2015 BLACKTAIL MEATPOLE
Mule Deer
Contributors to this thread:
Time for this to start rocking,,, Hunteasy just arrowed a beauty so im sure we'll see it leading this thing off. Good luck to everyone this year.
Mendocino opening day Fork x Fork 22.5" wide Hoyt infused
;-) lol... Great buck again hunteasy and congrats!
Nice rack! How many points? Most guy would be happy to whack one of those with a rifle.
Yea buddy :-) 31 days, I wannabe on this thread bad!!
Great looking buck. Congrats!
On the instance of some BS friends I will post my 2015 Cali buck here, I posted on the other thread, so forgive some redundancy.
--Jim
Nice buck, Jim. You look pissed. Smile brother! Congrats
Sun I'm my eyes! That really pisses me off ;)
--Jim
The sun was in my eyes too but I still managed to smile. Must be my sunny disposition.
Great bucks you guys!!! Congratulations.
1st of all congrats guys!!! Those are some great deer! Heck any deer deserves congrats, and those are beauties.
2nd of all great photos. All 3 of you I have noticed consistently take nice field photos which leads me to just a curiosity question. I don't see any blood in the pics. Was the arrow hole photoshopped out or is it literally not visible? Interesting from my perspective that out of those 3 bucks not one visible hole. I doubt it was lack of peno?
Sweet! Great bucks guys! I think that is just Jim's "bad a$$" stealth and kill mode look!
Mark
No photo shopping for Jim or me. We cleaned them up with paper towels and water before we took pics, but that's it.
Congrats guys and great pics!
Congrats guys! Love seeing pictures of those early blacktail seasons!
Congrats Jimmy and Mike! Way to go!
APauls: I agree about the quality field photos. The more time spent in preparation the better the results. Water bottle, paper towels/cloth, proper angles due to the sun, background setting and MANY photos! At the end of the hunt and years later the trophy photo is the memory! C
Having never hunted blacktails (yet), I think it would be great to hear from you guys that have how you hunt them.
They seem like a perfect spot and stalk critter, but knowing how hot it is right now, waterholes? tree stands?
Educate us!
I should say I don't want to or mean to hijack this thread.....so if someone wants to start a new thread....
Mark
Congratulations Jim and Mike. Great looking bucks!
Were you guys hunting with Arrow Five?
Guys, great bucks. I will be chasing blacktails for the first time next summer and would be thrilled with one just like the ones you guys got!!!
Beautiful bucks guys!!! Congratulations!
I would like to hear more about tactics as well.
Great job on both the bucks and the photos! That's the way to do it, Gentlemen!
Best of Luck, Jeff
Mark, blacktail hunting as I know it (in Mendocino County, CA) is primarily a spot and stalk affair. Where I hunt them, they do not pattern per se, as their movements and locations can vary widely based on temperature and strength/direction of the wind. When the wind doesn't blow, they don't tend to move because they cannot use their sense of smell effectively. When the wind blows really hard, they don't tend to move because they cannot use their vision effectively. When food and/or water is plentiful and the temperatures are mild, they can just disappear - bedding in the timber or thick brush and becoming almost totally nocturnal.
A couple of years ago, my buddy whose ranch I hunt had ~1,000 trail cam photos of blacktail and only had about a dozen pictures of bucks during shooting hours (and probably half of those were one group of bucks over the course of 15 minutes). The next year I separated my shoulder and only pull 45#, so he really did his homework to find a water hole I could hunt to limit my shooting distance. He patterned one buck that was as sure a thing as he had ever seen for a blacktail - this buck was hitting a particular spring between 10:30A and dark every 3 days on average. That is as good as it gets.
To hunt them we drive/hike and glass, glass, glass. When you find them, you hope they are in a spot where the terrain and wind will allow you a stalk.
There are likely some differences here and there where the terrain is less dynamic or the food less plentiful where the deer are more consistent (I have seen that after a few years of serious drought), but by and large they are just tough to hunt - and can make themselves just about impossible if Mother Nature is being kind to them.
I'd be happy to further share my thoughts, PM me and I'll give you my #.
If you look closely, you can see a little evidence of blood on the deer I shot (first pic). Although, the blood is not behind the shoulder.... I tried to clean it up the best I could with a towel and water. Didn't get it all.
Nice buck Iron Mike! Buck looks tall...
Arrowfive Outfitters. Top notch Outfit. Killed Sunday, August 2 at 7:15pm. 22 yards, 137 4/8"
That's a big freaking blacktail! Congrats!
Thanks IronMike. I am quite happy
Lyons - congrats amigo!!! That's a stud!
Nice Columbian blacktails everyone! Congrats
lyons congrats on great blackie!
My first Nor-Cal tag is punched! My biggest yet. Unreal mass. Hit the tape at 26 1/4" wide. I'm pretty happy.
Nice buck Joe! That's a monster.
Nice CA muley, Joe. :) Some exceptional mass on that beast.
