Blacktail Hunting Rifle Tips

The prim Pacific blacktail is almost unknown to most American hunters but, in Washington, Oregon, and northern California, they outnumber other deer by nearly two to one. Back in 1985 in Oregon alone, the blacktail population was more than 500,000 and the annual harvest ran around 50,000. That’s a lot of deer and it’s not surprising that my hunting pals on the West Coast get excited when the season draws near. The August blacktail opening in California reminds me of the “Glorious Twelfth” grouse opener in Scotland. I haven’t hunted blacktails enough to claim any special expertise, but, because I have bagged a few in California and Oregon and have talked with many successful blacktail hunters, I have a fair notion of what’s required in the way of rifles for sale.

Like other deer, blacktails have a tendency to shade up in cover during the middle of the day and to show themselves on grassy hillsides early and late. This is especially true during the early part of California’s season when midday temperatures often sizzle into the 90s. Hardy souls can get some short-range jumpshooting by busting through brushy valleys where blacktails hang out during midday, but the few times I’ve done it, l encountered more buzzworms (rattlers) than deer.

The most productive technique is to walk ridges, and glass valleys and slopes. Because the coastal hills tend to be quite steep, slopes and ridgelines are often only a few hundred yards apart. This provides shots at deer that are interesting and productive if the hunter has the right rifle. Most of the shots I’ve had at blacktails remind me of woodchuck hunting in the Tennessee hills where hunters belly-down with a flat-shooting rifle steadied over a solid rest. The key to a good blacktail rifle is accuracy, rather than fast handling, high velocity, and a heavy bullet.

Because blacktails don’t take a lot for killing, a .270 with 130-grain loads or a .30/06 with 150-grain represent the upper limit of the lethality you need. I like something lighter, such as the .257 Roberts or .25/06. These offer the most useful combinations of accuracy, flat trajectory, long-range punch, and mild recoil for blacktail hunting. The .243 Winchester, 6mm Remington, and .240 Weatherby are also good choices for recoil-conscious hunters and, over the long haul, will put more blacktail venison in the freezer than a hard-thumping magnum. This is simply because they are “user friendly”–if I may borrow from computer jargon–and offer the average rifleman more precise bullet placement than is consistently possible with heavier, harder-kicking calibers.

Bolt-action rifles are favored, of course, and, for hillside-to-hillside shooting, lightweight rifles offer no advantage. Thus, standard-weight bolt guns with sturdy full-length barrels in the 24-inch category are preferred by many expert blacktail hunters.

Because shots are regularly taken out to 300 yards, it’s a smart idea to use scopes with plenty of power.
Variables with 9X or 10X magnification on the high-end are an especially good choice in blacktail country.

If I were much inclined to beat the midday brush for these deer, I’d go for a carbine-length bolt rifle with a reasonable compromise of fast handling, portability, and long-range accuracy. For this purpose, the new bolt-action carbines are ideal.

By now, you’ve probably decided that a good blacktail rifle isn’t all that different from what you’d use on pronghorns. As a matter of fact, the rifle I’ve used to best advantage on blacktails also happens to be my favorite antelope rifle. It’s a Model 70 Winchester with a stylish stock by Bob Winter and a slender 25-inch Douglas barrel in .25/06 chambering. With a 100-grain spitzer bullet over 53 grains of IMR 4831, the muzzle velocity is about 3,400 fps. Adjust your scope so that bullet impact is about 2-1/2 inches above point-of-aim at 100 yards. This will put you almost dead on at 300 yards and eliminate most excuses for missing. Because some.25-caliber bullets have thin jackets and are liable to fragment at close range when fired at this high-velocity level, it’s a good idea to stay with the tougher bullets you can find.

You can find more helpful hunting tips on my website identified in the Resource Box below.