Good week for Blacktails

[CAelknuts]

Well, I hadn't gotten out all season until yesterday evening. Our little group of 10 guys who hunt our lease have had quite a good week. A couple of the guys shot bucks on the opener or as the season went along, but most of the guys still had tags this week. That started changing on Tuesday, when one of our group shot a 27" 5x7 with extreme mass. Then the next evening, my son shot a 21" 3x4 and the rancher shot a 20" 3x5 with a drop tine. This morning, another of our group shot a 3x4 that went 21" and this evening, my second spent hunting this season, I punched my tag. The buck I shot is a 3x3 with eyeguards and a small sticker on his right G4. He's heavy, long tined and 27" wide. His G2's are 12 & 13", inside spread is 21 1/4". I rought scored him in the garage this evening and came up with 142. I'll post some picures in the morning when I get them downloaed, going to bed now. I'm tired, as I had to drag him about 300 yards up out of a canyon. Good thing he was only about 120 pounds live weight.

It's been a heck of a week for blacktail hunting here in our part of California.

 

[quest]

CAelknuts it looks like you guys had a lot of good luck. The bucks that your group harvested were they true blacktail or from the hybrid? Not trying to down play your good success. Congrads cant wait to see the pics. quest

 

[TheGreatWhiteHunter]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-31-09 AT 10:26AM (MST)[p]Sounds like some great blacktail bucks can't wait to see some pics.


THE LORD IS MY ROCK
Colorado, U.S.A
NRA LIFE MEMBER
www.ElkHunterSports.com

 

[CAelknuts]

They're probably a hybrid, but you'd never know it by looking at their bodies. Most of the bucks we shoot range from about 90 to 130 pounds live. One time, one of my buddies shot a 27" wide 4x4 that weighed about 50 pounds after field dressing. It's neck was so small you could nearly put your two hands around it, and it had a tiny little head. Those horns look gigantic on that little buck. These bucks don't look any different than the ones you'd see over in zone B-1, which is a blacktail zone per B&C.

We hunt in zone D5, so you can't enter these bucks in B&C since they're taken about 30 miles east of I-5 (which is the line for B&C). We're hunting low country, all private land, and in one of the photos I took last night, you can see lights of houses in the distance, which is the suburbs of the Sacramento area.

 

[Silentstalker]

Congratulations! Sounds like a great week! Can't wait to see the pics!

 

[quest]

CAelknuts those are still awesome bucks. I hunted one year in the B zone and was able to connect on a buck that went 131 in SCI. It gross in the 140's. It wasn't very wide but the main beams were 21 inches. You guys harvest some wide bucks 27 inches man that's wide. quest

 

[eelgrass]

Dan, I'm ready!

Eel

Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.

 

[CAelknuts]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-31-09 AT 06:09PM (MST)[p]OK, finally got a couple photos downloaded. Sorry for the quality, I was alone, it was late, and I'd just finished dragging this buck up out of a canyon. Not great photos, but they certainly show what kind of buck he is.

Most years, the bucks we take aren't as big as they've been this week, but are normally around 18-20" 3x3, 3x4 or 4x4 bucks. The genetics of these deer are what they are, and many of them will never grow 4x4 antlers, and even fewer have eyeguards. I don't know what has happened this year, other than we're pretty conservative in what we harvest, usually taking around 6-8 bucks off of 4 ranches that total around 10,000 acres. There are plenty of bucks, but this is the first I've shot in the last 3 years. I didn't really expect to shoot a buck this year either, but this guy really was a nice buck, so I figured I should take him. I'll probably go another couple years before I shoot another off the ranches.

 

[NMPaul]

Thats a stud buck for that country or any other D zone in CA.

I logged some time in A zone and D19.

 

[LoveBigRacks]

Beautiful blacktail in that picture, great buck, thanks for posting. The others you describe sound like whopper blackies too man, nice work by your hunting party this week! I'll be back out chasing blackies again tomorrow (in Oregon) and will be happy to find a legal buck, let alone one near as big as this one or the others your group took. Nice job this year and thanks again for the post / pics.

LBR

 

[eelgrass]

Great looking buck Dan. No reason not to harvest that buck, especially with your conservative management policy. He's reached his full potential. Thanks for the photos.

Eel

Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.

 

[FishlakeElkHunter]

Dan...about time you posted some pics! When I got your text at almost midnight here in Utah, I figured that you had killed a toad!!! Nice job! Looks like a great buck. Did you kill him up where we were hunting turkeys that day??

 

[CAelknuts]

No, different ranch about 2 miles south from where I took you turkey hunting.

It's worked out pretty good this year, we've taken 1 buck off the ranch I took you turkey hunting on (the rancher's 3x5), 2 bucks off the ranch I shot mine on, 2 bucks off the rancher's 'home ranch'(my son shot his up there)and 2 bucks off the 'lower ranch'. There's been another buck shot, but I don't know which ranch, and don't know if anyone took one yesterday. We really try to spread the harvest out among the properties and not take too many from any one ranch, and it has worked out real well this season.

The season ends this evening.

 

[treedagain]

congrads on a great buck

 

[Moosey69]

Just curious where are you from? I live and hunt near Jackson.

 

[REDDOG]

Sure is ranchey in those parts.

 

[CAelknuts]

Moosey, I live in El Dorado Hills.

Reddog, yes, it is all private ranches in that area. There is virtually no public land available in that area. I've been hunting this same group of ranches for nearly 30 years for turkeys and deer, and am very fortunate to have that opportunity. Closest ranch is about 15 minutes from my house, farthest one about 40 minutes away.