I have been hunting blacktails for over 12 years now and Im not sure where that other guy got an 18" ear spread from but I could be wrong at least with a mature one. aboute 18 of the blacktail bucks ive killed all had ear tip to tip widths of aboute 9-12 inches in the alert position. Those being bucks of forken horn size to 3 point size, or 3x3 for those of you white tail weird horn counting confused people, lol. from my experience a average forked horn has a 8-12 inch antler inside spread, a 3 points on average has a 10-16 inch antler inside spread, and a four point which is a large mature buck having a 12-18 inch inside antler spread. with 18 inch inside spread being a very big buck. Very rare will you ever see a blacktail get bigger than 18" spread. I have killed two nice blacktails. One was a 4x3 with a 16" inside spread and he was 20" high, a huge basket case buck. and the other being a 4x4 with a 17.5 inch spread and 16" tall. all the others were smaller forken horns and 3 points. and the biggest blacktail ive ever seen was 10 years ago when I was 14 years old and he was a 5x6 heavy horned monster with probley a 20" spread and 17" high.
i have never seen a buck bigger that a 4 point since then. very very rare, its rare enough just to see one 4 point in a legal hunting area in one hunting season. Sometimes Ill see more MOUNTAIN LIONS than mature bucks. LOL kind of sad, stupid california hippies making stupid laws. The mountain lions are not endangered any more but the darn PETA and other groups hinder californias hunting and gun rights every day. I am propley gana move to oregon after I finish the game warden cadet academy next year.