IslandHunter.ca

Vancouver Island 

BLACKTAIL 
DEER 

All inclusive, fully guided hunting on Vancouver Island for blacktail deer.  Hunt 2:1 for $500 pp/pd, hunt 1:1 for $750 pp/pd, plus $1,000 trophy fee per deer, two buck limit.

Looking for something new to hunt on Vancouver Island? How about a purebred blacktail deer? Conducted during the prime hunting times from late October through late November this hunt is during the peak of the pre-rut and main rut periods. Hunts are challenging free range, fair chase hunts, no fences here! Hunt tactics include glassing, hiking and stand hunts conducted in second growth forests, old growth forests and agricultural fringe zones.   

Exciting new DNA research has been conducted into the history of Vancouver Island blacktail deer. As a result Grand Slam Club/Ovis (GSCO) has recently classified the Vancouver Island blacktail deer as Sitka for the Super Ten® and Super Slam® trophy record books. 

The reclassification was result of a new DNA study that tracked the early blacktail deer migration from a single refuge along the Pacific Northwest coast and found that blacktail deer re-colonized areas in accordance with the pattern of glacial retreat, with an initial northward migration along a coastal route and secondary re-colonization inland. The deer's migration route colonized Vancouver Island first and then northward to the Alexander Archipelago. 

One of the key findings of the study was that 'Sitka black-tailed deer are not strongly differentiated from Columbian black-tailed deer, which suggests that the Sitka may be a coastal form of blacktail influenced by its environment'. You can read more about this influential Boone and Crockett study here - B&C Conservation Grants

Vancouver Island offers one of the true, pure, indigenous populations of blacktail deer on the Pacific Coast, in an easy to access southern locale. Hunters can arrive via Victoria International Airport (YYJ) for quick and easy access. Visit beautiful downtown Victoria while you are here.