Hunters looking for a trophy blacktail deer hunt during the rut will want to check out this opportunity in southwestern Oregon. Correspondent Gary Lewis reports: “If there’s one animal on the West Coast that frustrates hunters more than any other, it is the Columbian blacktail deer. I think a big blacktail buck may be one of North America’s toughest antlered trophies. But there is a late-season rut hunt in one of Oregon’s top blacktail units that offers an opportunity to look over a lot of bucks.
“I gave the Applegate Unit a try this past November during the late-season muzzleloader hunt. Rather than hire a guide, I opted to hunt on my own, based out of Applegate River Lodge (541-846-6690; www. applegateriverlodge.com) in the town of Applegate just west of Medford. I waited until day eight of the 23-day season to begin my hunt, after most other hunters had gone home. I saw two record-class bucks and a button buck the first day. An hour after daybreak the second day, I rattled in a deer, but never saw it. Late in the morning, I spotted two deer in a canyon – a buck chasing a doe. I shot the buck at 80 yards. He is a tall 4 x 3, 16-1/2 inches wide and scoring in the 120-class SCI. (See photo in the Trophy Snapshots section of our web site.) The next morning, I went back out to take pictures and saw two more mature bucks, a three-point and a four-point......
