Oregon

[Bossbrott]

According to bugle magazine, Oregon boasts over 120,000 elk, the most in thewest. Does anybody have Any info regarding their system? Do you have to purchase a license first, is there a pt system? Any info would be appreciated? My 14 yo son and I would love to elk hunt, and Oregon is close and so
ewhat cheap compared to the rest, and has a healthy population. Thanks for any advice. Steve

 

[easymoney]

Do yourself a favor and search the ODFW website for info and pricing. I hunted the eastern part of OR for more than 25 years until they doubled the price on out of state tags and lic. OR is not known for big bulls because they sell hair tags and allow spike shooting, neither is a good management practice. If you are interested in Roosevelts look to the western part of the state, if looking at rocky mountain look to the east.

 

[suavegato]

for the money, look at Utah... I hunt both, depending on where you are, Utah is about the same drive time for me (Sacramento). and IS known for huge bulls! I believe Utah boast a bigger population as well? Prices are comparable as well. Good luck.

 

[Vermonster]

Well, I hunted there 5 or 6 years ago. At that time, it was they had an over the counter rifle season available. I think it cost me Around $375 or so. We hunted and camped in a national forest in the center of the state.

It was any bull, so you can shoot spike on up to the biggies. I saw a few cows, and busted a few others in the lines that I never got a look at. The day after I left, the guy I was with saw a bachelor herd of bulls, but could never get a shot......

Just looked at the website. Looks like it's now $147 for the license, and $500 for the tag. Can't find if it's still OTC or not.....

 

[easymoney]

Yep they doubled the out of state fees... Now it's nearly $1000 for deer and elk tags with lic.

 

[Bossbrott]

Thanks for thereplies guys, ,much appreciated, Utah does lookbetter,I'll check it out. 1000 bucks for an elk seems ridiculous. Sounds like California isn't the only one with their hands out hoping sportsmen will bail their overspending ahold bureaucrats. Just my .02, but the politicians are killing hunting by making it a rich mans game!

 

[Vermonster]

Yep they doubled the out of state fees... Now it's nearly $1000 for deer and elk tags with lic.

According to the website, it's only $500 for the non-resident Elk tag, plus $140 for the license ($640 total). Deer is still $375.50 ($515.50 total). Not $1000......

This is the link I get when I hit "2010 fees" on their website......

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/agency/budget/docs/Post_Legislation_Final_Fees.pdf

 

[Shmave23]

Yep they doubled the out of state fees... Now it's nearly $1000 for deer and elk tags with lic.

According to the website, it's only $500 for the non-resident Elk tag, plus $140 for the license ($640 total). Deer is still $375.50 ($515.50 total). Not $1000......

Read what was written.

deer and elk tags with lic.

So the man was right.

Deer $375.50
Elk $500
NR L $140
Total: 1,015.50 That is Correct!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Dave

 

[Vermonster]

Read what was written. So the man was right.

Deer $375.50
Elk $500
NR L $140
Total: 1,015.50 That is Correct!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Dave

Okay, I get it. However, the original post was about the cost of elk hunting, so i thought Easy was saying that they EACH cost $1000.

Heck, I don't think $1000 is bad for the license, an elk tag, and a deer tag. You can't get a guided hunt for just deer alone for even close to that price, let alone an elk too......

 

[Orygun]

We have lots of elk. HOWEVER, development, predation, and lack of logging has shifted where they live. We have expanding populations in some places and shrinking ones in others. You have Roosevelt west of the Cascades. The north half of the coast and the Cascades are the better areas. Rockies are east of the Cascades and the North Central part is best (Blue Mountains). Biggest bulls tend to come from the units along the Snake River Drainage.

Public lands do hold many animals, espec. when you add timber company land to the mix. Predation issues (cougar and most likley now wolf) has resulted in the decline in elk numbers in some areas. 78 cougars were taken from the Blues in the last couple years has doubled the cow/calf ratios in those units. Used to be archery tag meant any elk pretty much anywhere. No we have bull or spike only areas where it was either sex.

Either sex units tend to have few animals OR its real hard to get into them. One unit, Silver Lake, has a population maybe 200 animals and 20-30 legal bulls. It's a huge unit.

The NE units boast fair numbers but bigger animals. Great alpine country as well. Like anywhere else, food sources and pressure puts many elk onto ranchland. Getting access to a ranch that grows alfalfa will be a close to a guarantee in finding them as your gonna get.

The SE 1/4 of the state is very dry sage desert. Without LOTS of scouting to locate very mobile herds, your wasting time and money.
Too late for archery this year.

You can go OTC for the Coast Range in Nov (cold and WET) or OTC for Cascade Bull in Oct (Not so much cold and a bit drier) The Cascade unit spills over the east side south of Bend. They are probably a better bet than the Rocky Mtn General season which is also OTC. It has tough terrain or tough access to private lands.

Oregon punishes nonresidents. There is a 5% cap on controlled hunt tags. That is after they dole out guide tags for a given unit. Because the non-resi cap is often met early in the draw, you need more points. Figure 2-3 yrs per hunt to guarantee drawing a tag. oregontags is a helpful site. You will notice that some of the hunts have a non-resident quota of 1.

Spike hunts tend to be easiest to draw. Either sex (hair)tags are the hardest to get.

 

[k_rad]

According to bugle magazine, Oregon boasts over 120,000 elk, the most in thewest. Steve

I do not beleive this is accurate. Colorado has an elk pop of over 200,000. the out of state OTC for bull is around $550 and cows (only in some areas OTC) are around $250 no lic. fee...

 

[easymoney]

Orygun,
Great points.
OR has punished the non resident sportsmen, like many other states have lately. It just does not make sense to nearly double fees then do nothing to better manage the game. In the eastern zones I have hunted I have seen the numbers of atv and road hunters increase, the numbers of game plummet and the numbers of lions increase. Not to mention they now have wolves...
IMHO, CA is only a year or so from jumping on this pricing bandwagon too.

 

[Orygun]

It's not that people shouldn't hunt here. You can, with some scouting and planning, get into some quality animals. The Cascades have some great animals. The elk and deer are both hybrids. Many of the big B zone bucks shot in CA are from the migratory herd that comes out of the Siskyous.

For most of us with limited funds and vacation time, there are better places to take your non-resident money.

 

[easymoney]

For most of us with limited funds and vacation time, there are better places to take your non-resident money.

Sank in last year and I will be looking around alot more for the best bang for my very hard earned money...