Article-Blacktail Rifles by Glenn Summers

With success rates far, far below the 50th percentile range, it's fair to say that a majority of blacktail hunters, regardless of experience, could use some information to help them change their luck. I tend to believe hunters make their own luck, and in that way I've been pretty lucky. In 33 years of hunting blacktails, I have filled at least one, and sometimes three tags a year.

by Glenn Dee Summers

Whether you're a seasoned pro or a rank amateur, studying the basics of blacktail deer will help make you a better hunter. If you already know everything there is to know about blacktail deer hunting, you may want to turn to the page. Or maybe not.

My first blacktail buck came as the result of a modest little hunt taken after my move to Oregon in the early 1970s. From my home in The Dalles I had traveled over to the west side of the Cascades to the area near Lava Lake. The September weather was salubrious - ideal for camping - with the exception that it had been abnormally dry. The yellow jackets were ravenous.

I soon found a 5-year-old clearcut at the edge of the Sisters Wilderness. Sign in the cut was neck-deep: trails covered with elk, bear and deer tracks, some made by inordinately large blacktails. I was an experienced whitetail and mule deer hunter, so I knew what I was about. Logic told me to get on stand between bedding areas and feed grounds. The clearcut was the feed ground and somewhere back in the timber were the bedding areas. This was simple logic dictated by basic deer behavior.

Come along with me getting started (or taking a refresher course) on blacktails. Perhaps by reading about these experiences you'll pick up a tip or two that uncovers the nature of these wily deer.
Read the entire article Getting Started on Blacktails here.