Elk hunting in oregon

[Sporty]

Are there any decent over the counter tags in Oregon? I was looking at the data and it looks like most areas are 4-10%. I went up last year and saw 1 elk through a spotting about a 3 miles away and it was on the CA side. I know the unit sucked for elk (Warner) but it was my first hunt with my G-pa and it was his first time in the area. His crew is going up again (Heppner) but unfortunately thats too far for me to go during school. I was hoping to find a place on the south part of the state. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Good luck to all,

Sporty

 

[Sporty]

65 views and not a response. Not even an email. Huh. Oh well.
Good luck to all,
Sporty

 

[wmidbrook]

You might have better luck over on the West side chasing after Roosevelts rather than Rocky Mt in Southern OR given your distance contraints. I've heard the Tioga and Sixes draw units are alright--haven't hunted there. I didn't see a whole lot of elk sign when I was blacktail hunting in the Alsea unit (N. Central)--but, I've read there are a lot of elk (maybe hunters too) in the SW corner of that unit.

 

[Cahunter]

Whats the tag situtation in the south eastern part of oregon? Can you get deer and elk tags over the counter. I used top hunt the warners up there right on the boarder when I could draw a X3b tag. I would not mind hunting the dissmal swap area of oregon. There was a lot of deer in that area, I never saw any elk though but I hear that they are there.

 

[wmidbrook]

Elk is contolled in SE OR (High Desert tag) from Beatys Butte eastward. Warner, Interstate and Klamath Falls have a general tag. I've heard Silver Lake (in the gen. tag zone) has some decent sized heards...again, this is just from book/magazine/interet/phone scouting...I haven't been there.

I've have looked into the High Desert rifle tags a bit. It's not an easy nor high success hunt and I think a person would need to spend a lot of time to get into elk in that country...but, who knows, maybe it would be a good area to get familiar with--you wouldn't have to contend with hordes of hunters like in some of the more popular units. Most of the harvesting done is up the the Juniper, Steens and Owyhee units--and success isn't all that high.

The draw odds for the controlled SW OR rifle Roosevelt hunts are not that bad.

Deer is controlled for any weapon east of the cascades.

That whole region is open for archery deer/elk except for the trout creek mts. which is restricted to OTC traditional archery tackle for deer.

 

[Sporty]

Thanks for the replies guys. As for deer in the Warner unit. I saw ALOT of does not 1 buck though. However it was just after rifle season there. I talked to a local and he said that they give out too many tags for the area and the hunting is crowded. Beautiful area though. Any more thoughts on overcounter elk tag success anyone? I would prefer to hunt the SW but it looked like over the counter hunter success was pretty poor, am I off base here?
Good luck to all,
Sporty

 

[Oregon Archer]

Sporty it will only cost you an extra 4.50 on top of your license fee to put in for a draw hunt. So dont just limit yourself to whats over the counter. Many of the draw areas in the SW have very good odds for drawing with no pref points. There are also some really good cow tags too that you could have a great chance of filling. PM me and ill throw some suggestions at you for some draw hunts.

 

[LeeChul]

Is Oregon your only option? What about Idaho? Too far? Oregon may be a little cheaper but I think your chance of success would be higher in Idaho. I've mullie hunted the Owyhee Mountains on the Idaho side and hiked the Oregon side and never once saw elk. If you're stuck on Oregon stay away from there. However there are some monster mullies up there. 32A and B are always great for elk in Idaho, if you draw a cow and stay a week it's nearly certain, for bulls all I can say is keep the wind in your face and stay on high ground.