[longranger]

I have hunted deer in CA,MT,ID,NEV,WV,SC,MD,and NC.The hardest deer to kill is a mature Blacktail deer.They are never more than 15-20 yds from cover so thick you can't see 5' in.I have seen Blacktail deer that rival anything I have seen anywhere,most people just see forked horn and small 3 pointers and they usually still running with the girls or not to far.The mature bucks do not show up in the open during daylight hours period, not in areas where they are hunted.
CA F&G radio collard a young buck about 10 years ago(Buck #8)on piece of public ground in Mendocino Natl.Forest. Hunters walked by this buck for 7 years.Once a year the biologist would tune his collar in and find him still alive and often got pictures of him.He was a huge 30"+ 6X5 200lb Blacktail.That deer lived in a area less than 1/2 mile square his whole life,probably 100 hundred hunters walked right by him and never saw him.He died in his 8th winter.The biologist found his remains where he usually found him after the hunting season.
I used to hunt the Golden Ram Club properties and they have some of the best Blacktail ranches in the state worth the money.You will find the mature bucks on the top 10% of the highest ridges in the darkest timber.
They are pure Blacktail west of I-5 and Mulie/Blacktail cross east of I-5 Blacktails are a blue/gray color in fall,beautiful deer and the best venison of all American deer species.Hunt the trees,abandoned logging roads with spur roads are my favorite places to hunt,saddles that lead into the dark timber on a rainy day during the deer season.If it is raining I am out cruising the ridge lines still hunting.The blind thing works if you can set up on a hay field on private property which impossible in CA.