Late season hood unit rut hunt

[Wyattblu48]

Hate being that guy, but I don’t feel as bad since there’s only 10 tags per year. My wife has 100% chance next year to draw this tag she’s been waiting for for years. Been doing a lot of e scouting in hopes of making a scout trip or two this fall in the rut. Just wondering if anyone has some extra information they’d be willing to share for a young family looking for a first benchleg/big blacktail. Not looking for exact clear cuts or anything but more for sides of the mountain, which elevations will have snow and how high up the deer might be? Thank you for any and all information in advance!


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[NiteHawk]

I have spent a fair amount of time in the Hood Unit chasing bears and cow elk. If I had the late hood buck tag I would focus on the north slopes of Mt. Hood. There is a good chunk of Weyerhauser if you want to pay for the permit. The NF actually has a fair amount of thinned or clear cut forests which make for good Blacktail habitat. Then above that you get into the alpine areas of Mt. Hood. You could employ a few different tactics. One of those would be to find a few glassing points and sit and glass. The other would be slow hunting the forests. Both depend on pre-season scouting. If you don't get a good read on deer activity while scouting I would lean toward spot and stalk tactics should your wife draw the tag. That would be one fun tag!

Snow line depends on weather, I would plan to be close to or above the snowline. The best information will be the information you collect this year while scouting.

If you're looking for private land options there's lots of orchards in the Parkdale area.

 

[DawnPatrol]

Hope your wife draws! That seems like a cool tag and she could kill a big one (they show up in my yard every year about that time of year).

During the rut, there will be bucks at all elevations chasing tail. I’d look below 4,000 feet.

I wouldn’t bother with paying up for access to Weyco land; there’s a ton of open county land if you want to hunt industrial timberland, and only 10 other tag holders. I’d look on the north slope of the mountain, and where the timberland meets the orchards on the west side of the valley.

Good luck. Don’t forget to post a report!

 

[Hoodie]

I'd second looking at the Hood River County Forest. It gets pressure during the earlier rifle season, but not a ton.

There's a decent amount of recently thinned timber at 3-4k on the north side of the mountain that could be worth taking a look at as well.

Not sure if you've hunted in the Cascades much, but the alpine areas will usually be pretty well snowed in by November, and most of the bucks will be down below the large burns. Glassing will pretty much be a clear-cuts only sort of deal, with the exception of some of the open areas with white oaks. Those can be pretty good spots.

Good luck. I'm hoping I can have the discipline to continue to build points for that tag. I've bowhunted the unit during the early season and seen some really nice bucks, but it is a tough place to arrow one.