I killed my first blacktail buck out of the side window of our hay loft with a Win '92 .25-20 in 1953 on Sonoma Mtn. up above CSU Sonoma (which of course didn't exist at that time). I guess the statute of limitations has run out on that misdemeanor.....
Been hunting blacktails in Ventura, SLO, and Monterey counties for the last five years, using the same guns I used for whitetails when I lived in upstate NYS, a Ruger GP-100 .357 and a C. Sharps 1885 .44-40. Both work fine at the ranges I hunt in very brushy and broken terrain. I'm beginning to carry the GP more and more; at 69 that Hiwall gets heavy! (My .44-40 "unleaded" handloads use .44 Mag bullets and near-Magnum loads in Starline brass).
Blacktails aren't hard to kill, but you still need a decent shot and hit, or they can get into the manzanita or whatever scratchy stuff you got. And dragging one out of a steep canyon fulla brush and ticks is NO fun at all.
Last edited by Mesa; 02/18/12.
