The Blacktail Coach Podcast
We're here to share tips, strategies, and stories of hunting the Pacific Northwest.
Whether you're a seasoned hunter or just getting started, we'll help you turn preparation into achievement and passion into results.
So gear up and get ready, because SUCCESS IS NO ACCIDENT!
Episodes
113 episodes
Blacktail 5-Factor Weather Report for 10/12 And Anakin Lives!
The calendar says mid-October, but the woods say “things are starting to happen.” We lay out our five-factor weather report for October 12 through 18 and explain how we’d hunt it across blacktail country in Washington, Oregon, and California. I...
Blacktail 5-Factor Weather Report for 10/5 And Setting Up Your Tree Stand
Get The Deliberate Pursuit of Trophy Blacktail by Dave Rileyhttps://a.co/d/08y7xFCrYou can feel it in early October: bucks are getting ruddy, does are syncing cycles, and blacktail ...
Blacktail 5-Factor Weather Report For 9/28 And Setting Up Your Ground Blind
The forecast is only useful if it helps you pick a sit and actually see deer, so we break down our five factor weather report for Sept 28 through Oct 4 with the stuff that moves the needle: moon guide timing, temperature trends, weather fronts,...
Blacktail 5-Factor Weather Report for 9/21
You can waste a whole season hunting “good looking” days, or you can stack the odds with a repeatable plan. We run our weekly high-factor forecast for September 21 through 27 using the five factors we rely on for blacktail deer hunting in the P...
Blacktail 5-Factor Weather Report For 9/14
Hunting blacktail can feel like roulette if you’re picking hunt days at random, especially when you only have one evening a week to get out. We’re changing that. Aaron and Dave lay out our new in-season format: a weekly Five Factors Weather Rep...
How To Call And Rattle Blacktail Bucks With Tom Ryle
Rattling for blacktail isn’t magic and it isn’t random. It’s a story you’re telling in the woods, and the buck decides whether he believes it.We’re joined again by Tom Ryle and Kelly Riordan for a deep, practical breakdown of blacktail ...
Reading Deer Sign
The woods are full of clues, but most hunters only see noise. We sit down and translate the signs that actually matter when you’re scouting for a mature blacktail buck: tracks, game trails, bedding edges, scat, and rubs, plus what each one can ...
Five Factors For A Successful Hunt
Deer don’t move at random, even when it feels that way from the stand. We’re Aaron and Dave, and we lay out the five factors we watch for when we’re trying to predict blacktail deer movement and pick the highest-odds days to hunt. Each factor c...
Scent Strategy For Blacktail Hunting That Works
Your best stand location means nothing if a mature buck smells one wrong detail and locks up. We dig into the real mechanics of deer hunting scent control and why the “spray it and wait 30 minutes” mindset sets hunters up to fail, especially on...
How To Hunt Blacktail Across Rut Phases
Most hunters circle “the rut” on the calendar, then spend the best days wondering why their biggest buck disappeared. We take a step back and map the whole arc of blacktail deer hunting season, from early archery to pre-rut, full rut, and the s...
Eyes, Ears, and Nose: Mastering Undetected Entry to Your Hunting Set
Defeating a trophy blacktail's senses requires extraordinary dedication and methodical preparation. In this deep-dive conversation, Aaron and Dave explore the critical components of entering a hunting set without alerting deer through their inc...
Plan Your Blacktail Season From Scouting To Shot Day
Most hunting problems don’t start in the timber. They start when we try to skip steps, rush a “perfect” setup, and then wonder why the season feels stressful. We break down a clean, repeatable way to plan your season around five questions: find...
Coastal, Valley, & High Cascade: How Habitat Shapes Blacktail Deer Behavior
A blacktail buck in coastal rainforest doesn’t live like a blacktail buck on a High Cascade ridge, and pretending they do is a fast way to waste a season. Aaron and Dave dig into the real-world differences between coastal, valley, and High Casc...
Zach's Washington Turkey Slam Success And Turkey Trophy Tactics Course
A turkey slam sounds clean on paper. Real life rarely is. Zach joins us to tell the full Washington turkey slam story, from years of grinding with almost nothing to show for it, to finally stacking an Eastern, a Merriam’s, and a Rio Grande turk...
From Spring Bear Wrap Up To A Smarter Fall Plan With Heather Aldrich
One bad decision can change an entire bear season, and sometimes it takes a full year to see the consequences. We’re back with Heather Aldrich to wrap up spring bear season and turn those hard-earned lessons into a smarter plan for fall. Along ...
Blacktail Hunting Mentorship And Modern Know How With Tom Ryle & Kelly Riordan
A blacktail buck can live a whole season a few yards from you and never show itself, and that’s exactly why we love hunting them. We’re joined by Tom Ryle and Kelly Riordan for a wide-ranging talk that starts with how they each got pulled into ...
How Washington’s R3 Program Builds New Hunters And Anglers With Tom Ryle And Kelly Riordan
Conservation doesn’t run on vibes, it runs on people showing up year after year. That’s why we brought on Tom Ryle (WDFW marketing and creative media manager and Washington’s R3 lead) and Kelly Riordan (R3 hunting coordinator) to break down the...
Hunting Blunders That Turned Into Lessons
You know that sinking feeling when you realize you forgot something critical, rushed a shot, or made a choice you can’t rewind? We’re leaning into that reality with our guest Asha, because the woods have a way of teaching lessons the hard way a...
Meet The New Blacktail Coach Pro Staff And Plan 2027
You can hunt blacktail for years and still feel like you’re doing everything right, until you realize you’re solving the wrong problem. We bring on Ryan Heuberger and Cully Scroggins, our newest Blacktail Coach pro staff members, to talk about ...
A Target Rich Texas Hog Hunt With Boars All Day
We leave the spreadsheets and blacktail strategies at home and hit record from Boars All Day in Groveton, Texas after a full weekend of hog hunting with our Blacktail Coach crew plus Dan, and Mike from Nockaholics and the Everyday Archer podcas...
Advanced Blacktail Locating For Core Areas
You can find great blacktail habitat and still never see the buck you actually want. That gap is what we call advanced locating: going beyond “thick stuff over there” and learning to identify the bedroom door, the specific access point and trav...
The Washington Slam In Eight Days: Alex Gets His 10th Turkey Slam
Ten Washington Slams doesn’t happen by accident, and Alex Cheney isn’t interested in lucky stories that can’t be repeated. We sit down to unpack how he finishes his 10th Washington turkey slam in only eight days, and what that says about scouti...
A Four Day Gathering Builds Better Hunters Through Practice
Four days can change the way you hunt when the learning is real, the egos are gone, and the “secret sauce” is actually shared. We’re wrapping up the Hunters Gathering with quick testimonials from the people who lived it, from our instructors to...
Trail Camera Adventures with John Nicholson Part 3
Trail cameras can be addictive for the photos, but the real payoff is what those clips reveal about animal behavior and repeatable movement patterns. We’re joined again by John Nicholson from Trail Camera Adventures to get practical about turni...
Trail Camera Placement That Works With John Nicholson
Trail cameras feel simple until you realize how many animals can walk right past them without ever showing up on your card. We sit down again with John Nicholson from Trail Camera Adventures and get into the details that separate “random luck” ...