Bowhunter Tags Giant Velvet Blacktail After 3-Year Pursuit

Chris Palomo glassed familiar terrain for blacktail deer on a northern canyon ridge at 7 a.m. on Aug. 19. The 29-year-old was searching for an elusive Columbia blacktail he’d hunted the past two seasons; determined, this year would be his last.

Opening day arrived in the northwest part of California. Palomo hunted with an OTC tag on national forest land, an area he knows well after seven years of experience.

“I spotted the big blacktail buck that morning [Aug. 19] and was stunned. He had disappeared in previous seasons once the season started,” Palomo tells Outdoor Life. “I tried using trail cameras to track him before the season, but never captured him. I would locate him with binoculars and spotting scopes from a distance pre-season. However, once archery season began, he vanished.”

Palomo closed the distance to the buck, sneaking into bow range. The buck remained bedded, and Palomo patiently awaited its standing for a clean shot.

“He wouldn’t stand up for me to make a clean shot, so I waited, and waited, and waited,” says Palomo, a carpenter’s union representative from Fairfield, California. “But after five hours, I was still waiting for him to stand so I could shoot. Then the weather turned with a storm on the horizon.”

The wind rose and swirled, eventually shifting so the buck caught Palomo’s scent and fled from its bed into thick timber.

“I worked around the canyon for the rest of the day, stalking and glassing, but I never saw another deer,” Palomo says.

At dawn, Palomo returned to the ridge to see if he could relocate the big deer. At 9:30 a.m., he spotted the buck just 200 yards from its previous spooking location.

“I ran along the ridgeline and approached the bedded buck from behind. By around 11 a.m., I was about 80 yards from the spot where I’d last seen him, moving slowly and glassing the area meticulously.”

A good sign. Chris Palomo

Palomo remained patient, observing and waiting. At about 2 p.m., he finally noticed movement.

“I saw his antlers just below me at 36 yards. Then he stood up, stepped into an opening, and began feeding with his head down,” Palomo describes.

Adrenaline surged through Palomo. Despite being an experienced bowhunter for almost a decade, he succumbed to buck fever.

“I thought I was ready and started to draw my arrow, but it fell off the bow, clanking as it dropped,” he recalls. “The buck heard that sound, turned, looked at me, and we locked eyes for what seemed like the longest 10 minutes of my life.”

Eventually, the deer dropped its head and resumed feeding at 40 yards. Palomo nocked another arrow, drew, and released.

“I observed the deer and saw blood, knowing it was a good hit,” said the California bowman. “He ran about 50 yards and disappeared into the timber.”

Still, Palomo waited almost an hour before searching for blood. He removed his boots and silently approached the spot where he had last seen the buck, determined not to spook it if it was still alive.

“I reached the timber, and he was lying motionless just five yards inside. He hadn’t traveled more than 60 yards from where the arrow struck him.”

Palomo packed out the buck and delivered it to Racks and Tracks Taxidermy in Hidden Valley Lake. The 4×4 blacktail boasts split brow tines and an impressive 29.5-inch antler spread. It’s a giant blacktail buck by any measure, especially for a public-land archery buck. For reference, the state-record blacktail in California measured 175 2/8 inches. That buck was killed in 1981 and had a greatest spread of 23 inches (hard-horned and after the mandatory drying period).

Bear season is open in northern California, and Palomo plans to return to the same area soon.

“I’ve shot a few deer, small game, and some turkeys with my bow. Adding a bear to my velvet blacktail buck would truly make 2023 something special.”