Columbian Blacktail deer, for those who don’t know these wily little critters, are a species of deer found only along the Pacific coastal ranges from British Columbia to the San Francisco Bay area. I think they look like a small mule deer and generally, a mature buck weighs 100-150 pounds. This is quite a difference from a mature Whitetail or Mule Deer which might max out at 300 pounds.
This was the third year in a row I hunted with DC Outfitters and guide, Eric. Two years ago I took a nice 3 x 3 and last year I came home empty-handed because I held out for a monster that we never found. This year I would give it one more try for that monster Columbian Blacktail. Our base of operation for this hunt was in Roseburg, Oregon.
My hunt was scheduled to start on the 23rd of October for five days, but on Monday, Oct. 11th, Eric called and asked me if there was anyway that I could get to Roseburg immediately. He explained that the bucks were in pre-rut, I would be the only hunter in camp, and I’d have my choice of private ranch leases on which to hunt. Ordinarily I would be sharing hunting ground with five or six other hunters. So I didn’t want to pass up this opportunity and I was delighted Eric had called.
After a 10 hour drive I arrived in Roseburg, it was about noon. I called Eric on his cell phone and he told me he was immersed in fog, trying to glass the area he wanted us to hunt. He told me he’d pick me up at my hotel within an hour and a half. I quickly unloaded my Suburban and tried to sort out my hunting gear. Even though the weather looked nice from the window of the hotel, this area can produce rain and cold weather rapidly. I dressed in full camouflage and I packed along rain gear, backpack, binoculars, spotting scope, range finder, flashlight, hunting license, a lot of extra ammo (165 gr. Trophy Bonded Bear Claw), and both my .308’s (Sherry and Shelly-custom built by Robar, Inc. on synthetic stocks with Swarovski 3x9 scopes).
It was great to see Eric again. Besides having a great sense of humor, Eric has the positive ability to keep me walking and he knows how to find and judge deer. We rushed to our favorite ranch where I had taken my Blacktail two years ago. By now the fog had lifted and we unloaded Eric’s quad motorcycle from the bed of his pick-up truck, and then scouted the entire base of the main ridge running through the ranch.
Now, mind you, two months earlier I was lucky enough to be hunting elephant in Botswana, Africa. What a shift of gears and mind set I found this to be. From a huge Jumbo to a tiny Blacktail, just glassing required a forced effort, to remind myself to look under the brush instead of over the tops (for elephant).
We parked the quad to avoid extra noise and checked some areas of dense oaks. We kicked up some does and a flock of Merian turkeys, common in this area, but no bucks.
We returned to the quad and hadn’t driven a hundred yards, when a doe and her "love-struck" buck jumped out of the gully beneath us. The buck followed the doe to side hill us at about fifty yds. Eric judged him at 18" wide 3x3. The buck obviously had some good antler mass and would have been a shooter, but Eric didn’t want me to take him the first few hours of our hunt. We were both hoping to find that monster, mature 4x4.
The next morning the fog had set in again and we wanted to kill a little time before we headed back to Christenson’s Ranch so we drove to another lease and scouted there. It was foggy on the ridge tops which made glassing difficult, but we didn’t see anything of consequence. So, as soon as the fog lifted we headed back to the hunting lodge to pick-up two new guides that would be working for the outfitter this season and then off to hunt.
Now Eric and I, along with Travis and Jason (trying to learn the lay of the land on the ranch we were hunting), sat beneath an oak tree on a ridge line. Our vantage point provided us with a view of three more ridges to the west and the banks of the Umpqua River to the south. Eric manned the spotting scope, while the rest of us glassed with our binoculars. After about thirty minutes, Eric spotted a buck more than a thousand yards out, bedded down in a small cut out near the bottom of one of the smaller ridges leading down to the river. This deer was not only bedded down, he was sound asleep. His antlers were resting on the ground! We finally determined he was a four-point on the side we could see. We weren’t sure what the "downside" was.
