These BT have me feeling beat

[oregoner]

Hoping to maybe get a pointer or two on finding a deer. Born and raised Oregonian. 40 years old (when did that happen?). Have hunted on and off since I was a kid, but feel like I must have got stuck in the 90s. I’ve taken three blacktail bucks in probably the last 20 years of hunting. All while walking/still hunting, all less than 100 yards. Grew up hunting with folks that just wore jeans and used lever 30/30s. We’d road hunt a bit, do low key drives through thick stuff if we had someone waiting. Sit at first and last light in small open areas.

Now I mostly read about guys glassing cuts. I’m getting on that bandwagon, but feel blind. I’ve been trying this the last couple days and have yet to pick a deer out of a cut. Have 10x42 binos, and a spotting scope.

I’m also new to Corvallis and hunting the coast range for the first time, so there’s that.

Sure has been nice to be in the woods though.

I guess beyond some kind of hack for seeing a deer in a cut my questions are - how fresh of reprod are we talking? Trees six feet tall? Fresh dirt?

If you were to split the coast range into thirds, would you pick the third closest to the valley, closest to the coast or in the middle for deer density?

I just found this forum and so far it’s been a wealth of information from folks that seem very friendly and solid. Thanks in advance for any pointers.

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

I’m pretty new to it, only 4 years in now, but fwiw I’ve seen way more deer in the timber than in clear cuts. It’s just something I haven’t figured out either. Even this year, I haven’t seen any deer in the cuts, but I’ve seen 3 bucks in the timber…just haven’t had a shot at any of them yet.

 

[oregoner]

Thanks, I appreciate that solidarity. That's my experience so far too. Enough folks seem to have it figured out that I keep trying.

I figure if I can spot one a couple times, I'll have a better sense of what I'm doing/looking for and more optimism.

I did get into some deer walking 20 year old reprod yesterday, but its was too thick to make a move.

 

[2-Stix]

Burns and reprod that you can see in. If you can't see dont wast your time. Burns that are 2-5 years told typically.

 

[Rogue Bay]

One of the biggest challenges hunting blacktails is spotting them. It always amazes me how I can glass a cut for so long then, when I’m convinced there are no deer present, spot one right in front of me that has been frozen still the whole time. They’re about as cryptic as any critter I’ve hunted. The only real advice I can give is once you think you’ve covered everything really well, glass it again even slower. I’m sure you’re well aware but don’t expect to see a whole deer standing in a cut. I’m always looking for movement, a face, an ear, the back line, or antlers. Pick every feature apart thoroughly. This can be challenging for me because patience isn’t my greatest virtue.

I’ve seen deer in really fresh cuts, but they definitely don’t use them as frequently during daylight hours. Here on the coast cuts of 3-6 years are my favorite. Deer will certainly use older cuts but visibility sucks.

As for where in the Coast Range to focus your efforts, I don’t know that there’s a correct answer to that. Where I hunt one can cover some seemingly great country and see few if any deer. Then the next cut or canyon may be full of them. They seem to be in pockets for reasons I can’t discern. I would look for areas with decent sign, even if I’m not seeing deer at the time.

I realize that probably isn’t super helpful. Have confidence in your strategy and don’t let it get in your head. I know that’s easier said than done sometimes.

I just helped a new hunter get her first buck yesterday. We hunted the same cut 8 or 9 times and had only seen one doe. I was explaining to her that blacktail hunting can be like that. The very next corner could reveal a buck. I’d no sooner said that and we rounded a bend and there was a buck standing in a spot we’d looked at 100 times. Don’t give up and best of luck!

 

[slvrslngr]

Hunt the edges and pockets, move until you find good sign then sit on it, hunt to the last minute of legal light, stay out hunting when it’s raining, hunt immediately after the wind stops blowing regardless of the time (within legal hours of course), hunt the does (bucks will likely be nearby, especially now) and be patient. Good luck!

 

[oregoner]

Thanks! Giving this the last try here today and tomorrow. Will report back if anything comes together.

 

[roosiebull]

Age of cuts is a fickle concept, anywhere from brown dead new cuts to grown up cuts you can only see into a couple pockets. The more grown up is my favorite to hunt, but I think I just enjoy glassing spots that can hold a lot of secrets

Tripod is big, and being as patient as possible knowing from any angle you can only see a small portion of what’s there, understand how little bit of cover it takes to hide a deer.

