Because their range is so limited when compared to the whitetail and the mule deer, black-tailed deer too often live in relative shadows in comparison to their cousins who get the limelight. Blacktail are worthy, challenging game animals that often provide ultimate hunting adventures for those lucky enough to pursue them in their coastal rainforest habitat of the Northwestern United States, Western Canada, and Alaska.
Traditionally, there have been two recognized species of blacktail in North America – the Columbia Black-tailed deer and the Sitka Black-tailed deer. However, a third blacktail category was recently opened in the record books of Safari Club International. SCI now recognizes a subspecies called the Baja Blacktail.
Because of the blacktails’ extremely limited range, enlisting the services of an experienced, trustworthy outfitter is nearly essential to boost the odds of success for non-resident hunters of these deer. Considering it’s common to have to deal with hungry brown bears when hunting Sitka Blacktail in Alaska, particularly on Kodiak Island, it’s just plain smart to hunt with an experienced outfitter, too. A good guide will watch your back for bear while you’re hunting for deer.
Blacktail Facts
The primary delineating factor between blacktail species (and especially separating them from their close mule deer cousins) is geography. Sitka Blacktail are found in coastal Alaska and its islands and coastal British Columbia and its islands as far south as Bella Bella. From there south to Ventura, California, the coastal deer are classified as Columbia Blacktail. From Ventura south to the Mexican border at Tijuana, this stretch is recognized as a combination of Rocky Mountain and Desert Mule deer country. The habitat from the Mexican border to the end of the Baja Peninsula is now recognized by SCI as the range of the Baja Blacktail.
That breaks out the north to south delineations, but be aware that the recognized black tail range – for recordkeeping anyway – is very narrow west to east -- mostly limited to the western side of the first major mountain range inland from the Pacific Ocean. Deer to the east of this line are considered to be mule deer. If your intent is collecting bona fide specimens of each blacktail species, then be sure to consult the recordkeeping regulations of Boone & Crockett, Safari Club, etc. They cite very specific boundaries of the blacktail’s range.
The “problem” is that mule deer and Columbia Blacktail interbreed quite regularly. Where this interbreeding occurs the resulting offspring can take on the larger antler size characteristics of the mule deer. If these hybrids were allowed for record book entry, then they would eventually drive purebred Columbia Blacktail down and out of the entries. There is no significant problem with hybridization of Sitka Blacktail and mule deer as the mule deer’s range does not extend that far to the north. The new SCI Baja Blacktail category helps eliminate confusion because it is specific to the Baja Peninsula.
Columbia Blacktail – It’s interesting that in the strict taxonomic sense, it’s now believed that the Rocky Mountain and Desert mule deer species evolved from the blacktail rather than vice versa, but that explains historic range of the Columbia Blacktail ranging far inland even to Wyoming. Today the true, purebred Columbia Blacktail is found only in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California.
In a habit similar to whitetails, blacktail are edge dwellers preferring feed-rich habitat at the edge of forests and in eco-zone transition areas. They browse on a wide variety of foods from bark to hard and soft mast, though they eat little grass.
Rut period for the Columbia Blacktail varies widely depending on the region in which they are found. In the northern zones, rut occurs in October or as late as November, where in central California it occurs in late August or early September. Rut occurs on timing that will provide traditionally optimal weather, feed, and low predation conditions into which fawns will be born.
Blacktail bucks from the rain forests of Washington and Oregon are known as the largest bodied of the Columbia Blacktails. They will weigh from 150-200 pounds at maturity. Bucks from Vancouver Island are lighter, weighing 100-150 pounds. And those from the central California zone are the smallest, weighing only 100-140 pounds.
In many ways, the habits of the Columbia Blacktail are similar to those of the mule deer. In mountain terrain, they will migrate winter to summer and back. When disturbed blacktail tend to lie low or sneak away rather than bounding off. Main predators are coyotes and mountain lions.
