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Thanks for posting those! Big blacktails are something special.

Only a forky but one of my better ones.

That's a WIDE forky.

Sorry, but ANY California, or southern oregon blacktail can't be compared to real blacktails..... period...

That said, this thread isn't about" "faux" blacktail...

Why?

Because some taxonomists say that blacktail range is only farther north. Some say it ends at Monterrey Bay. Well here is a deer from Paso Robles. It aint a mule deer and it aint a white tail so tell me what the hell is a blacktail?


It's a deer that has black all the way down it's tail with forked antlers.
Maybe I should change my handle to Mysterydeerer.

Call them whatever we want, the deer from the drier southern Oregon down south through California are NOT like the rain deer of coastal WA or British Columbia on north.

The blacktail shown from near Paso Robles is way different from a northern blacktail. When I hunted them in that area of California I concluded that they are closer to mule deer in looks and behavior than they are to rain deer blacktail in northern fern jungles. Hunting them in oak and scrub and dry grassy hills is not anything like hunting rain forest deer.

The buck shown from near Paso shows a white rump with a black stripe tail down the center of the white patch. Rain forest blacktails have a broad black tail that covers every bit of their narrower white patch. In a foggy grey dawn, a mule deer type white rump patch shows up WAAAAY more than a sneaky northen blacktail with no white showing on its rump.

Been there many times with both, and have hunted both the northern blacktails and the southern ones. They ain’t even similar. If there were an easier way to ID them, they should be in a different record book, though I understand the frustration separating them. Mule deer and blacktails interbreed, and in the north Cascades of WA State I have seen four deer standing together with four different markings, from mule deer oval white rump with a stripe, as shown, to full blacktail with no white showing.

Wish y'all who hunt blacktails in the oak hills of northern California could spend a day after them on the Solduc River, just for fun comparison.

Re the original post: the guy in the video is the real deal who is exceptionally good at rain forest blacktails.

A Coues Deer looks exactly like a Whitetail.... but somehow we make a distinction.

There are actually three different types of Blacktails..... Columbia Blacktails (yes, this includes those Cali “Coues Mule Deer”), Cascade Blacktails (N. OR, WA, and S. BC) and Sitka Blacktails (spotlighted by Alaskan Midgets).

Ain’t a more handsome deer than a mature Blacktail buck.

Is this a blacktail?



Or this?



What about this one?



Maybe this?




Probly not huh?

Another not blacktail



The place is crawling with non-blacktails

We are in agreement.

I can't speak to any genetic differences in deer species, but I promise you that hunting in a rain forest is far more difficult than hunting in open, dry country.


Okie John

You mean the open dry country where a buck can bust out 10 feet away and you never catch sight of him til he crosses the next ridge? Maybe the difference is that the water(sweat) is coming from your skin instead of the sky.

I've spent decades hunting both. I'll take open country every day. EVERYTHING is easier.


Okie John

Some nice wanna be blacktail posted. Congrats!!!

That's a fact, unless you've done it, you really don't have a clue.

PS, and driving down I-5 and "seeing" it doesn't count.... Haha

Crying laughing. And yes you are right on

I Carry a spray bottle to keep it real while hunting dry country.