Congrats again buddy on a heavy buck.... This is one of the two heaviest bucks I've seen here in last 10 years. Near 8" bases. Unreal!
Joe - way to get it done with a freak beast! Nice buck!
Joe, You just slayed "the beast!" Congrats! What a deer!
Mark
That thing is a toad! Congrats!
Holy crap, awesome deer! I knew you would be posting one soon.
Dang Joe what a hog...congrats!
joehunter8301 do you have a pic not long arming? beautiful buck ... he looks about 60" wide and 20" mass
Thanks guys. Here is a soda can for comparison :)
If you knew Joe, you would know he can't "long-arm" a photo! :)
Congrats Joe on a great Cali buck!
Hell of a deer joe! Congrats to u!
Grats Joe, heck of a deer!
Congratulations guys! Joe, what a buck!!!
Joe, (not that it is important!)....but....Any idea what your deer will score?
Mark
Nice buck, which unit would that be?
"If you knew Joe, you would know he can't "long-arm" a photo!"
That's funny right there......yeah, our buddy, Joe is what you would call......well......ummmm......vertically challenged? :) But we still like him!
His deer are horizontally challenged. Cause they're flat on the ground.
Amazing deer... congrats. That deer has to be real old and near the end of his life.... prior to your arrow being released. Ed F
first 2015 Nor Cal buck down! Couldn't be happier and now time to chase screaming bulls.
Another buddy Blake and his nice buck!
Good job, guys on some nice CA deer.
Great bunch of deer team trkyslr!
Helluva buck Chris! Congrats to u guys!
This guy finally made a wrong move after 21 days. He's been nocturnal until tonight. Came in with ten minutes left of shooting time. Came home dropped off my bow and grabbed an extra flashlight and one of my dogs. Started into some thick brush and there was a lot of crashing going on. My dog started growling and backing up. I circled down below the brush and up above me about 30 yds there's a pair of eyes and my dog starts to bark. I call him and I'm out of there. Waited an hour and went back out with two labs and a sidearm. Got out of the truck and my young dog took off in the brush. Great, where the heck did he go! I called and he was 30 feet away and ran back around this rock out cropping that drops off about 40 feet. There's my dog and he's looking at my dead deer that's hung up on the edge of the drop off in a small tree. Had to decide to drag him uphill or lower him over the drop off with a rope. I chose gravity assist.
DL awesome buck! Congrats
One more from today's hunt. My cousin Caleb second Nor-Cal archery Buck.
Here's some tasty meat !!!
How far did he go after that shot?
Dave only about 25 yards max
Joe's buck has the best mass of any Cali blackmail I've seen. Coke can bases - seriously? Congrats to all successful hunters.
Just got authorized to start to do limited strength training last week. Was shooting my kid nephews bow yesterday. It hurt but it was worth it. Next year.
#2 nor cal buck.. Couldn't be happier! Spot stalk 30 yard shot.
Two year pursuit came to a happy ending! Tag #2 in CA
Congrats to both of you. You guys are multi-season killing machines. Awesome!
Excellent huntfishkuaui!!!!!!!!
All of these pics make me want to go back and chase one. Congrats to all of you! Awesome deer. Bob.
Huntfishkuaui , I lightened up your pic for Ya hope you don't mind to see the buck a little better. That's a great buck anywhere! How is he for an island buck on horn size and quality? From the other island buck pics I've seen he's one of the best I've seen.
Steve's Sitka he took on Prince of Wales ... on St Hubert's Day.
Trkyslr, that is a big buck for Kauai. A few bigger than that get shot every season with rifles but for archery its a monster. Tough hunt for these guys in our forests, pretty much any deer with a bow is a trophy here. Most guys that hunt pigs with dogs, will shoot any deer every chance they get, so year round pressure on them. The buck above measure out to 95"
Here is a 77" Kauai blacktail.
Those deer from Kauai are cool. Does any body know where they originally came from ??
They were introduced in 1961 from Oregon
808 those are great deer!!!
2015 WA blacktail. Came to visit my little bro an family and got to arrow this guy. Such a fun trip!
:-oooo good shooting joehunter8301!
Nicely done Joehunter8301 !!!!
Same buck, different view.
Hope to see some more on here soon.... I know some Oregon and Washington seasons just closed and some still open.. Plus like to see some more sitkas as next year I'll be pursuing those awesome deer.
Great bucks guys!!! Keep em rolling!
Mark
Killed this little buck last weekend in the North Cascades of Oregon.
OregonTK,
Nice camo....especially helpful with your traditional set-up.
Oregontk, congrats on your buck!
Oregon TK, Where did you get that hoodie?
Thanks guys! I've had that snow camo for 30 years believe it or not. The label says SanLar, Sullivan, Wisc.
I've got to make it out to CA soon and do one of these hunts.
I have lots of Clients in LA - is there any decent hunting outside of Los Angeles ?
Here's my 2015 opening day A Zone Pacific Fork, just completed and ready to be laid to rest in my new buck bar. IBG out of Sebastopol did the mount.
Hunteasy, looks fantastic!