Joe Hulburt
Well-known member
Nothing too exciting but figured I might as well post it for those of you thinking of heading out here to hunt them some day. For a public land buck this close to the ocean this one is pretty representative. Just a fork but a mature large bodied buck as far as Columbia Blacktails go. His right eye was swollen up pretty good from antler punctures all around it so I'm pretty sure he was wishing he had larger antlers more than I was. 
Really solid body but some of our blacktail only ever amount to a fork. The last fork I killed in this area was aged at 6 1/2 years old. I pulled a tooth on this guy to see about him. The last buck I killed in the same area was a small 3x3 that was aged at 8 1/2.
I was still hunting down this razor back ridge glassing down into the timber and saw him moving up towards the top thru the brush. When he hit the ridge top he was peeking around the tree my rifle is leaned against and I was on the top peeking around another tree. I had to step out and shoot offhand hit right at the bottom of the white throat patch with him facing straight on....he never knew what hit him.
I hunted about 10 days and saw eleven total deer with 2 being bucks. 20 years ago it wasn't unusual to see 10 bucks in one clearcut in a morning. We really need a good fire to open up some habitat.....things are getting really bleak on the National Forest ground I primarily hunt. Thankful just to have a little venison from around home.
Really solid body but some of our blacktail only ever amount to a fork. The last fork I killed in this area was aged at 6 1/2 years old. I pulled a tooth on this guy to see about him. The last buck I killed in the same area was a small 3x3 that was aged at 8 1/2. 
I was still hunting down this razor back ridge glassing down into the timber and saw him moving up towards the top thru the brush. When he hit the ridge top he was peeking around the tree my rifle is leaned against and I was on the top peeking around another tree. I had to step out and shoot offhand hit right at the bottom of the white throat patch with him facing straight on....he never knew what hit him.
I hunted about 10 days and saw eleven total deer with 2 being bucks. 20 years ago it wasn't unusual to see 10 bucks in one clearcut in a morning. We really need a good fire to open up some habitat.....things are getting really bleak on the National Forest ground I primarily hunt. Thankful just to have a little venison from around home.
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