BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[buckkillerdeluxe]

Has anyone tried to hunt blacktail/mulies with rattlin horns, grunt calls or scents especially in tall timber like i have here in the Sierra Nevada mtns? If so how'd you do, would you give it a shot again?

[bitmasher]

I have hunted mule deer (not blacktail) although just here in CO. I just spot and stalk hunt, the mulie rut is after the rifle season here and they are timid enough I don't think they respond to much.

There was some discussion about mulie tactics here.

Did any of the rattling, scents, or call work for you?

[buckkillerdeluxe]

I have never tried it yet. All my hunting has been still hunting through tall timber or rolliing hills with oaks and i have done fairly well, it seems though every year its getting more and more difficult to locate deer. I read an article in California Game and Fish Magazine that said these tactics might work and to give them a try so I am gonna try this year and see what happens.

[bitmasher]

Good luck, if they are rutting (have no idea when they rut in CA) you may be in business. They just seem timid when/where I have hunted them.

If you have success, I'd like to know what works for you.

[3pt.orbetter]

I found a place in the sierra nevadas where there was sign of bucks fighting. I made a stand there and saw some does. I was sure there was bucks around though they were surley comig into the small 50x50 clearing after dark. So i tried ratlling horns to try to intice them out early. I did raise some courosity from some mature does but no bucks. I only tried this one night though i am sure if i stuck with it i would have eventually seen a buck. It is just not my natural instinct to keep calling or rattling for deer as a blacktail hunter. If we get any cold weather next year during deer season i wil definately try again.

[breding223]

Ive hunted blacktail and tried rattling on a few occasions but had no luck. I have herd stories of a neighbor who took a nice buck by rattling. Good Luck!