Oregon elk

[agardner00]

Howdy, fellas
I’m looking to plan my second elk hunt. First one was last year in CO, and let’s just say I learned a lot. I’m now starting to plan a 2020 hunt in OR, and would greatly appreciate any tips. I’ll apply for the controlled hunts but have no points so plan to do an OTC archery hunt within reasonable distance of Portland. Probably won’t do a deep backcountry hunt—more likely I’ll day hunt from the truck. I’m looking at unit 43 Biggs, but that’s just a very preliminary assessment. I want to fill the freezer with elk. Bull would be nice, but I’ll shoot the first healthy animal I have a solid chance at. Any suggestions, advice, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

*solo hunt, flying in to PDX, probably 2 weeks, and 50 yards max range.


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[travispe]

The west side of the state is OTC and is all Roosevelt’s. East side of the state is Rocky mtn and mostly OTC as well. There are plenty of good units within 3-4 hours of PDX, but I wouldn’t consider Biggs to be one of them. There’s good opportunities to be had further out I-84 or down Hwy 395. La Grande or John Day would be good towns to start from on the east side. Hwy 6 or 26 would put you in Roosevelt country and are an hour or two from the airport to the west


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[wapitibob]

$700 for nr license and tag, plus airfare, to hunt oregon?

 

[agardner00]

$700 for nr license and tag, plus airfare, to hunt oregon?

$48 tag (non-res military), $332 airfare minus $250 Alaska credit = $82. Plus my best friend is in PDX.


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[agardner00]

The west side of the state is OTC and is all Roosevelt’s. East side of the state is Rocky mtn and mostly OTC as well. There are plenty of good units within 3-4 hours of PDX, but I wouldn’t consider Biggs to be one of them. There’s good opportunities to be had further out I-84 or down Hwy 395. La Grande or John Day would be good towns to start from on the east side. Hwy 6 or 26 would put you in Roosevelt country and are an hour or two from the airport to the west


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Which units would you recommend on the western side, purely for opportunity?


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[travispe]

Which units would you recommend on the western side, purely for opportunity?


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Saddle mtn is popular and has one of the highest densities of elk, but it’s 3pt or better only. Trask and Wilson have good numbers of elk and are any bull. All three have lots of state forest, but saddle mtn also has a lot of timber company ground. Some is accessible and some is by permit only. These are the units I am near and familiar with. There are plenty further down the coast, but I don’t know enough about them to recommend one way or the other.


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[agardner00]

Thanks for your help! I’ll check them out


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[agardner00]

Looks like Saddle Mtn has both draw and OTC. 17% success rate for OTC archery. Not too shabby.


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[keepriding]

What do you have planned for your setup ? Weight ?

 

[agardner00]

My setup is Xpedition Denali 65#. Trophy ridge sight and QAD hunter rest. I’m shooting a 400g Scheels (Gold Tip) arrow with 125g G5 montec, but I might look into a heavier arrow.


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[Oregon]

The OTC non res tag price(military) is what would make it worthwhile.
it’s all elk hunting. Plain and simple. Look at the % of success and public land. Dedicate and go forth.
Coast range has plenty of elk and elk hunters. I do know for a fact that there is 1000’s upon thousands of acres on the coast that really doesn’t see a lot of pressure. Usually walk in spots behind gates on timber company land.
coast range rosies are a different critter. They don’t bugle much and live in god awful country that doesn’t scream “just bail off here, and come find me”.

 

[cgasner1]

Not sure about the eastern side but the coastal closes quite a bit from fire restrictions and depending on the tag you apply for you’ll be chasing your tail with point creep only reason I still apply is to go hunt with people I grew up with


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[GoBig]

If you are going to apply for a tag, you might consider applying Ochoco Archery, have a decent chance with zero points and if you draw you can use the tag in that unit or any other general archery unit.

