Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting How many guys hunt NW blacktails?

Good point Salmonella. I feel the same way when I hunt out of state.

Interesting observation. I've hunted a lot of deer in central/southern Calif., and I've found Wyoming mulies significantly easier to hunt. I'm actually still looking for a trophy "true" Calif. blacktail, which means it has to come from north of the line... so if any of you guys know guides/outfitters with access to legit trophy blacktails in NW Cal or SE Oregon, let me know, will you? Thanks.

Like this one?

KW,

Arrow Five and MUM both have good hunts, and there are smaller outfits as well. Have you talked with any yet?

jim

Rancho Loco - Yeah, that one would do in a pinch. I'd like to see him when he grows up.

HunterJim - No, I'm really just starting to ask around. I thought Arrow Five was south of the line? Maybe I'm thinking of someone else... maybe Camp Five. Do you have any experience with those outfits? All my Calif. deer hunting has been south of the official line.

I see you're retired USN. Did a tour myself a long time ago. 3.5 out of 4 years in WESTPAC. My son wrapped up a tour as a CTR last year and is now in Mesa College in San Diego. What do you do these days?

KW,

Ah WESTPAC!

I have retired now I think 3 times, so I think it will stick this time around. I live in San Diego about a mile from Mesa College, and my wife enjoys time with the grandkids (7 now). I don't do any Navy stuff, except write letters in the local fish wrap commenting on things.

I have met Jim at Arrow Five and you can hunt blacktail with him, I know the folks at Camp Five and they are in the SLO area -- definitely south.

jim

Were you black-shoe or brown-shoe Navy? Ever have any dealings with USS Mars or USS Haleakala? Several of the guys from the HockeyPuck (our nickname for Haleakala) are thinking about trying to have some sort of reunion in San Diego this year.

I think I've looked at Arrow Five's web page but wasn't all that impressed with their deer. Looks like their average buck may be a 3x3, if memory serves correctly.

Hunting Black tails in N California is not the same as hunting in the NW Oregon and I assume NW Washington. I have spent time in Southern Oregon and is different than NW Oregon. Its a lot more open down south than up this way. Maybe that is why the bucks are bigger down there???

Romey hit it on the head...

I grew up hunting Blacktails, and have done a bit of Mulie hunting but no experience with the Eastern Whitetail. A few years back a biologist here in Oregon did a large trail camera study of migratory Blacktails on public land. The things that really stood out was the number of large bucks, and that they were almost all photographed moving at night.

My girls hunt Blacktails but they think it's easy!

KW,

Submarines enlisted, and black shoe Navy after I was commissioned (cruisers and destroyers). Mars yes, Hockey Puck no. There are a lot of reunions in SD every year.

A lot of folks are looking at 3X3 blacktails as the standard, but you can find a 4X4 if you get good enough at it. Jim & Tina S. are nice folks, but I have not hunted with them (know folks who have).

Scott Haugen's book is good, as is Boyd Iverson's by the way.

good hunting...jim

Very nice deer! Are those Cascade bucks?

I've hunted Blacktails on the Olympic Penn. every year for the last 24 years. Eastern Wa White tails and muleys a few times.
Muleys in Co a couple of times, White tails in NW Idaho every year for the last 10 years. I made a couple of trips to Eastern Montana for white tails. Of all of them I've hunted the little blacktails out here are my favorite to hunt. The deer around here are about the same size as the Sitka blacktails I seen in SE AK.

Laffin! He did kill a small buck and a doe (I think) last year.

Calvin.
Been out after kings yet?

No, my boat is in the shop. I've been steelhead/trout fishing the last 3 weeks. Hoping to get the boat back this week, and then I'll be out. I'm more interested in Halibut, to be honest with you. I love those halibut enchiladas.

You have any bear plans? I'm doing a 5 day bear hunt out on the boat in a month. Hoping to find a big black bear. Also got drawn for a kodiak brown bear tag for spring 2011. That's going to be a great hunt.

I'm not going to get any hunting in until August bear season.
I just went back to work last week afer a month and a half off so my hunting fund is low this spring. Summer run stealhead starts next month, I'm going to spend more time of the rivers this summer.

http://blacktailcountry.com/forums/index.php? is full of good folks who seem to know about blacktails. Check out the trophy pics to get a feel for how the vegetation and terrain in vary around the country.


Okie John

I don't think we're lacking much in folks around here who know how to get into Blacktails.

Agreed, but there are some folks at BTC who don't post here, plus a lot of talk about good local spots.


Okie John

Just for the record, Steelhead is lying here. Surprise.

I've seen some big mule deer bucks while elk hunting in Eastern Oregon. This would be a week or so after the mule deer season. Just going from that, mule deer hunting appears to me to be a whole different ballgame, involving more longer-range glassing and just more ability to "see" in general. And that lines up with what my buddies who mule deer hunt, but don't blacktail hunt, have to say on the subject. They can't stand being in a jungle where you can't see deer. It's all I really know as far as deer hunting so it's fine with me!

On public land, in this area, deer numbers are fairly thin. You can go a LONG time between seeing deer, and I'm talking does here too. When you can only see 20-30 yards in any direction it makes it different. At least compared to the mule deer territory I've been in.