Oregon Expectations

[BlacktailTracker]

What is the status of oregon mule deer? I've been mostly hunting the westside because all I read is oregon mule deer hunting sucks. Anybody shot any nice bucks out of oregon?

 

[kota]

What is a nice buck to you?

In terms of status of Oregon mule deer…you know that feeling when you get hit in the nuts and your stomach hurts so bad you are about to puke…it’s kinda like that.

The previous unit I hunted had counts of 4-600 deer on the ODFW flights up until about 10 years ago, and they stopped flying it now because the counts were so low it wasn’t worth the cost. The last time I checked it they saw 53 while flying the exact same area for sheep. Tag cuts have not helped.

5 years ago switched to a new unit and things are trending the same way. Have seen notable population decreases in that time, and notable increases in elk populations. 20% tag cuts due to a myriad of reasons, and still saw few deer and lots of hunters. Talked to guys tickled pink to have multi day pack outs on 110 inch bucks that were taken with long range rifles.

Are there deer? Yes, but it is a shadow of what it was even 10-15 years ago. Expect lots of competition, and to work really hard for marginal levels of success.