Those new premium hunts are nice. My buddy drew the premium tag for our favorite elk unit last year. I spent quite a bit of time helping him in Oregon last fall. Alas, we didn't fill the tag. Which was quite annoying, as every year the prior 7 years we saw plenty of animals in our favorite area. Last year....the behavior completely changed in the unit. The biologist for the unit acknowledged it and couldn't explain why the change in behavior. But did give my friend some helpful pointers. Elk were still there, but moved quite a distance from their normal range. Bizarre year. But the Oregon biologists are quite helpful, and great to talk with. And some of the local residents gave my friend access to their private lands to try to help him fill the special tag. Very cool how many people offered help as the season was winding down on his special tag.
Customer service from ODFW has been excellent in my experience (I lived there for over 35 years).