My 2014 Oregon Coast (public land) Blacktail

[Joe Hulburt]

Well with the season going till November 7th this year I knew it would be a great opportunity to kill an old buck. I forced myself to stay out of the woods thru most of October unless I was helping my youngest son hunt so as not to be tempted to kill a young buck.

The reality is any legal public land blacktail is an accomplishment but I have only killed a couple really big ones in my life so I forced myself to wait till the last week to get serious in hopes of getting a shot at a true mature blacktail. It worked out!

This is a really great representation of what a true coastal blacktail buck looks like. Not going to score much but this was a heavy old buck and as big as he was going to get. They are nervous, nocturnal, tough deer to hunt and on top of that their numbers are diminishing but I still love to hunt them! Hands down the toughest animal I've hunted.

I was actually thinking about Randy's show this morning while making my hunt in the pouring rain and how difficult it would be to film a typical coastal blacktail rifle hunt without destroying every camera involved! It's been pretty much raining steady and blowing since I started hunting. I was hunting a spot that I took a lady that is working on a photo documentary of the hunting culture a few years back in early October and she got some amazing photos but we never saw a deer. They only come out at night or when it's raining in November. They are grey ghosts....

 

[Big Fin]

Man, the color of your blacktails is striking, both the antlers and the capes. Congrats on a great buck.

 

[awapiti]

Beautiful buck! Congratulations!

 

[fishing4sanity]

Congratulations, that's a great looking blacktail.

 

[havgunwilltravel]

Fantastic buck! Rain sure gets animals up and moving from the timber.

 

[sra61]

Nice Blacktail! Congratulations!

 

[recon6036]

That's a great looking buck. Congrats!

 

[noharleyyet]

Antlers look like fine wood...pretty buck.

 

[mdunc8]

Beautiful buck. Congrats!

 

[LCH]

I'd love to have one of those.. Congrats!

 

[PeteE]

I never get tired of looking at mature blackmail bucks Nice job
Pete

 

[mtlion]

Awesome buck. I've always wanted to hunt them but after I hear the stories of hard it is it seems a little intimidating for a non-res. They seem to be hard earned trophies.

 

[Nameless Range]

Dang. The color on those antlers is something else. That buck has a prehistoric look to it.

Awesome Deer, Congratulations

 

[gwhunter]

Awesome deer! One like that is on my bucket list.

 

[MThuntr]

awesome deer! One like that is on my bucket list.

x100

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

Super cool deer, right there! Way to go, it sounds like a tough hunt.

 

[Festus]

Beautiful buck!
Congrats!

 

[MT_elk]

Congrats on a great buck!

 

[elk_hunter]

He is a dandy! Congrats on a great buck!

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Thanks everybody!

Awesome buck. I've always wanted to hunt them but after I hear the stories of hard it is it seems a little intimidating for a non-res. They seem to be hard earned trophies.

This year and the next couple are your best bets the way the calendar falls. Based on my years of running trail cams the bucks start moving during daylight around November 1st and our season runs till November 7th this year. Last year it ended on Nov 1. The difference those 7 days makes is huge!

Although I was bummed to see competition at one of my secret little obscure spots the other day I thought it was cool the truck had Iowa plates and the plate was BUXS followed by a number. I could only imagine it was a fanatic deer hunter trying to add a blacktail to his list. I hope he found one!