Trinity Alps Blacktail Migration

Redwood03

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Dec 20, 2020
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Anyone hear of blacktail deer migration from the Trinity Alps (Trinity County CA) either mid September or late November?
I hunted around Trinity Lake this year and heard this from a few fellow hunters.
They said the deer migrate by the lake can go as far as Red Bluff?
 

slick

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Feb 13, 2014
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They absolutely do.

Not exactly the Trinity Alps but ODFW put a bunch of collars on Blacktails in the siskiyous.


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ericacymcdonald

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Most the bucks that migrate into red bluff are coming out of the lassen side. I'm not sure how far the bucks travel out of the trinity alps but I've seen them swimming across the lake multiple times which is pretty neat
 
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Redwood03

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I heard that the dam on Trinity Lake was built on a migration and when the water backed up it made the deer swim the lake to continue the migration. Not sure if that is true, just what I have heard from folks who hunt the area.
 
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Marble

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My best guess would be bergen French gulch and the lake. But red bluff seems pretty damn far.



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Roughly when do they migrate? I was up there during rifle season and saw TONS of does. Not a single buck though. And I was up over 6k elevation.
 
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If you saw does you just couldn’t see the bucks
During rifle they are always higher than does snd mostly solo except you yearling bucks
 
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All blacktails in the mountains move from their summer grounds to winter grounds. does snd fawns move first and bucks a few weeks or a storm behind . I have never seen or heard of a true heard migration west of I-5 . In d zones and c zones ive seen herd migrations with groups of 100 plus deer moving at a time . Unfortunately it is generally mid-late November
 
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All blacktails in the mountains move from their summer grounds to winter grounds. does snd fawns move first and bucks a few weeks or a storm behind . I have never seen or heard of a true heard migration west of I-5 . In d zones and c zones ive seen herd migrations with groups of 100 plus deer moving at a time . Unfortunately it is generally mid-late November
Yeah I guess i needed to look better. I couldnt get any higher elevation.
 
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I’m considering doing a trinity alps back country hunt this year. I’m newer to deer hunting. My plan was to get as High as possible (7-8k elevation) when I go up there around September 28th to October 2nd. Was going to get above the timber line. Is that a bad move?
 

Rangerpants

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I haven't hunted that area a lot, but from talking with old timers in my area, it sounds like the migration is super weather dependent. If there is snow or other inclement weather, they move downhill. Some apparently migrate east a ways, but most just move downhill to more favorable feeding areas and nicer weather.

BoltAction, that sounds like a solid plan. If you don't find deer up high, move downhill to edge zones between trees/prairies/brush. Be aware that the Trinities are thicker and steeper than they look from escouting!
 
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I’m considering doing a trinity alps back country hunt this year. I’m newer to deer hunting. My plan was to get as High as possible (7-8k elevation) when I go up there around September 28th to October 2nd. Was going to get above the timber line. Is that a bad move?
How much work are you willing to put in? The Alps can be nasty, if the route looks short, it's STEEP, if it's not steep it's LONG! But, it's one of my favorite places in the world.

I'm new to hunting, but not new to the Alps, I've heard the same as @Rangerpants, with the first big cold storm, the deer move down. Keep an eye on the weather and if it looks good you're plan could work out. If anything, it will be a beautiful area!
 
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Be care full they will move back up if the weather lets up
We were at 6400 and a storm moved in and the 4 bucks I was watching disappeared for 2 days while we hunkered down on the mountain. After it cleared the came right back up ... this was the last week of b-zone several years ago packed in .. we saw zero does , only 1 bear and 7 bucks the whole trip ... long story short they will stay high if they can and stay after other critters move downhill
 

Rangerpants

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Be care full they will move back up if the weather lets up
We were at 6400 and a storm moved in and the 4 bucks I was watching disappeared for 2 days while we hunkered down on the mountain. After it cleared the came right back up ... this was the last week of b-zone several years ago packed in .. we saw zero does , only 1 bear and 7 bucks the whole trip ... long story short they will stay high if they can and stay after other critters move downhill
Interesting...I hadn't thought about that possibility, but as long as the food is there, it makes a ton of sense.
 
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I was thinking about the moving back up, I wonder if it's the severity of the storm system. I remember one year, I was backpacking in the Russian Wilderness and we had a storm roll in that dropped 12" of snow, it was the first real "winter" storm. If it's just a day or two of bad weather, stormy, but short term and doesn't drop snow, it makes total sense that they would stick around. I hadn't thought about that before.
 
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