Blacktail success

[MichelD]

Finally a little success blacktail hunting after a couple of dry years. https://i.imgur.com/RlmnXpC.jpg

[ccrcc]

beauty btail, nice work!

[Keta1969]

Nice buck and not easy to come by in Oct. Congrats

[bcshadow]

Congratulations!

[RICKADY]

Very nice Buck, Congrats

[ghost]

Nice buck way to go!

[HarryToolips]

Nice BT way to go congrats!

[Bubbacanuck]

Awesome!! early Oct to boot! I hope to share a similar photo in a month :) Congrats!

[upperleftcoaster]

Dandy little blacktail! Looking good

[Knute]

Great looking BT buck, congrats.

[Ron.C]

what a beauty. Love those grey faced ghosts!!!!

[srupp]

Hmmm very nice..well filled out chunky monkey.
Congradulations.
Srupp

[MichelD]

Thank you for the comments folks.

[ghunter4x4]

Very nice Blacktail. The higher the Better..

[Redthies]

Congrats Michel! Nice buck! Where (generally) did you get him? Looks kind of “Sea to Sky-ish” in the photo.

[wideopenthrottle]

nice big body on that boy...good job

[IronNoggin]

Beauty Blacktail! Congrats!! https://www.tnof.ca/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/Pozitive.gif

Cheers,
Nog

[Farmer]

Nice buck Michel.

[Harvest the Land]

He's got some good girth to him. Stellar work Mike D. Congratulations!

[Getbent]

Nice work Michel! That’s a beauty… got the story for us? Could use a good read!!!

[Mickey]

Dandy buck.

[Bugle M In]

Congrats....good job!!!

[MichelD]

Nice work Michel! That’s a beauty… got the story for us? Could use a good read!!!

Actually it is not much of a story. There is a prominent deer trail I know of in the bush some distance from the nearest road so I just went and plunked myself in a good vantage point at 7:00 and sat. A small group of three antlerless deer came by around 9:00, then four more around 11:00. As noon approached I was thinking of maybe packing it in for the morning, but decided what the heck, I'm here now, what am I going to do back at the truck? Read a book?

My spot is on a bit of a hill above a gully and right around noon I saw movement in the trees on the other side of the gully and immediately saw antlers, ears, a head and then this buck. From the antlers and size I could tell it was a good one. I was expecting a spike as they are more commonly seen there this time of year. He proceeded directly towards me, then started descending a steep incline the trail follows into the the gully.

I had popped my ear plugs in the second I'd spotted him and was waiting with the safety off the 280. He was in a steep downward position gingerly making his way down the bank, an aspect I had never encountered before, and I've been deer hunting since 1968. He was only 45 yards away. I put the crosshairs right at the back of the neck where it meets the shoulders and let fly. Bang Flop. Dropped right there and didn't move. I reloaded just in case and just sat there, in awe of what had just happened, then proceeded across the gully and up the bank. After taking a few in situ photos I gave him a shove and he just rolled down to the bottom of the hill to the gully.

When I tried to move him for a better photo, that was when I realized that he didn't just have admirable antlers, he was a big deer. I have shot large blacktails before, in fact my very first deer was a 4x5 blacktail shot near Port Hardy in 1970 when I was 17. I got a pretty good 4x4 in the same watershed this guy came from about 20 years ago, but I was able to move those ones. Not this deer. I got some rope and tied the legs to a nearby tree to expose the belly, and gutted him. I tried moving him uphill, to see if I could drag him up about 10 metres or so I'd get him onto the flat and then be able to drag him out. Nope. I couldn't move him an inch.

I decided to part him out right there so I walked back to the truck with a plastic bag of liver and heart and other parts, dropped my daypack and the guts off and hiked back with my meat pack and cotton sheets my wife made me from old sheets. I skinned out one side, bagged one front leg, turned him over, removed the other front leg, then finished skinning and removed the head and neck from the rib cage, then separated the rib cage from the lower back and bagged that, then finished skinning out the lower back and hindquarters in one piece and bagged that.

I packed the lower back and hinds out first. When I got home I weighed it. it was 61.6 pounds. Packed the rest out in two more trips.

With all the trips back and forth, rolling up my bedding, preparing the back of the truck with a tarp, packing frozen two litre water bottles around the meat portions, I was in the truck and driving home at 5:00. I weighed the portions when I got home and the total of bone-in meat was 143 pounds, so a rough estimate of the live weight of that animal is in the 200 pound range.

Pretty tickled. I haven't shot a deer since 2018, but seeing as I got a blacktail and a mulie that year, I still have 6 pieces of meat left from those two.

Anyway, I got home Friday night, left the meat in the truck overnight and put the portions in my old upright freezer. I Run it for about 1/2-hour every three or four hours keep the meat chilled. Started processing Sunday and cut all day Monday and most of Tuesday too. Ended up with three boxes of cuts (70 pounds) , a box of ground meat (20 pounds) and a box of bones. My wife loves the bones for soup. "Can't you find a deer with six legs?" she asked over breakfast on Monday.

https://i.imgur.com/3NdcvP8.jpg





https://i.imgur.com/N4cK84n.jpg

[Bubbacanuck]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing the story! That is one big BT for sure! Congrats again!!

[Blacktail]

very nice indeed!!

[rageous]

Great representation of a hunt right there. Congrats

[westnuck]

Actually it is not much of a story.

Not much of a story, but you sir are a wonderful story teller! great buck.

[kennyj]

Nice solid buck!
Way to go.
kenny

[Islandeer]

That’s a tank!

[Jack Russell]

Very nice buck. Congrats👍💯

[Wood butcher]

Congrats. Beauty deer.
I love their early season coats.
You've got to like a packed out blacktail. Meat well earned!

[Imdone]

Nic BT , MD your efforts pay off.

[nature girl]

Ah great job. Blacktail hunting can be so much fun. Congradulations on a very nice deer.

[Blacktail1]

Dandy of a Blacktail enjoy the spoils! Well done.

[MichelD]

Not much of a story, but you sir are a wonderful story teller! great buck.

Gee. Thanks.

[Getbent]

Thanks for sharing the story!

[whitespringer]

Nice buck MichelD! Classic look

[fuzzybiscuit]

I’m jealous. I really miss hunting Blacktails in the timber and that’s a great buck! Congrats!

[HuntNmemories]

great looking black tail, appreciate you sharing the photos and story

[twoSevenO]

that's a nice one. Well done!

Congrats and thanks for sharing!

[albravo2]

Nice thick buck. I'm not surprised it took an effort to get him out.

Great storytelling too.

[Bigdoggdon]

Great looking buck, congratz.

[last light]

Very nice buck MD! Congrats on a beautiful animal. Looks like a nice mature buck, hopefully he tastes as good as he looks.

Thanks for taking the time to post the photo and story. This will help motivate me big time.