High-country Blacktails don't exist!

[lapadat]

I have spent countless hours glassing sub-alpine treelines and alpine meadows and have only seen 1 buck (a dink at that) in the past several years.

In fact, yesterday I spent 4 hours glassing the area pictured below and came up completely empty.

If anyone on this board has killed a Blacktail buck in the alpine could you please help a brother out? Doesn't this area seem ideal for early season bucks?


http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/017.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=5504&size=big&cat=500)

[Elkhound]

the biggest blacktails I have ever seen are always in no shooting zones:wink:

[bruin]

I know a guy that has been reasonably successful on blacktails and he swears by walking just inside the treeline of the alpine in the afternoon/evenings. He says he doesn't worry about being really quiet or anything:-?. I have never tried it myself but he says it works.

[MichelD]

I stumbled on one and a doe while scouting for goats on the boundary of 2-11 and 3-33 one time.

Some say though, that those deer are of mixed blacktail and mule deer genes. That particular deer was big for a spike buck.

[Jelvis]

What's another name for alpine, and what is the lowest possible elevation of alpine in B.C that you know of? and where would that be? I guess above tree line and what else?

[tooty]

Saw some nice bucks in the alpine up Downton creek fsr.Go to the end of the road and go straight up.Nice meadows and a little lake to the west abit.That's up the duffy lake road.

[Wildman]

I see Blacktails in the alpine all the time.

[BlacktailStalker]

Yep, Alpine treelines (not necessarily near a slash) 20-30 minutes before dark. I know a guy who hikes 12 months of the year, 2-3 mountain ranges (central van island) back of the nearest roads and packs out a book-buck-a-year in the exact topo you've posted. He is damn good and wont give up any secrets.

[quadrakid]

four hours glassing seems like you covered that hillside but if she,s a warm day the big boys will still be hiding in the timber, these are blacktails your talking about and they can quite simply be nocturnal most of the year. last light on opening day might just produce that hog your looking for, good luck.

[JMac]

Lap, If it was super hot that week, the deer may be nocturnal. Otherwise yes right at first light and last light you should be seeing them.

One mountain I see highcountry bucks at (during the summer), is only very early in the morning. Once the sun hits the meadows they head to bed down . I've never seen them much in the evening. I've glassed this place many, many times over the years. When it's hot, the morning will generally be better because you get that cooling effect overnight. Vegetation becomes wet/dewy and they like that. In the evening the extreme heat of the day is still prominent and vegetation is dry and not the same.

Another point is that bucks no matter blacktails/mulies will not use every part of the alpine on a mountain. I've glassed tons and tons of different alpine over the years and sometimes bucks will only use a certain basin/slide etc on a large mountain or mountain range.
Good Luck. Hey you've killed some big blacktails! Don't worry about it, it'll happen!

[lapadat]

The very reason I'm scouting this drainage is because of the big deer taken in this high country. I am fully inspired by hard to reach bucks....especially in alpine bowls, its a deep-rooted sickness - same reason I like chasing goats.

Jelvis: The technical definition of alpine is this: (approx) above 2250 m in SE BC, above 1650 in the SW, above 1400 in the NE, and above 1000 m in the NW ( http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/Srs/Srs06/chap18.pdf)
Not sure exactly where you were going with those questions....

We started glassing at around noon - it was overcast and cool with a light breeze that provided brief escape from the gazillions of mosquitos and blackflies that assaulted us. I gave that consideration after about 2 hours of fruitless glassing and moved to a spot that gave better views of some windy-looking ridges, figuring that the deer would also be bothered by the pests and find a nice place to bed on a windswept slope or ridge. This move turned up nothing in the optics.

JMac, I think you've got a good point about the early morning coolness and forage quality....I guess I need to spend the night up there and glass first thing in the morning. You made the point that bucks won't use all areas of alpine bowls and meadows but only specific areas and then use them year after year. So to FIND these specific areas, what should I be thinking about? Is there a reason why deer use one alpine bowl over another, which to me all look the same? Sun relief? Bug relief? Better forage?

I have killed some deer, just none in the ALPINE!!

Also, the theory that I'm coming up with regarding the apparent lack of Blacktails in and above the treeline vs Mule Deer is the fact that our little jungle-thick ghosts down here use stealth and concealment to evade predators (including stinky hunters). They tend to stick tight, even lay down, when danger approaches.

Mule deer on the other hand (correct me if I'm wrong) are native to more open areas (interior BC, Peace River area, ranchlands, etc etc, where cover is more sparse. This requires these deer to use their eye sight and ability to put great distance between them and danger......

So maybe I shouldn't be surpised when I don't see very many BT's up high????

[ryanb]

From personal experience, that basin looks a little too rocky to be seeing blacktails in. The ones I've seen have all been in less cliffy/rocky alpine areas.

[mapguy]

try scouting the alpine in the rain and wind

[rock]

I have spent countless hours glassing sub-alpine treelines and alpine meadows and have only seen 1 buck (a dink at that) in the past several years.

In fact, yesterday I spent 4 hours glassing the area pictured below and came up completely empty.

If anyone on this board has killed a Blacktail buck in the alpine could you please help a brother out? Doesn't this area seem ideal for early season bucks?


http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/017.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=5504&size=big&cat=500)
I've glassed slopes similiar and have seen nothing on the other hand there could be deer in there but if there not moving your not going to see them.
Patients is the best thing fustrating at times but they will come.