Summer time blacktail info wanted.

[nphunter]

I’m curious what black tails do in the summer? Do bucks go high like mule deer where it’s cooler, will they bed in more open country with velvet on? I’ll be hunting blacktail starting Aug 1st this year and have never hunted them before but have a lot of experience with mule deer.

The area had some big burns in some wilderness areas. Not exactly above tree line but effectively the same since the highest peaks in the area are burned. High Elevations around 6K and low around 1500-2000 feet.

As of now I’m planning on going high, the area has a ton of green vegetation so I’m not super worried about water.

I’m hoping to get on peaked and glass huge expansive burned off areas a couple miles in each direction. That is similar to how I hunt mule deer. I’ll probably try a trip in July to put up some cams over mineral since their horns will still be growing.

Any advise would be appreciated.

I’ll be hunting with a bow.

 

[Hoodie]

I bowhunted high country blacktails one time before the OR season dates shifted later. Now you don’t have near as much time before they shed velvet so I’ve moved to rifle hunting them during the general season.

In my limited experience they will stay out feeding way later in the morning, and come out earlier in the evenings, when they are in velvet; but I have yet to see one bedding in the open the way high country mule deer do. This is based on probably 25 morning/evening glassing sessions. I’ve always seen them heading for the timber before 9am. That may not hold true in larger burn areas but I find most of the deer, and especially the big bucks, will still want to be in close proximity to cover.

That first year I was planning to bed them up and stalk them from above. I wasted way too many days waiting on the buck in the photo below to bed in a stalkable spot. The only other bowhunter I’ve ever seen in that area told me you pretty much have to count on stalking them when they’re up feeding.

If I was going to do it again I’d plan on ambushing them. Mature blacktail bucks don’t make too many mistakes.

Best of luck on your hunt. They’re super tough, but addicting. I’m pretty much not interested in hunting anything else at this point.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

The coastal blacktails of Northern California do not. They move from bedding area to bedding area feeding and favoring shade. Sitting known travel corridors near water is a strategy that can work depending on the area and lion pressure.

 

[eLightfoot]

5500-6500 feet of elevation is kind of a sweet spot for wilderness blacktails up north. Burnt bowls/basins off the sides of main ridges are likely spots.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Think it will really depend on where you are at. I know of areas around 4500 that have critters stacked up in the shade under every grove of trees.

Run 20 miles away and its a different story.....

 

[willfrye027]

I have not found blacktails in august to me much different than blacktails in September, although I’m farther south in Azone. They seem to be shedding velvet mid July. Compared to mule deer..it’s more like a late September/early October behavior and time frame. Our blacktails rut in late Sept/early Oct.

 

[257flat]

5500-6500 feet of elevation is kind of a sweet spot for wilderness blacktails up north. Burnt bowls/basins off the sides of main ridges are likely spot

I’m curious what black tails do in the summer? Do bucks go high like mule deer where it’s cooler, will they bed in more open country with velvet on? I’ll be hunting blacktail starting Aug 1st this year and have never hunted them before but have a lot of experience with mule deer.

The area had some big burns in some wilderness areas. Not exactly above tree line but effectively the same since the highest peaks in the area are burned. High Elevations around 6K and low around 1500-2000 feet.

As of now I’m planning on going high, the area has a ton of green vegetation so I’m not super worried about water.

I’m hoping to get on peaked and glass huge expansive burned off areas a couple miles in each direction. That is similar to how I hunt mule deer. I’ll probably try a trip in July to put up some cams over mineral since their horns will still be growing.

Any advise would be appreciated.

I’ll be hunting with a bow.

Colombian blacktails are all the same. Easy to draw tags or are otc and a lot of units have thousands of tags has, I believe changed their behavior. If left alone they act like high country mule deer. To find these deer you have to go where people don’t go. Find the topography that discourages people and you will be in a good place to start.

But just like mule deer they have to eat. August hunting Blacktail is the best time to find them. There is no better time to glass up bucks than the first few weeks of August. They are extremely pattern able. They leave their beds down low and feed their way to the tops. When the sun rises they drop down to the bottom of or below the basins.

