Coastal fog dimmed the trail ahead as I slipped quietly through thick spruce timber, following a narrow trail heavily marked with the dainty, heart-shaped prints of Columbia blacktail deer. These lush, coastal mountains in Six Rivers National Forest, fronting the mighty Pacific Ocean, are where a rifleman can set up ambushes for deer by waiting alongside trails they use regularly twice each day. I’ve hunted blacktail deer for many decades, from high-tide lines all the way up to sky-high peaks that see deep winter snows. In this spot, a lone ambush works best.
Six Rivers National Forest (fs.usda. gov/srnf) is an enormous chain of mountains in the northwestern part