Tips for blacktail hunts?

[vishnevian]

Never hunter black tails before. The open hills always seemed to have made sense to me as far as being able to glass up a deer and stalk. I have NO idea how one even approaches hunting in the thick timber. Do you just find a small open patch and sit? Still hunting deep woods??? Thanks

 

[Hoodie]

Learn to enjoy being in the woods.

Spend as much as time as possible in the woods. Find one to three areas that hold deer. Ignore all other areas. Shed hunt religiously. Learn where bucks like to live and where does like to live. Shed hunting can help with this. Map the ares where the does live. Find the trails that connect these doe areas. Find the very few places along these trails where the topography or cover force the deer to move through a very small, very specific area.

Eventually, after a lot of walking you will come upon a spot where you are absolutely certain a buck will step sometime in late October or November. Find a clean way to access that area undetected. Sit there until tag filled.

 

[Jtb.kfd]

Lots of good threads on Rokslide regarding western WA blacktail for someone just starting out. I hunted them on the Olympic Peninsula for many years before moving to the east side of the state. A couple things I would say if you are new is to go out in July and glass clearcuts in the mornings/evenings. The bucks will be in bachelor groups then and are easy to spot with their reddish hides. That will give you confidence knowing what is in the area. When season rolls around hunt in tall timber that borders transition zones. Bucks can and will be in the thicker 20-30 year old thick stuff, but they are very hard to hunt here. In the tall timber I found they like to bed within 75yds or so of the edge. Still hunting through these patches was how we found consistent success. We would also put up tree stands along these edges inside the timber 50-75yds. That worked, but you could spend days and days in them without seeing a buck. Still hunting was the way to go. Also hunting the end of Oct during the rut was always better, but it coincided with my elk season so I mainly hunted the earlier season.

 

[Jtb.kfd]

These are two books I would highly recommend also to give you a starting point. They are both based out of western Oregon but the tactics remain the same for western WA.

 

[MeatMissile]

If you’re hunting modern firearm, the last half of general season will be the beginning of the rut, which is earlier than mule deer or whitetails. It’s also nice that they don’t really need to migrate and might live and die in a relatively small area.

Do all of the scouting mentioned above to figure out where deer are hanging out. I generally try to get up to where I can see where deer are moving into edges to bed down. But, don’t neglect glassing clearcuts. It looks like solid ground, but it’s not. There are a lot of places where a buck can bed down where it looks open, but it’s really not. You won’t see a whole deer bedded down, you will see an eyeball or an ear.

 

[shootnrun]

Blacktail can be hunted many ways, you get to decide which works for you. My previous strategy was locating does I saw consistently. They were essentially in a 50 yard zone every day. Id wait til the last week of Oct and walk to each spot and glass them up. Eventually they would have a buck on them. On a good day, a hot doe can have 5+ bucks circling and watching the behavior taught me a lot. I call this my previous strategy because more people are walking than ever and most of the deer get bounced.

I now still hunt timber edges and benches. It can be agonizing to go as slow as required to see a Blacktail buck before it sees you. If you go faster than step, glass, step, glass, you will either see them running or they will slither away without you ever knowing they were ever there.

Be prepared to get addicted. Once you see a white faced buck all you'll want to do is find another one.

 

[PNWhunter82]

As another newish PNW resident I appreciate all the info here. Sounds a lot like hunting white tails in the north east.

 

[Lande4289]

There is a lot of good information in this post l, but having hunted blacktail for 25 years in western Oregon I think I have some info that may be useful to new blacktail hunters. Blacktails are often referred to the ghosts of the PNW, and rightfully so. However elusive they may be there are a few methods I’ve used that consistently put me on bucks year after year.

The #1 tip I can give is to make sure you are in the woods when it’s raining! Especially if you are able to be in the woods on the first good rain on the season. You will see deer appear out of thin air it seems when it’s raining.

Next, BE PATIENT!!! Whether you are still hunting bedding areas or transition areas from feeding to bedding areas. Walk painfully slow and glass constantly. I have seen these deer let people walk right past them and they will not move until the hunter has passed. I’ve even had a buck lay down and crawl into a blackberry patch.

Hunt areas that are less pressured. This may seem obvious, but less pressured areas don’t necessarily mean 5 miles in behind a gate. One of my most productive areas is a short walk in behind a gate in an area that does not look like it would hold deer. I definitely have areas I hunt where I am miles behind a gate, but don’t pass up overlooked areas. Especially with the backcountry hunter trend being so prevalent these days. People will blow right past good areas to get far in.

Look for the right kind of habitat. I am hunting the central coast range of Oregon these days and vegetation grows incredibly fast. I look for clear cuts that are 5-10 years old. Steep cuts are good for glassing and I have taken many bucks from suck areas but cuts with multiple draws and benches seem to hold a lot more deer. I am looking for cuts with knee to head height for trees in them with blackberries. This provides the deer with cover for bedding and forage. The deer will sometimes bed right in the middle of such areas if they are not constantly being pressured.

I know this is a long winded post, but lastly don’t get burnt out and give up half way through the season if you haven’t seen anything. I have heard statistics that 80% of blacktail bucks are harvested in the first and last weekends of the season. If you have seen does but no bucks, hunt the does and a buck will start sneaking around the last feed days of the season.

Good luck! Blacktail are amazing deer and are considered the hardest deer in North America to hunt.