Sitka Blacktail -- Weighing on average 80-120 pounds at maturity, Sitka Blacktail are significantly smaller than Columbia Blacktail. However, their short legs, stout musculature, and heavy bone structure give Sitkas the appearance of being stocky deer for their small size. Sitka Blacktails are good swimmers, and can occasionally be seen crossing deep channels between islands in their coastal habitat.
Sitka Blacktails are migratory summer to winter, but normally only over a short distance. They tend to spend the Alaskan summers inland on the tops of the first mountains inland whether on the coast or on the islands. Then, in wintertime, they migrate down to the base of the mountains on the seashore. In between is the densely vegetated rainforest these deer call home for a large portion of the year.
Sitka Blacktail rut coincides with the migration period occurring in November and into December in most areas. Fawns are born in June to take maximum advantage of the short Alaskan summer.
Antlers of the Sitka are noticeably smaller than on Columbia Blacktail with record class racks scoring in the range of just 110 inches and up.
Sitka deer primarily eat green vegetation. Favorite food sources include bunch berry, foam flower, trailing raspberry, fern leaf golden thread, vaccinium, hemlock/cedar, and salmon berry bush.
Sitka Blacktail hunters can tell you the deer population fluctuates considerably year to year, primarily depending on severity of wintering conditions and availability of feed. However, the deer have adapted to these conditions and are a species which rapidly recovers from population dips.
Hunting Blacktails
The trophy Columbia Blacktail buck is a tough customer to hunt. Average success, particularly on trophy bucks, is lower than most deer species. The rainforest terrain is dense and often unpleasant to hunt. Seasons are short in many places and hunting pressure is high. Much of the land on which Washington and Oregon Columbia Blacktails are hunted is public so there’s that issue to deal with as well. Successful techniques include stalking down logging trails, stand hunting, and glassing timber clear cuts. Hunting Columbia Blacktails in Central California is more akin to traditional mule deer hunting with spot and stalk approaches in more open, rolling terrain. In this region, hunting is often conducted on private ranches and can be combined with hunting feral hogs and wild turkeys. You may also encounter Tule elk on these hunts which is a unique treat.
Sitka Blacktails can be hunted in many places from September through December. September hunts can be difficult as the deer are still at the highest elevations of their annual migration. To hunt them here, you’ll need to climb through the rain forest to reach the deer’s summer haunts at the tops of the coastal mountains. October and November find the deer moving down through the forests headed for the seashore, and you have the rutting urge that can be used to your advantage. However this is also when brown bear that live in the same habitat are gorging themselves to put on fat reserves for winter hibernation. Sitka Black-tailed Deer Guides often recount stories of bears queuing on rifle shots as dinner bells, knowing they’ll find a gut pile and often a dead deer at the source of that shot! This creates a dangerous situation for successful deer hunters.
During the earlier portions of the hunting season Sitka bucks often come to investigate fawn bleats, making calling a good technique. However, the bears also learn to associate the fawn calls with easy meals, so caution is advised in using this strategy as well!
By December, the Sitkas have moved down to the base of the mountains just inland from the ocean shores. During this period, they can be hunted without the long climbs and the dense cover and with significantly less concern about brown bears, most of which have headed to den sites in the higher elevations for hibernation.
Black-tailed Deer Hunting Outfitters
Because the range of Columbia and Sitka Blacktails is so limited, it can be difficult to find numbers of quality blacktail outfitters from which to select. Begin your search at OutfittersRating.com by selecting the black-tailed deer species you wish to hunt. Visit the websites of those outfitters in the states or provinces you are considering, then click on to their websites for more information.
If record book eligibility is important to you, ask detailed questions of the candidate blacktail outfitters to ensure their hunting areas fall within the zones of the recordkeeping organizations. A few miles can make a big difference.
In searching Alaska or northern British Columbia for Sitka Blacktail guides, check outfitters who offer hunts for brown bear, as many of these operations also offer blacktail hunting. If your trusted brown bear outfitter doesn’t offer deer hunts, he can probably recommend a good outfitter who does.
As always, Outfittersrating.com is the best place to begin your search and/or end your search for a quality black-tailed deer outfitter. Remember, “Trust but verify.”