A few years back, my longtime hunting partner Dwight Schuh came to Oregon to hunt blacktail deer with me, and we loaded my cart with a treestand, climbing steps, 20 pounds of apples, two safety harnesses and lifelines, and our packs, which were loaded with warm clothing, lunches, water, and handwarmers.

Blacktail deer rifle tags are available OTC and can make for a great hunt in western and coastal Oregon if you either gain access to private land or search out a chunk of public land.

The blacktail deer harvest in 2010, the last season for which harvest figures are available, was a record-low 20,286.

I'm working on breaking Jim Schaafsma's five-year, 100-percent success rate on blacktail deer. My consolation hangs in the walk-in cooler.

It was August 1984, and I was on my first bowhunt for Sitka blacktail deer.

Non-typical mule deer scores slipped 3.62 percent and Columbia blacktail deer fell by nearly 5 percent.

More recent harvests include the archery state record mule deer taken in Grant County in 2009, the largest Columbia blacktail deer taken in Oregon in more than 20 years and a 170-inch buck taken by Jim Linton in Douglas County.

While the above episode sounds like a classic spot-and-stalk mule deer harvest, it was in fact the description of a recent Columbian blacktail deer hunt.

As many readers know, I am hooked on bowhunting blacktail deer. Perhaps it's because the Columbia blacktail was the first species I ever bagged with a bow, or because the extreme difficulty of these animals really turns me on.

Tips for harvesting blacktail deer will be given by guide service owner Jody Smith during a free seminar from 6:30 p.m.

However, if you are looking fur a new challenge such as blacktail deer, you may want to start your search with Cameron Hanes new book, Bowhunting Trophy Blacktail.

To be honest, after hearing the calls, I thought that we stood a better chance of calling in one of the island's giant black bears than a Sitka blacktail deer. As Johnnie continued to periodically call, I caught movement in the alders along the road.