It was pretty much the end of the blacktail season before things really clicked for me. I had been putting on miles hiking with a rifle and backpack for most of November, including my usual twelve days off work during the peak of the rut. I had seen a lot of deer, mostly does, fawns and yearlings, even passing up an opportunity at a spike that I normally would have taken and am still kicking myself a little that I didn’t shoot. Author E. Donnall Thomas Jr said something along the lines of, if you don’t think you should shoot, you shouldn’t. If it doesn’t feel right you may regret the shot you did take.
My 2024 blacktail with the new shooting iron.
When the season closed I had venison in my freezer, it wasn’t the largest spike I’d ever shot, it did have the biggest damn set of spikes I’ve taken though. As far as blacktail spike antlers go, this set is a trophy. Like all the blacktail deer I’ve taken the real trophy is the meat, and this one didn’t disappoint. While I made many mistakes over the season, one of the things I did right was put my time in, rain or shine I was out there. It was a particularly miserable day, seeking some shelter I parked my ass on a rock under the cover of a fir canopy. After taking off my pack, putting down my seat pad and pouring a hot coffee from my thermos, mid sip I noticed a deer bedded down facing away from me.
The previous January I had finally bit the bullet and purchased a new rifle, something with more of a long range flare to it. After months of shooting and tweaking I was confident farther than I ever have been before. Unconsciously I tailored my hunting for the season to the new gun, choosing to hunt clear cuts, power lines, anywhere I could see, glass and hopefully get a poke over a hundred yards to scratch the longer effective range itch. For me there is always a desire to get blood on the new gun, to prove its effectiveness. There isn’t that confidence in a firearm until it has proven itself. The only one I have sold is a Savage Model 99, the gun didn’t do what I really wanted it for. Having never shot anything with it, it was an easy sell to make room in the safe. The only interest I have in firearms are the ones I use and produce meat with. My gun collection is sentimental more that practical, though one does have to fit a need for me to purchase it.
It may not have been the way I had tried to get my deer, I'll never argue with a close shot.
Blacktail deer aren’t generally ones to hang out in the open, especially the big daddy’s. They like cover, often times thick cover. Come the end of November I came to my senses and put the heavy long range iron away, more often carrying the lighter Remington pump gun or Dad’s old lever. I was back in the thick stuff still hunting and stump sitting. Too bad it was too little too late, the deer had started moving back up the mountain with a warming in temperatures and the end of the rut. While I did get my deer, the longer shot didn’t materialized. This year it was a 35 yard poke that cut my tag, and while I am happy that I got my venison, I still feel that I made too many mistakes and it was shithouse luck.
See you on the water or the mountain.
-Matthew Mallory
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