My son and I hunted the first season, any bull hunt in the Starkey unit in eastern Oregon last October. It took us seven years to draw those tags. It's only a five day season. We set up camp four days before the hunt and stayed until the day after the season ended. We didn't get our bulls. In fact we didn't see a bull. We saw plenty of cows and heard two different bulls bugle. We basically were in the woods from dark to dark. Just couldn't cut a break. We spent five days over there during the summer and saw nice bulls so we knew we were in a decent area. During our hunt we hunted the thick north facing slopes and saw rub after rub. And this is was the only place we did see elk. In the thick stuff. As it turned out I learned after the season that the Starkey's first season any bull hunt was a poor one. I talked to alot of hunters who were there and they all said the same thing.
Anyway, here's where we went wrong. They issue around 400 + any bull tags for the first hunt. The second season is for spike only. We thought we were going to have a limited entry hunt. Boy were we wrong... I saw in the reg's that you could apply for a spike only tag during the same hunt. I also saw where very few do so. This is where we got messed up. Turns out you can put in for the any bull tag as your first choice { which we did for years } and then put in for the spike only as your second choice and pretty much be certain of getting it without losing your points. In Oregon you only lose your points if you draw your first choice. In short we had lots of company. But the country is fantastic and we had an absoulute ball. But unless they limit the spike tags we will not put in for that hunt again. It's almost like we waited all those years to go on a general season hunt. { The game dept. did tell us that the cougars are taking a toll on the elk herds there too }.
