During Oregon's regular rifle season, the majority of savvy bucks move at night, making it tough for rifle hunters to consistently bag monstrous deer. Rifle hunters can turn to rattling and grunting techniques to increase their odds near season's end, but if they want to routinely see and take immense bucks, they must go where the deer are -in the thick stuff. Blacktail deer have a surprisingly small home-range. The clever bucks are as familiar with their microenvironment as you are the floorplan of your home. If someone were chasing you in your house, you would know the best places to hide.
Blacktails are no different.
Maneuvering through a myriad of escape routes in brush so dense you wouldn't think a duiker could squeeze through, the deer have the upper-hand in their jungle home. Since the big boys feed primarily at night, the chance of catching one in the open during legal shooting hours is slim. You may see a fleeting glimpse of a sage buck skirting within his protective wooded borders minutes before dark or in the shadows of first light, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Patient and persistent stand hunters have regular success, and consistent results are achieved by slow hunting the thick tangles of foliage that make up the deer's home. Stalking is my preferred method of hunting these deer of the forest, and the wetter and foggier the conditions, the better.