BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[OregonHuntress]

I live in Central Oregon and have taken some nice Mulies, but am very interested in hunting blacktail. I have looked on many websites and see that the Rogue unit is a good unit for high numbers of blacktail, but I have never hunted in the valley and don't know where to even look. I am willing to put the time in to scout an area, but if someone could just lead me in a good direction, that would be helpful. I figured once I found an area, I would scout and put up a game cam to help me. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

[CentralOBow]

I posted this on another blacktail thread, but thought the last part of the quote,sentence about white river wildlife area, might be relevant here.
This is a quote from Deschutes & Ochoco NF Website located at http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centra.....ofed.shtml "IN CENTRAL OREGON: Many Columbian black-tailed deer spend their summers with Rocky Mountain Mule Deer in the sub alpine parklands of the high Cascades, when winter snows blow in the deer must migrate to lower elevations, inevitably some blacktails migrate into Central Oregon with mule deer. These populations of mule and blacktails breed or intergrade to form a hybrid population. The resulting offspring resembles an exceptionally large blacktail, with careful observation differences may be noticed, for example, a dark vertical stripe extending down the entire length of a wide tail is typical of a blacktail/mule deer intergrade. Large populations of Columbian black-tailed deer can be seen at the White River wildlife area." Thought this may be of interest to some of you high desert hunters. I wonder if the hybrids taste better than the mulies.

[numbnutz]

the santiam unit has good bucks, if i dont draw my eastern oregon tag thats where i go, have gotting some nice deer there

[CentralOBow]

Some deer i saw while scouting for spring turkey. So are these hybrid blacktail/mule deer or what? This is east of the cascade mntn range.

[CentralOBow]

This deer is from the same herd.

[numbnutz]

lokking at the tails and rumps some look like blacktails and others look like they could be a hybrid, true mulies have a bigger white rump with a smaller tail.

[CentralOBow]

numbnutz wrote: lokking at the tails and rumps some look like blacktails and others look like they could be a hybrid, true mulies have a bigger white rump with a smaller tail.
Is it common for mule deer and blacktails to occupy different zones within the same general area? From my experiences, the blacktails were more willing to graze in the open but most of the large groups of mule deer in the vicinity were hugging the tree lines, peaking out, almost timidly. These blacktail on the other hand, were not shy at all, as some continued to graze, even as I drove by. Maybe the mulies big ears make them more sensitive to disturbance. This area is loaded with mulies and blacktails. I have seen herds numbering in the hundreds recently. Hopefully they'll be around in september.