Monster Blacktail

Firedog · 10-14-2002, 02:44 PM

Just found this story on the Blacktail page. Kid playing hooky kills what is probably the biggest blacktail in the state. Nice looking buck

Espn Outdoors: Blacktail Story

[ 10-14-2002, 04:43 PM: Message edited by: firedog ]

6wapiti6 · 10-14-2002, 03:35 PM

WOW! Thats a great buck! I have some family down there, and I have a picture my father -in-law took of two 4 points still in velvet that I guess would both go about 130 to 140. Definitly some great bucks down south.

sliverpicker · 10-14-2002, 04:38 PM

I always knew staying in school would get me nowhere!

bigshark · 10-14-2002, 05:00 PM

I don't want this to be taken the wrong way but I thought that Jackson Co. was not allowed in the books anymore. Something about cross breeding of mule and blacktails. I remember it being said at a pope&young get togrther some years ago. Hope I'm wrong for the kid's sake. What a great story.

batman · 10-14-2002, 05:12 PM

I live in Jackson Co. and as far as I know, if the deer is west of I-5 then it is counted as a blacktail in the books - east it is a mulie, I know this area of Mt. Ashland and it is west of the freeway so it would likely count as a blacktail - i have however seen giant bucks west of the freeway that look for all the world like big mulies..... and yes I missed (16 yrs old w/a 8mm trying to walk bullets up to the deer at about 500 yds). Ahh the good ol' days. Congrats to this kid!!! I hate him!! batman

Wak · 10-14-2002, 05:26 PM

A friend told me that the Oregon record book has different categories for blacktail, depending on where they were killed. There does seem to be quite a difference in what is considered big down in southern Oregon to what is considered in northwestern Oregon.

Why hasn't Bill written about this yet????

tailchaser · 10-14-2002, 06:19 PM

I've hunted that area for years during the late hunt and I don't like the ruling of the east and west of I-5 being blacktails. Truely, the mulies don't come into play until you break over the cascades into eastern oregon. If the buck was killed anywhere near ashland it was definitely a blacktail. The bucks to the north have different gene pools and account for the smaller racks. Truely a great buck though.

tc

Bill Monroe · 10-14-2002, 06:54 PM

Bill just found out about it. Mark covers things in his back yard pretty well and the AP usually picks this stuff up, but I didn't see a thing...not a lot I can add...maybe after the 60-day drying period and a talk with the B&C folks about dna...I hate being beaten. I'll have to find something to whack Mark with...he owed me one because I beat him to a story on the Rogue River a while back...he's chuckling right now.

TheRogue · 10-15-2002, 05:28 AM

Come on.....have you ever been over the "hill" from Ashland to Kfalls??? That's all it is, a big flat hill. I went to school down in Kfalls for 3+ years, and in October each year I spent more time hunting up there than I did in class

. The idea that muleys haven't before or don't now come over is really kinda ridiculous. The habitat if much the same on both sides (at least for a ways), same type of terrain, rainfall, etc.

Farther up the Cascade range, it's a very obvious difference. Not only terrain, but foliage (trees) and rainfall as well.

My .02

RichH · 10-15-2002, 05:46 AM

I grew up down that neck of the woods and in all my years of hunting down there I have never seen a mule deer. Yes, there are some very big blacktails and there may be some inbreeding that has gone on but every buck I or my friends have killed down there have been blacktails.
I killed a 3 X 4 in 1984 that has a 24 inch inside spread and was a very heavy deer. It was definitely a blacktail, has all the characteristics up to and including a jet black outer tail. Because of the area I killed it I could not have it scored even though it is a 140-150 class buck. I guess the good news is I know what it is even if the record book won't recognize it. :grin:

Bill Monroe · 10-15-2002, 06:16 AM

I'll make some calls tomorrow and figure it out for Thursday. It's a big darned deer any way you look at it, bench leg or not...BTW, Mark's column is not allowed to be picked up by AP, but the paper has a contract to provide it to ESPN...We were going to do that last year, but the paper's lawyers declined...anyhow we'll look into it...Glad I saw it here.

strgnslyr · 10-18-2002, 10:15 AM

I say "wak" dont know jack!