Blacktail of the PNW

[NathanFooter]

I know many here are hunters based in the PNW and so I figured this section needed a black tailed deer thread as they are the grey ghost of the cascade range. The mature blacktail buck is truly the toughest ungulate to locate and hunt in North America

 

Please feel free to share stories, strategies and photos of the pursuit.

 

I will start off with my own experience and strategies. 

 

 In my few years of learning mature black tail buck behavior and patterns I have found that these guys like to be up along benches, plateaus and saddles that are difficult to approach, they routinely move between these kind of bedding areas and a series of feeding zones such as 5 to 8 year regrowth of clearcut or select cut stretched over terrain that has relief points and staging areas. If there are springs and marshes nearby the chances are even better that you are on a great spot, they are edge habitat creatures and like irregular pockets of different forest types and feed heavily on general browse in the summer favoring red huckleberry leaves, alder, vine maple and cottonwood. In the fall and winter they shift to hitting lichen, mushrooms, alder, salal and huckleberry tips. 

 

 The older mature deer become very nocturnal and move to a very heavy lichen diet and hold up in old growth timber, these older deer will tolerate a little more snow to remain in higher areas that predator pressure is lower. The also seem to move less overall and don't run until later in the rut but rather wait for does to get pushed into their core areas as they escape the younger bucks and human created pressure. At 4+ years they essentially build a knowledge of what areas do not get pressured that also have and retain resources late into the year.

 

 As far as basic behavior they will use the wind and stand perfectly still for well over 15 minutes watching and listening before entering into a new environment to try and pick out predators and movement. I have had them catch me move just an inch and they will circle the detected disturbance until they can catch a scent before dropping their guard to feed or approach, they will also stay in their bed in the brush until you get almost on top of them if they feel you do not know they are there.. Younger bucks make more mistakes and will lean hard into the rut and take chances if there are hot does nearby.

 

 My goals for getting close are to identify remote transitional habitat pockets, locate feeding zones and then key in on old rub routes within 60 yards of primary game trails that take me to knobs, benches and flat top ridges. I then will set cameras up along staging areas and try to plan still hunt routes based on dominant wind and barometric pressure changes around wet nasty weather. I also E-scout often to try and understand how the does are using the area and how the bachelor groups settle in around fall as they break up. I often find higher deer density in areas that have some south east exposure for warmth in winter as well as some wrap around benches to face north east as this is an escape from the wind in winter and some shade and cool in summer.

 

 Hope this is helpful to some of you guys out there and feel free to add any tips you have.