Blacktail Deer: Oregon’s Ghost of the Coast Part 1

archery hunting, arrows, Deer Hunting, DIY hunting, game processing, hunting, nature, public land, The next generation, traditional archery, unguided hunting

Screen Shot 2014-12-15 at 10.04.35 AM Trotting through the woods, I notice a buck springing from his bed and take two bounds pausing at 20 yards.   I immediately freeze, the buck does the same and keeps a tree between us peering with on eye around the tree focused on the direction I came from.   I was caught off guard for two reasons, I was moving quickly to get back to my vehicle and wasn’t prepared to draw my long bow as movement would surely make the buck flee….. Ghosts of the coasts they have been called by many hunters who have been fortunate enough to roam the lands with these creatures.  They have this nick name for a reason, they live in the thickest forests of North America and are rarely seen. Screen Shot 2014-12-15 at 6.15.13 PM The plan for the Oregon archery tag was to meet up with a hunting buddy and head to a few key areas in Mount Hood National Forest.  Hopefully one of us would score a buck for the late season effort. Screen Shot 2014-12-17 at 9.19.10 AM My buddy takes me to a few of his hunting spots and we attempt to rattle in the infamous bench buck.  Apparently bench deer are a result of blacktail and mule deer crossing and creating a hybridized specimen.  Mule deer are said to have evolved from whitetails and blacktails breeding thousands of years ago, genetics aside deer species in Oregon are diverse.  Wether or not these animals are mule or blacktail deer or a cross of both, they are interesting and fun all the same to hunt with traditional archery equipment.  These animals live in a diverse ecosystem, the forest covers steep hills with rolling benches the perfect hiding place for a buck. Screen Shot 2014-12-17 at 9.20.01 AM We spend many mornings chasing these elusive critters, rising at 3am and driving 3 hours to hunt first light. Screen Shot 2014-12-17 at 9.17.25 AM Only seeing two deer crossing a highway providing no shot opportunity, the late season archery tag was going to be a tough one to notch.  Sometimes switching up tactics is your only shot at success.  I knew I needed to go to another area but choosing one hunting spot is tough especially if you don’t have land owner relationships with private land access conveniently located near town.  Fortunately Oregon has plenty of public land to cover within a 2-3 hour drive, refer to the ODFG maps for more information. Continued…..

One thought on “Blacktail Deer: Oregon’s Ghost of the Coast Part 1

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.