I got three vacation days I don’t have anything planned for and might could scrape up a little money so I was wondering if maybe I could still find an opening for Columbian Blacktail Deer?

I find this post a little confusing.......probably just haven't had enough coffee today. You want to go for Columbia Blacktail deer........or you are dissing an outfitter in Alberta? Since neither would appear to have anything to do with one another?!

quote:

Originally posted by Skyline:
I find this post a little confusing.......probably just haven't had enough coffee today. You want to go for Columbia Blacktail deer........or you are dissing an outfitter in Alberta? Since neither would appear to have anything to do with one another?!

No, he's dissing the taxidermist. That has been part of his signature line for awhile now.

Mark, 3 days for blacktail isn't worth exploring IMO. Especially since you may have to 'scrape' to get the hunt going. Even if you were to try to get a tag in Oregon, it would take quite a flight from Alabama to, say, Medford, Oregon, or any other place out there. You'd spend 2 full days flying anyway.

You'd need a good 7 to do a decent hunt.

Thanks Doc.........I am relatively new.

What you said about blacktail is right on. They are very tough deer to hunt, especially if you are looking for a big buck. Check out the trophy rooms...........not too many big blacktails in there.

Yep, both. Ol JB still has some horns and capes of mine and won't return my atemos to contact him. And yes I'd like to find a deer hunt.

You can buy a tag and license over-the-counter in Washington. Racks are small, so we have very few blacktail guides, which means a self-guided hunt. There are good areas two hours from SeaTac airport, so you could get here in one very long day. Sadly, Skyline and Doc are right: these deer are so spooky that three days isn’t enough. I make three-day hunts because I live here, but I get skunked some years. Five is minimum unless you live in deer country and I wouldn't get on a plane to hunt blacktails in a strange area unless I had seven days.

The good news is that most shots are under 100m. If you can hit an 8†disk from rough ground at an awkward angle in 3-5 seconds, you’ll get your deer.

The rest of the news is bad. Blacktails live on extremely steep, rugged tree farms a few thousand feet above sea level and 20-30 miles from the Pacific. Unless you get a dry year, s
qualls blow in constantly. Everything is slippery and wet, blood trails wash out quickly and even on dry days, tracking is tough because everything is covered in the nastiest brush you can imagine. Last year, I hunted with a guy who once wore out a pair of Filson Tin Pants in one season of upland bird hunting. On the way home, he said, “I own and hunt some of the most intimidating land in Michigan, and I’ve never seen anything like this.â€

Most tree farms are public-access, with roads everywhere. Illegal aliens, Indian tribal hunters and unemployed loggers hunt all year, making the deer even more spooky. The locals work for timber companies or the Forest Service, or they hunt with guys who do. On Opening Day, they are on top of the game. If you hit one and a local finishes gets it off or it runs onto his land, well, you get to hunt some more.

I read somewhere that blacktail does are as wary as whitetail bucks, blacktail bucks are as wary as trophy whitetails, and trophy blacktails are off the scale. That squares with what I’ve seen. Because of all of these factors, any branch-antlered blacktail gets a lot of respect from serious hunters around here.

I didn’t kill a blacktail in the jungle around here until I lost my open-country whitetail-hunting habits. That took years. Jay Mellon’s African Hunter has good chapters on true jungle hunting, and Larry Benoit’s How to Bag The Biggest Buck of Your Life is great on tracking and trailing. If you want a serious blacktail trophy and time is short, try California.

Hope this helps,


Okie John

quote:

Originally posted by mark65x55:
And yes I'd like to find a deer hunt.

Well I guess I misunderstood. If you have 3 days off and 2 are spent travelling, that leaves 1 day to hunt. Unless of course you mean you have 5 days total, and 3 are hunt days. Still, that is hard to do.

quote:

Post by Skyline: What you said about blacktail is right on. They are very tough deer to hunt, especially if you are looking for a big buck.

naaa, not if you have a secret place, you know, say somewhere in the Cascades of Oregon. Where some NICE bucks roam....but ya gotta know somebody.

Say, I have been wanting to go to Oregon blacktail hunting. Killed a few in British Columbia, including a 4x5.......but Oregon is THE place for Columbia blacktail, bar none.

Since you're short on time you'd almost have to go on a guided hunt, but I'm with the others...I don't see how you can do it in only three days. If you had a full three days to hunt, not counting travel time, there is a guide here in Washington who offers 3 day hunts. I've seen his seminars at the sportsman's show a couple of times and he really knows his stuff. He's got a website with all the info: http://www.blacktailguide.com/services.html

Blacktail hunting in southern Oregon is much more open than the Cascades or the Coast Range. Not quite as open as mule deer country, but certainly not the rainforest of the Coast range. Tags are available over the counter, and the season is almost a month long, with breaks during Elk seasons. Bowhunters have a unique oppurtunity to hunt the rut, with rattling and calling producing much like whitetails. Southern Oregon has alot more private land than the Cascades and the Coast range.
Blacktails are very crafty, and any mature deer is a trophy in my book. Another plus is that you will not eat finer venison than Blacktails! Hope you can work out a way to hunt here in OR feel free to e-mail me if you have any other questions.

Well Mark....

the boys above definitely gave you the scoop...

however if your heart is set on it...I live in Southern Oregon... Tags are available over the counter as long as it is purchased before deer season....

I can definitely get you set up in front of some deer here locally.. I am not a guide, but there are plenty here...

Trophy deer are nip and tuck...

But if you are set on it, drop me a PM... I'd be more than happy to pick up a fellow AR member at the Medford Airport, get ya in front of some game... even loan ya a rifle if you can't get one thru airport security....

I have already done so for a couple of guys off of AR that were touring the west coast this spring and got them in on an afternoon of varmint shooting....

We fellow hunters have to stick together...Let me know if I can be of any assistance...

cheers
seafire

Mark,

Save your blacktail hunt for when you have the time to make it worthwhile. Instead, use your three days to do a NM landowner permit 'lope hunt. At least it's easily doable and not too expensive. -TONY

Well... we'll see what me and seafire can workout.

BTW I been meaning to contact you. You see when I was in Namibia I took your book on Coues deer with me to read while in the leopard blind. The Ph took an interest in it, so I left it with him but the problem is I never finished it. So the up side is you have a book in Africa, the down side is I need to get another copy. Could you send me your contact info again.

Hey, glad you're spreading the word!

Go to Tonymandile.com if you want to use PayPal. I'll provide my mailing address in a PM here if you'd rather mail a check again.

BTW, I should have mentioned I'll be hunting SITKA blacktails on Kodiak in Oct. Hopefully that hunt will finish off my NA deer slam. I killed my Columbia in northern CA near Eureka several years ago.

Good luck with Seafire! -TONY