically upward travelling heating-up air ends at.. then realize couple hrs after that you're gonna get an opposite direction wind current as the PM starts cooling.

Regarding the creep. Gotta make sure you can use optics by hand to spot check where they are as you slowly and carefully make your creep around that "Edge" growth. You'll want to be submerged INTO that edge growth a lil bit so it can mask your movement somewhat. But kinda depends on what's all over the ground or not too. You might find one way has a lotta crunchy noisy crap on the ground, so then you figure maybe come in from the other direction... perhaps you have to arrive significantly earlier to do that? Hiking in with headlamp on lowe4st setting.... then as approach... turn the light over to Green or Red beam since it spooks em less I've heard.

PS I'd DEFINITELY NOT try to go THRU all that Blow-down crap. That stuff makes you make way too much noise and slows you down a lot since you're trying to be quiet. Then ya gotta be extra careful to watch foot placement so ya don't snap something... which gives chances for them to give you the slip while you're having to pay attn to your footing.

Like Thursday... I was hiking in at 5am under moonlight only because it was bright enough it was doable so I figured no need to call attn to myself with the headlamp. Just be ready to turn it on if some critter that hunts at night gets the wrong idea in his head. Also... if you do have to react at night. Gotta be ready to quickly turn on headlamp and then slide it slightly over to non-shooting side so when you're in cheek-weld with rifle it's actually illuminating whatever you're pointing at since you angled it slightly over to non-shooting side before putting cheek onto the stock.