 

[Sundance]

If you are planning on hunting western Oregon (Saddle Mnt, Trask, Wilson) be prepared for a whole new style of elk hunting compared to Colorado, Montana, Idaho etc. Check out some of the BRO videos, it's a whole different landscape and mentality. If you aren't going to pay for an access permit get some mountain bikes and plan to get behind the gates. Mountain bikes cover ground 5x faster then foot and if you have a trailer for packing out meat your back will thank you. Cover ground and bugle your lips off, its crazy how sound doesn't travel as far in the thick timber. Fire closures can happen along with buckets of rain. I've covered as much as 30 miles a day on bike and foot to locate animals. It's a blast and a great OTC opportunity, but it can grind down the best of them.

 

[agardner00]

Thanks for all the info; keep it coming! Thoughts on (hopefully) getting meat back home? I figure it wouldn’t be too difficult to bring a deer-sized animal home in a Yeti hopper as a checked bag, but 3-400 lbs of elk would take quite a few hoppers . I was thinking about getting some of those food shipping boxes, dry ice, and drop at UPS...


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[MrChadly14]

Saddle mtn is popular and has one of the highest densities of elk, but it’s 3pt or better only. Trask and Wilson have good numbers of elk and are any bull. All three have lots of state forest, but saddle mtn also has a lot of timber company ground. Some is accessible and some is by permit only. These are the units I am near and familiar with. There are plenty further down the coast, but I don’t know enough about them to recommend one way or the other.


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If you plan to hunt timber land, use this website as a guide for which plots are open (paired with OnX). It constantly updates during the archery elk season.

http://www.ofic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/2019-OFIC-Closure-Form-1.pdf

During Fire Season, many companies close their properties and will remain closed through September. Weather can drastically vary, so it's important to check day to day. Calling will give a more accurate idea.

 

[PNW bow hunter]

My advice would be to research some of the units you are interested in on the odfw website. There are a few statistics that I look for.

1- bull to cow ratio
If a unit is managed for 10 bulls per 100 cows I usually don’t find very vocal elk. 30 bulls to 100 cows lots of vocal bulls.

2- success rate
I prefer to hunt units with a minimum of 12 percent success rate averaged over the last 3-4 years.

3- percent of bulls harvested 5 point or bigger
I also prefer to hunt units where nearly half the bulls killed are 5 point or better.


These are 3 initial things I look at when going to a completely new area in any state without chances of pre season scouting. These 3 factors typically lead to an overall better quality hunt. If I go to a unit that meets none of the above statistics, it is typically a really long hiking trip with few elk encounters.

 

[PNW bow hunter]

Since you have a friend in Portland that is going with you, he should be able to scout a few areas before season. Focus on areas he would be willing to scout pre season.

Look for areas within a mile of some sort of water. When he’s scouting, look for elk rubs from multiple years. That indicates at some point during the archery season bulls are using that area. It could be early in the season, middle of the the season once the rut gets going, or both.

Find 5-6 areas like that and you should be able to get into some elk over 2 weeks.

 

[Tips n Tails]

Since you have a friend in Portland that is going with you, he should be able to scout a few areas before season. Focus on areas he would be willing to scout pre season.

Look for areas within a mile of some sort of water. When he’s scouting, look for elk rubs from multiple years. That indicates at some point during the archery season bulls are using that area. It could be early in the season, middle of the the season once the rut gets going, or both.

Find 5-6 areas like that and you should be able to get into some elk over 2 weeks.

It’s neither here nor there but I took the best friend comment as he’s going to go see a female friend.

No experience with Oregon other than you’re smart to take advantage of Oregon’s generous military OTC hunting opportunities. I too am active duty military however, I’m stuck on Idaho and Wyoming. After watching Corey Jacobsons Oregon hunt last year with Donnie it looked like a thick wet jungle. Granted they hunted a coastal unit but non-the less mountains with high alpine meadows is just more appealing to me.

I do know the Hepper or Starkey Unit is highly sought after. This will likely require PPs but food for thought for future reference if you find out you like hunting Oregon.

 

[Runolfson]

Born and Raised Outdoors and Angry Spike Productions on Youtube will give you a good intro to coastal hunting.