Oregon is every bit as hot as California. Go to the tops or hunt the river bottoms. If you just can’t escape the people be prepared to drop in elevation. You will glass them up in the mornings in the high country but most bucks drop 1000-2000’ off of the feeding grounds to bed. Very rarely will you find a buck bedded like mule deer but it does happen and if you do he’s most likely alone. Thermals are the same as anywhere. Don’t be afraid to get in your socks and still hunt bedding areas. It’ll most likely be 80 degrees during the day. Find thermal cover associated with feed. Preferred feed is Alaskan fire weed, goose berries, choke cherry willows, wild rose, elderberry and if you find oak brush and there’s acorns even if they aren’t ripe. Burnt ceonothus is everywhere and good feed too when it has burned. Older burns are an absolute nightmare. Anything older than a five year burn and the ceonothus brush is 12 feet tall.

You won’t be making moves on deer miles away. Our topography is just too complex.

I use the same Blacktail tactics on out of state mule deer. Batting 1000% on otc mule deer and elk since 2012.

 

[nphunter]

Colombian blacktails are all the same. Easy to draw tags or are otc and a lot of units have thousands of tags has, I believe changed their behavior. If left alone they act like high country mule deer. To find these deer you have to go where people don’t go. Find the topography that discourages people and you will be in a good place to start.

But just like mule deer they have to eat. August hunting Blacktail is the best time to find them. There is no better time to glass up bucks than the first few weeks of August. They are extremely pattern able. They leave their beds down low and feed their way to the tops. When the sun rises they drop down to the bottom of or below the basins.

Oregon is every bit as hot as California. Go to the tops or hunt the river bottoms. If you just can’t escape the people be prepared to drop in elevation. You will glass them up in the mornings in the high country but most bucks drop 1000-2000’ off of the feeding grounds to bed. Very rarely will you find a buck bedded like mule deer but it does happen and if you do he’s most likely alone. Thermals are the same as anywhere. Don’t be afraid to get in your socks and still hunt bedding areas. It’ll most likely be 80 degrees during the day. Find thermal cover associated with feed. Preferred feed is Alaskan fire weed, goose berries, choke cherry willows, wild rose, elderberry and if you find oak brush and there’s acorns even if they aren’t ripe. Burnt ceonothus is everywhere and good feed too when it has burned. Older burns are an absolute nightmare. Anything older than a five year burn and the ceonothus brush is 12 feet tall.

You won’t be making moves on deer miles away. Our topography is just too complex.

I use the same Blacktail tactics on out of state mule deer. Batting 1000% on otc mule deer and elk since 2012.

Thanks, there most likely will be zero other pressure where I’m going. The unit is very large approx. 3.4 million acres and has very few early tags, it comes out to like 70K acres per hunter, but there is quite a bit of late pressure. The area I’m looking at is an old burn but it looks open on the imagery. I’m sure there is buck brush, hope it isn’t too deep. I’m defiantly planning on getting up high and glassing, I’ll be able to see most of the way into the bottom across canyon so I’ll watch for deer going up and down. I would think there would be better feed up on top in the burn than down in the creek bottoms in the old growth in this area.

The area I’m hunting has too much snow to hunt during the general/late hunt so these deer probably don’t see much pressure in there summer range at all and are most likely hunted where they are rutting many miles away down in the valley.

Appreciate the feedback!

 

[257flat]

Send me

Thanks, there most likely will be zero other pressure where I’m going. The unit is very large approx. 3.4 million acres and has very few early tags, it comes out to like 70K acres per hunter, but there is quite a bit of late pressure. The area I’m looking at is an old burn but it looks open on the imagery. I’m sure there is buck brush, hope it isn’t too deep. I’m defiantly planning on getting up high and glassing, I’ll be able to see most of the way into the bottom across canyon so I’ll watch for deer going up and down. I would think there would be better feed up on top in the burn than down in the creek bottoms in the old growth in this area.

The area I’m hunting has too much snow to hunt during the general/late hunt so these deer probably don’t see much pressure in there summer range at all and are most likely hunted where they are rutting many miles away down in the valley.

Appreciate the feedback!

Send me a pm if you have anymore questions. Blacktails are my number 1 favorite animal to hunt.

Sounds like you are sitting pretty with a good tag and low hunter numbers. Should be a great hunt! Stick to your muley tactics. Blacktails love water. Where ever there is a lot of water=thermal cover/safety/bedding.