"How do you scout for Blacktail?"

Hey all, I was recently emailed this question, and I thought I would share the "short answer" with whoever may find it helpful here. Obviously not all of the following is necessary all the time, nor is it collectively sufficient all of the time. That said, if you are looking for a starting point to out-of-season scouting, hopefully this can get you pointed in the right direction.


I basically scout the same way as I hunt, but with no bow. I also don't mind making more noise, in order to cover more ground and maybe catch a glimpse of a bumped animal. I'm not afraid to push them around a little bit, they aren't going to completely move away. It also shows what kind of tolerance they have, and what their escape rout is. In my opinion, the 2 most important scouting months are the month after the season, and the month before. Whats helped me is taking notes. Scouting heavily in October is just a waste if you can't remember what you learned by the time the season comes around again. I keep a note pad and pencil with me to sketch where heavy trails and bedding areas are, and wind patterns for morning and afternoon. Having an idea about what time of the day the wind switches is very helpful. Figure it out and log it! I also write down how many animals I see and how big they are. Writing down exactly where I see a certain buck each time gives me an idea on what his general range is. Most of the bucks I hunt stay within a 3/4 mile area most of the year. There is no such thing as too much detail! Check out the heavy trails and see if all the tracks are going in the same direction. If so, then why? What other trail are they using to get back to the beginning of this one? Are they using this one in the morning or afternoon? Blacktails CAN be patterned! They are creatures of habit. Trail cameras are an awesome tool, obviously. They give the hunter confidence. Having confidence in an area is a huge factor. It will make you hunt harder and longer than if you don't have a high confidence in your area. On the other hand, trail cameras can really hurt hunters. Most guys put a camera or two out, and get pictures of a buck that they would be happy shooting. They then leave the camera there to take pictures of the same few deer over and over until the season starts. What they don't realize is that in the next canyon there is a B&C monster that they have no idea about because they didn't move their camera around. It's hard to move it away from a place that produces pictures, but the deer aren't going anywhere. When I get some pics that show constant results of the same bucks, I move it 3/4 of a mile or so. Then I get to see different deer. They might be smaller, or they might be bigger. You never know until you do it. If you want to consistently hunt/kill big bucks, then you need to find the biggest bucks in your area. This means getting out of your comfort zone and investigating new pockets of deer. It took me a while to learn to do this but it's paid off.