Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Scouting Blacktails

The blacktails have been working me over the last few years. Would appreciate any advice on effective scouting techniques and strategy to get away from the flood of people.

What state ya in?

Down in NW Oregon

Wait for the rut to kick in.

Mind wind, move very slowly, glass a lot on edges and in timber, be quiet, watch the does near the rut, sit still, get away from the car and into the woods, etc.

Lotta good bucks in nw Oregon, or western Oregon period

Hunt the last (5) days of season, scout doe groups, scout (reds) ie; July August, I can’t stress enough, as I’ve killed most my big bucks of all species, from 10-2, deeper/steeper ain’t always better, get high, glass and glass... nw Oregon, western wa blacktails are by far and away the toughest of deer species to collect.. period. No if ands buts about it... once you unlock the lock, your there..

Awesome thank you for the help

It’s not like huntin Muleys, blacktail are tough sumbitches, can’t stress enough, time afield, during late October/early November

Blacktails can be hard to figure out.

Spent my whole life hunting and culling them. Probably have taken 200 or so although since I lived on the central Ca coast the above guys will probably tell you I wasn't hunting blacktails, oh well.
Scout when they are in velvet. Their horns are tender so they will be out in the open more and not in the thick stuff. Once their horns harden, they go in the thickest, nastiest stuff around and mostly go nocturnal until the rut. Hunt as close as you can to the rut. For the Cal. coastal season that ended in late Sept, that meant the best hunting was the last week of the season because the bucks were starting to get stupid.
On my ranch we would suddenly see deer during the last week that we hadn't seen all season . They had been there all along but stayed out of sight until their hormones got the best of them.
Man I miss hunting them.

A few years back I had a spike camp in the Trinity Wilderness and a kid (to me) came in and introduced himself and inquired about borrowing my freighter pack. Of course, borrow the pack, but isn't it easier to get your buck down to the trail and drag him down here, the trail is steep and it should be an easy drag? Kid: well he is in a bad place and I think I'll just break him down and haul him on your pack. Curious now, nothing would do but me helping the kid. That buck was in a place that defies description. A near vertical granite wall, with a bench not much bigger than a card table. The 150 feet of parachute cord on my pack came in handy that afternoon. In a half century of blacktail hunting, I have never seen a deer in such a horrible place. By the way, the kid was a credit to his generation, he peeled out a tenderloin for my supper that evening.

Scouting and getting away from people are two different things.

NW Oregon means tree farms, so you need to look for land that doesn't allow motorized access. In western Washington, anything within 1-2 miles of the road gets picked over by poachers and road hunters. Get 3-5 miles in, set up camp, then hunt deeper from there. A mountain bike is an excellent investment in your future as a blacktail hunter. If the land does offer motorized access, you have to get a lot farther from the road to find anything.

I've noodled them out of the brush and shot them with a revolver, but I'm starting to believe that just drives the good ones deeper and deeper. When I was hunting Roosevelts a couple of years ago, we found a hillside, set up with big glasses, and waited to see what moved. We saw a couple of really nice blacktail bucks but didn't go after them because they were out of season.

There used to be a pretty good forum called Blacktailforum.com but it's long gone. Look around for others like it.


Okie John

I like to hunt them well before the season starts. Most folks call that scouting...
I try to find an area(s) that won't be too heavily hunted - remote clearcuts, south facing slopes that offer a view, secluded water holes.

" "Do this while the bucks are growing their antlers." "
They'll be in the open a lot at that time of year. Now you know where they are.

As soon as they shed their velvet, they'll become more timber oriented and a lot harder to find - but they're still in that area. Cameras at water holes can reveal a lot - who and when.

If your close to the road, you'll have competition.
Plan on hiking in before daylight, by headlamp. Bring a lunch and good glass and spend your time looking. Be patient.....glass some more.....repeat

If you don't kill in the the first few days, don't sweat it. The last week is by far the best time to hunt them. You'll have less competition, cooler weather and the approach of the rut.

Because your hunting a harder to get to location, bring a packboard that you can use to carry your buck out on. Watch a video or two on how to dress game the gutless way. Bringing out only the meat and head, that will save you a ton of labor - and your going to toss all that bone and hair anyway - do it first.

Good luck!

The terrain is so different it’s not even comparable.nothing personal, bout like sayin Texas whitetail and coues deer are the same...

If you can track down a copy of the book "Blacktail Trophy Tactics" by Boyd Iverson, you'll be rewarded with the some of the best info in print out there. That book is pretty much considered the bible of blacktail hunting.

Excellent book.


Okie John

I do not rely on same-year scouting. The deer behavior changes pretty drastically near the start of deer season so summer intel is nearly useless where I hunt. If the particular year stays warm and dry well into deer season then knowledge of water holes can be useful. Once the rain starts, not so much. I will usually make a single pass through the areas I plan to hunt in early September to assess the water and see which of the 4 types of oaks we have here have the best acorn crop .. varies year to year. Most of my scouting amounts to re-applying what I've seen in past years' hunting season. It takes years, sometimes decades, to work out a new area. I expect it to take 4-5-6 years before I start punching tags in a new place unless it happens to be a near-exact copy of a familiar location. That means I'm very secretive about my spots because I have a huge investment of time put into them .. it only takes one blabbermouth "friend" to waste years, sometimes decades, of learning by sharing it with the wrong people.

So far as getting away from people there are 3 approaches. First, consider one of the limited entry "trespass permits" that some of the timber companies sell. Not cheap. Some people object to them. But they are an option. Second, hunt wilderness .. hike in farther than you think anyone in their right mind will go. Get off-trail. Third, study road systems and look for "[bleep]-of-creation" spots with intimidating brush, bluffs, or canyons which sane people will drive right by. Google Earth can be a worthy tool for the latter two.

Tom

You don't need a book...this is all you need to know.

Ha! Funny how I said almost the exact same thing as Blacktail53.
The terrain might be different but the deer act the same.