Oregon Elk hunting

[blackdog]

just trying to figure out a good hunt in the near future with opportunities for 300" and up bulls....

Aren't we all!!!! You've got to remember, you're talking about Oregon here. The best places to find 300+ bulls take half a hunting lifetime to draw these days, and while you can certainly find 300+ bulls in any unit in Oregon, they're not prevalent enough that you should be counting on that opportunity. A true 300" bull in any unit outside the big 3 is a damned nice bull.

 

[Bearhunter]

Hells canyon is full of 300" bulls but not a hunt for everyone... I can acquire one of the 3 tags I mentioned for the rifle hunts just trying to fiqure out if they are worth the money or not as I am unfamiliar with the units.

 

[Mister Shush]

You can talk to one person who'll tell you that a particular unit is not worth it. You can talk to another who'll tell you it's great. This is true no matter what state you're hunting in. One guy might be putting in 15 miles hiking up and down the drainages each day, another might never leave his truck. You don't know who you're getting advice from and there are plenty of people who will deliberately play down a unit that's actually decent. There are big elk to be found in many of the units in Oregon and you need to decide what's important to you: Putting in for different units each year based on what people on the internet are telling you, or putting in the work heading out several times a year to scout places and decide on a target to build points for year after year. My advice is to put in for an attractive unit that might take years to get, but that you've scouted and researched, and then make your second hunt something that's undersubscribed so you've got a certain draw. You'll build points and also get to hunt in a unit that, while not spectacular, will not see you tripping over other hunters in general season. I killed a 6x6 bull, the biggest animal I've killed to date, on a second choice undersubscribed hunt. I've drawn that second choice hunt six times with my group and we've killed at least two elk a year on it.

Forums are full of hunters bitching about the low elk census in Oregon, bears, wolves and cougars killing them and how ODFW mismanages everything they touch. Well, my family and friends must not have received the message because we're hauling meat out of one of those "waste of time" units every single year. That's because we hunt it every year, except the year that we get out first choice, and we know it like the back of our hand. Hunters are predators and predators that don't adapt and put in hard work, starve. ODFW publishes success rates for every hunt in the state as well as the number of tags and applicants for all units. Do your homework there, pick a place to scout and then hunt the hell out of it. Hunting is what you make it.

 

[tipsntails7]

You can talk to one person who'll tell you that a particular unit is not worth it. You can talk to another who'll tell you it's great. This is true no matter what state you're hunting in. One guy might be putting in 15 miles hiking up and down the drainages each day, another might never leave his truck. You don't know who you're getting advice from and there are plenty of people who will deliberately play down a unit that's actually decent. There are big elk to be found in many of the units in Oregon and you need to decide what's important to you: Putting in for different units each year based on what people on the internet are telling you, or putting in the work heading out several times a year to scout places and decide on a target to build points for year after year. My advice is to put in for an attractive unit that might take years to get, but that you've scouted and researched, and then make your second hunt something that's undersubscribed so you've got a certain draw. You'll build points and also get to hunt in a unit that, while not spectacular, will not see you tripping over other hunters in general season. I killed a 6x6 bull, the biggest animal I've killed to date, on a second choice undersubscribed hunt. I've drawn that second choice hunt six times with my group and we've killed at least two elk a year on it.

Forums are full of hunters bitching about the low elk census in Oregon, bears, wolves and cougars killing them and how ODFW mismanages everything they touch. Well, my family and friends must not have received the message because we're hauling meat out of one of those "waste of time" units every single year. That's because we hunt it every year, except the year that we get out first choice, and we know it like the back of our hand. Hunters are predators and predators that don't adapt and put in hard work, starve. ODFW publishes success rates for every hunt in the state as well as the number of tags and applicants for all units. Do your homework there, pick a place to scout and then hunt the hell out of it. Hunting is what you make it.

There is a LOT of truth to this. But at the same time I'm not going to burn 10 points in a unit I can hunt OTC with a Bow. Doesn't make sense, to me at least.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[charvey9]

There are no elk in Oregon.

 

[Bearhunter]

Mister Hush, I couldn't agree with you more..... But in this case the units I was specifically asking about where a few that I was trying to put a last minute hunt together in, and I had access to an nonresident outfitter tag and would have made several scouting trips into as well. I decided against it as it was very last minute and I have other areas in different states where I know to find success. Anyways thanks for all the info gentlemen!