Archery Elk in Oregon

[wmidbrook]

I've looked into NW Eagle Cap Wilderness Areas, Southern Strawberry Wilderness, the Blue Mt's Between John Day Wilderness and Starkey Experimental Forest, and the Ochoco/Grizzly units.

I'm leaning towards the Starkey unit in the Blues.  I'm just looking to bag an elk and would like to get into a general area with the largest concentrations of Elk and where I'm within a 2-5 miles of a road since I'll be by myself.

Any suggestions?  I purchased my tag yesterday and will be there from Sept 14th thru the end of the archery season.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Oregon Archer]

Ochocos holds a good number of elk. Its a popular place but if you are willing to get down off the roads you can be very successful there. The Starkey Exp Forest is a draw area only. The others you mentioned are great areas also but dont really fit the bill for you since you want to be somewhat close to a road.

 

[wmidbrook]

Thanks for the input.  It's definately a tough choice.  The Ochoco's supposedly holds better bulls.  Good access too.

There seems to be pretty good access off of Forest Service rts. 51 & 52 up in Starkey on the maps.  Also there seems to be good access  south of Starkey between Ukiah and La Grande--the success rates are twice as high there for archers too which seems pretty appealing.  Maybe more folks are holding out for bulls in the Ochocos...Both areas seem have a lots of archers though--over 1000 in each area.  That's a lot.

 

[Oregon Archer]

some other areas you should look into are the Silvies and Desolation units. both units hold good numbers of elk and some really big bulls. the murders creek unit is also a good unit. the north fork john day wilderness area is a popular area and it too holds good numbers of elk.
best advice i can give you is to get away from the roads and all the lazy hunters. your chances will grow immensely if you do that. good luck!

 

[Rimrock]

WMB,

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