Archery elk Oregon southern cascades

[COMTNMAN]

Hello all! I am new to rockslide and will be new to Oregon elk hunting this year. I have lived and hunted elk in Colorado the past 7 years, and have had success in OTC bow and gun seasons. This year, I am relocating to southern Oregon for work, and hope to take my dad out with me on our first Elk hunt outside of Colorado.

I am beginning my e scouting in the Indigo, Dixon, and Rogue units since they will be closest to us. My first instinct is to look into the wilderness areas. Anyone on here bow hunting in the Rogue-umpqua divide wilderness? Sky lakes wilderness? Any advice/tips on starting points or areas to start doing some scouting this summer?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Pumped to try our luck on some cascade Rosies!

Also, we are very familiar with several units in SW Colorado and would be happy to share area knowledge/info to anyone interested!

 

[PNW bow hunter]

Scout A LOT

I have a good friend that hunts the cascades.

It takes an enormous amount of scouting each year, and lots of seasons to figure it out. He hunts his ass off almost the whole season as well.

Very tuff hunt to fill your tag on each year

Oregon has changed how they report harvest statistics. There is a lot of information in that statistics to help you narrow down where to start.

 

[marksman1941]

Late response here, but maybe it’ll help.

We have chased muzzleloader elk in those units for years. Sometimes we see elk, rarely do we see bulls.

The national forest land is heavily hunted and success rates are 4-5% usually. There are good elk in there, but it takes a lot of work to find them. Scout scout scout. I’ve been told that the backside of Anderson Butte holds decent elk but I haven’t verified that for myself.

 

[GoBig]

Hunting General season westside elk may be close to what Colorado Elk seasons look like, without the orange. Hard to get away from anyone and not near as many elk. they are fragmented into small groups in certain areas. The wildernesses are small and mostly burned off, not many elk in them from my experience. I hunt blacktail when I don't draw and have hunted the elk hunt a few times before they changed the dates. It's not a tag to be picky on, most people won't' ever see an elk let alone a bull.

 

[goodhunting]

How was your hunt?

 

[Wmcknight]

Hello all! I am new to rockslide and will be new to Oregon elk hunting this year. I have lived and hunted elk in Colorado the past 7 years, and have had success in OTC bow and gun seasons. This year, I am relocating to southern Oregon for work, and hope to take my dad out with me on our first Elk hunt outside of Colorado.

I am beginning my e scouting in the Indigo, Dixon, and Rogue units since they will be closest to us. My first instinct is to look into the wilderness areas. Anyone on here bow hunting in the Rogue-umpqua divide wilderness? Sky lakes wilderness? Any advice/tips on starting points or areas to start doing some scouting this summer?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Pumped to try our luck on some cascade Rosies!

Also, we are very familiar with several units in SW Colorado and would be happy to share area knowledge/info to anyone interested!

I would look into getting access permits from private timber companies. Most of them are free but first come first serve. Majority of the area in those units are either private or private timber where you need one of their passes

 

[IdahoBeav]

If you're hunting NFS land, this is one of those hunts where you are lucky to see an elk. About 15 years ago, there was a group of guys from Sacramento that would hunt near Ginkgo Basin every year. They told me that they never killed anything, and it was about 50/50 on whether or not anyone in their party would even see an elk on the trip. I have no clue why they kept coming back.

It's ridiculous that ODFW closes the general deer rifle season for the rifle elk hunt. There are some good blacktails in there.

 

[marksman1941]

I would look into getting access permits from private timber companies. Most of them are free but first come first serve. Majority of the area in those units are either private or private timber where you need one of their passes

Sadly, timber company access permits down here have gone by the wayside. All of the southern Oregon Weyerhauser land (historically the easiest to get access to) has been purchased by Chinook Forest Management, who have strict closures on all of their lands. No hunting, no access where it's posted (which is everywhere). Murphy Timber allows hike in access in some areas (no permit needed) but has a lot of land that's fully closed as well. You need to find the posted signs for that plot of land to know if you can be there.

The smaller companies like Hancock and Lone Rock are the only havens left. Unless posted otherwise, you can use them like public lands.

There's large tracts of NF land, and a lot of checkerboard BLM that may or may not be accessible due to property boundaries.

 

[Jlorsun]

This is an older post but maybe you are still looking for info. I have hunted the cascades a lot. I also work in all 3 units you listed. There are still good numbers of elk. I would not rifle hunt it. You will have a real hard time trying to spot and stalk the wilderness areas or NF. Bow hunt it. Scout July and August and be prepared to put in a lot of leg work during the season. Usually elk in the divide or NF come back to the exact same ridges every year. Problem is they might have 8 different beds on said ridge spread over miles with 5 places to water. Your calls will not carry in that big timber but if you do get a response its almost never a hunter and you are probably within 300 yds already. Also fair warning get a bear tag and a cat tag. we run into one or the other every season up there! good luck.