I usually cherry pick glassing (start close to you) and then move to a grid, then I will spend time (killing time if nothing else) looking for beds for future reference, they get easy to spot with practice

It’s very common to be glassing for a long time, then all of a sudden there is a deer in the wide open in the middle of where you have just been glassing forever (goes back to it not taking much to hide a deer)

Be patient, stay in the glass and look for any movement… you should be seeing birds and squirrels if you are effectively glassing

New areas I like to walk out, find sign, and figure out the places the deer use, it’s not all the same

Take a little effort to walk down a ridge and see the little pockets you can’t see, and take your time. If I see good sign, I have no problem glassing from the same place from first light to noon, but at that point I know what they are using and am confident there are deer in front of me

I try to plan out my approach and not expose myself or have my wind blow into where they are, that’s important if you want to hunt the spot again, deer will pattern you better than you will pattern them if you make your presence known

I like playing the long game, find sign that excites me and stay low impact on the spot. Strategy concerning hunting pressure is a big deal too, you have no clue what others are doing when you’re gone, so try to approach things differently than others and don’t be predictable to deer

 

[Warmsy]

I feel your pain! It's taken about 5 years but now I have a "feeling" of where I might find deer, gained by stumbling onto signs and sightings at random.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Post in thread 'slope preference for CA blacktails'
https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/slope-preference-for-ca-blacktails.319201/post-3185374

 

[oregoner]

Thanks all - this is really helpful.

Do ya’ll typically try to glass cuts from above or from below? I guess from across is most ideal., where possible.

Roosiebull - if you’re glassing from dawn til noon, are you sitting? On a stump? Ground? Camp chair?

That link on slope preference is real interesting. Makes sense.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[Steve300xcw]

I glass across if possible. From above or below, hides way to much stuff IMO

 

[DawnPatrol]

Sitting glassing for a long time, I like to bring a foam pad to sit on (mostly it keeps you warmer and dryer than sitting on the ground, but it’s a little comfy too). Then try to find a flat spot where I can lean back against something and have my feet below me. A tripod with legs that move independently is a big help for getting comfortable. And you aren’t gonna glass for 6 hours straight if you are uncomfortable; at least not as well.

I grew up on the central coast and I think the way the timber companies use herbicide in young cuts these days suppresses a lot of the leafy browse that blacktail like (que my road hunter father-in-law who lived in Siletz since the 70s saying: “I never see any deer like I used too”). So if you want to hunt cuts, I would second the recommendations above about focusing on cuts that are 5-8 years old (or older) and have more browse and places to hide. Tougher to see deer, but you gotta hunt them where they are.

 

[Hoodie]

I couldn't buy a mature blacktail buck in a clearcut with all the money in the world. It baffles me every year to see these grip and grins of big bucks in the open.

I love glassing and hate sitting. After a few attempts at trying to make blacktail hunting be like mule deer hunting, last year I started treating it like mobile whitetail hunting. I tried to target specific buck beds, but they don't use them frequently/regularly enough in my area.

My main area I've been learning the past year had a cat move in this season and the deer completely shifted their "patterns." Moved in to a completely new area. Found 3 years sheds from the same large buck in a 100 yard area. Found rubs from velvet shedding and a distinctive large track. I knew he was a homebody. Spent two weeks finding all the doe bedding areas within a half mile of that core buck bedding zone. Located the routes linking the buck bedding to the doe bedding areas. Realized there were only two spots on the whole mountain that pinched him down enough where I'd have a good chance of seeing him if he moved in daylight.

Went home and told my girlfriend. Probably looked something like this:


I committed to hiding behind one boulder daylight to dark for the last 10 days of the season. To say this is not in my nature would be an understatement. An hour and a half into the first sit (Oct 30) I killed him at 90 yards in the big timber.

What does this all mean?

I don't know, but have fun out there!

 

[oregoner]

Love it. Great story, and it’s the kind of anecdote that really does help me think about how best to see one, while holding a rifle, during a specific week of the year, during daylight hours.

Got a pic?

 

[2-Stix]

Blacktail also have a home range of about 1 mile. I shot a buck in a burn 3 years ago pushing 3 does. The following year the same 3 does were in there with a fawn. Its the buck in my photo. I saw the does that morning and got the slip on the buck. Went back that night and caught him moving up to his beds.

Late season the does will have a buck with them often. Wait and watch the does. Bucks get stupid in the rut and will be out almost all day.

I see 10 to 1 deer road hunting. Its not much for hunting but it works. I would typically hike in the AM and drive the PM's.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Then you have some spots that are just weird. I had a lil canyon for a while, and between 8-9am you would see animals climbing up out of the canyon. You could just about set your watch to it, and was one of those spots where you knew that everyday you would see at least one buck.

After about 9am, you would never see even a doe in that canyon for the rest of the day. If I hadnt gone through that place at the right time, I woulda never gave the place a second glance

 

[Hoodie]

By nature blacktail bucks, and especially older ones, generally do not spend much time in the open during daylight hours after the velvet comes off. Glassing cuts works. Hundreds of grip and grins on iFish can attest to that. But it’s a strategy that relies on the buck doing something out a little out of the ordinary.

I’d much rather hunt their tendencies than hope to catch them in an area where it happens to be easy for me to kill one. If it’s mid October and I’m staring at an open area at 11am I don’t even feel like I’m in the game.

But there aren’t any clear-cuts where I hunt anyway. And I just hunted 19 days and only saw one buck bigger than a spike, so take my advice with a huge grain of salt. He just happened to be the one I wanted.

OP, if I were you I’d start scouting tomorrow. There’s no better time than as soon as the season ends. Find out where the bucks in your new area hang out when they aren’t in the units. Shed hunting has been really helpful for me the past two years to put the pieces together.