Washington’s San Juan Archipelago, a place I’ve always wanted to hunt for Columbia blacktail deer. I’ve been fortunate to pursue blacktails throughout much of their range, but this was my first time on the islands.
The open grasslands of San Juan reminded me of Kodiak Island, while the brush-choked portions reminded me of SE Alaska. At times it felt more like I was hunting Sitka blacktails rather than Columbians.
To get a full taste of what San Juan Island was about, the family joined me on this trip. Three days prior to the start of deer season we arrived. This gave us time to clam, search the beaches for oysters, grab mussels and go crabbing. It also gave me time to hookup with good friend, Ron Howard, a 6th generation resident of San Juan Island.
Ron had been scouting deer all summer long, just as he’s done for 40 years. He’d been seeing a couple good bucks, but about the day we arrived, they started shedding their velvet.
Over the next few days we caught some good bucks on trail camera, but all were nocturnal. Often times within a day or two of shedding their velvet, big blacktail bucks travel under the cover of darkness.
Rather than stake out treestands near the edges of open meadows, as planned, we decided it would be best to move to ground blinds, and shift deeper into the forest, closer to the buck’s bedding areas. Our plan was to catch the bucks moving to their beds in the morning, or from them in the evening.
Opening morning brought little movement. In fact, I only saw two does. A full moon meant the deer had moved to the bedding areas well before light. That evening I was back in the same blind, and deer were moving early.
A couple does and a small buck moved by, 20 yards from the blind. Then came a big bodied, massive-racked buck slinking through the forest. Rather than take the trail the other deer had traveled, he stuck to a secondary trail tight to the brush. He unexpectedly passed four yards from the blind but was moving so quickly, I couldn’t get a shot. As he passed, I grunted, stopping him on the spot, 15 yards away.
My Diamond Fugitive was already at full-draw, and the instant my AccuPin found the crease in his shoulder, I touched the release. My Gold Tip Velocity arrow tipped with a 100 grain Blitz broadhead blew through the buck, exiting through the offside shoulder. The buck sprinted 28 yards and collapsed.
We were able to quickly get the buck out whole and put him on a certified scales at a local butcher shop. The buck weighed an impressive 189 lbs. So far he’s been the best eating deer we’ve ever had, period…he might even be better than any Dall sheep or musk ox we’ve had. We’ll let ya know as we finish him off this fall!
Our aggressive move to put the blind closer to the buck’s bedding area was risky, but paid off. Had we stuck with our original plan to hunt the timbered fringes, I doubt we’d have ever seen that buck in daylight. The best part, we caught all the action on film…look for it next year on Trijicon’s The Hunt, on the Sportsman Channel.
Love those blacktails, my favorite deer of all!