It was about 2:00 PM by now. As Eric and I considered a potential stalk, we knew it would be chancy and we would be wasting the rest of this afternoon if we weren’t successful. The deer had picked a great spot because in all directions but one, he had a 400 yds. view of open grazing land. Behind his bedding spot there was about a hundred yards of open range running up to thick timber. Both Eric and I knew, if the buck detected us for any reason, all he had to do was make a quick dash for the timber and we would be out of luck. I wanted to take on the challenge and make a try for it. I also knew if this deer wasn’t a monster, I would still want to take on the challenge of this stalk. I love to test my "sneakiness" and this type of hunting is my favorite.
Travis and Jason waited on the high ridge line. The plan was to get to the area between the buck and the timber. If Eric and I could make it that far undetected, no matter which direction the buck used to leave his bedding spot, I would be in a great position for an unobstructed shot. Eric and I boarded his quad and road to the drainage beneath the first of two ridges we would have to cross. It took us twenty minutes to stealthfully climb to the first ridge. When we reached the top and peaked over, we could see the buck still bedded down but his head was up. We were still at least 600 yds away with a lot of distance to cover, but it seemed like the deer was looking directly at us. About then two does ran up the ridge beside us. Hopefully, the buck wouldn’t move. We crawled on our hands and knees through the two foot tall, dry grass over the ridge line and down the other side. Now we were out of the deer’s sight again and able to stand up. One more ridge line on hands and knees and then a careful approach down the sloping ridge and we would be on top of the deer’s bed.
We were about 100 yds away from the position we needed to reach when we came to an uncalculated obstacle, an old, rickety barbed wire fence. If we rattled this fence at all by trying to go over it, we were near enough that the buck would surely hear us. Fortunately there was a twenty inch gap in just the spot we needed to go through. Now, I am not a small woman, but some how I squeezed myself through this seemingly tiny opening without making a racket.
Some hour and thirty minutes had passed since we first began our stalk. Finally, we were between the deer and his nearest cover. Because the buck was bedded in the cut out of this ridge, we still couldn’t see him. We even wondered if he might have already taken off during one of the times we were out of sight. We considered the fact that we may well be making a very entertaining stalk to an empty bed for Travis and Jason, who were still watching us from the main ridge line.
Now we were about 50 yards away coming down on the cut out. We still couldn’t see the deer. I could hear my heart beating and thought surely if the deer were still there he could hear it too. Eric motioned for me to lead our continued approach, because if the deer broke cover now, I would need to make a quick shot. I took baby step after baby step, inching towards the cut out. At about 20 yards I could recognize the area we saw while glassing, but still no deer. At 15 yards I took a seated shooting position and wanted to wait until the deer jumped out on its own. As Eric sat next to me, he purposely raked his leg over the dirt. Instantly, rising from the cut out, we saw the tip of an antler, then a head and neck. The buck was looking directly at us at less than 15 yards away. I knew I wouldn’t get a broadside shot, and that the deer would bolt and take off running at any moment. Only his neck and head were exposed. I took my shot and the deer disappeared from our view.
Eric jumped up and congratulated me. Even though I hadn’t seen my deer yet, he knew my shot was good and that because the deer hadn’t come out of the cut out, he had to be down. It only took us two or three steps before we saw him lying on his back, in his bed.
When Travis and Jason reached us, Eric and I were still amazed that we had made a stalk from over 1000 yards to within 15 yds of this buck. This was a thrill in itself, and my favorite part of deer hunting. The guys reported that as they watched us make the approach, of course they knew the deer was still there, we didn’t; they said to each other, "She’s getting ready to shoot". Then they saw the deer fall over. And, finally they heard the sound of the shot. I figured that during the time I shot and the delayed time it took to hear my rifle’s report, they probably figured the deer fell over in fright seeing us so close!!!!
My buck was a 4 x 3. Not too bad for a Columbian Blacktail, maybe not the trophy I would have liked, but I wouldn’t trade anything for the thrilling hunting experience, stalk, and clean kill we made on this deer.
