Oregon draw success Mt Emily

[Rufenit]

Congratulations to all who were successful on their draws. Being from Washington I struck out on all accounts. I was however lucky enough to draw the Oregon Ochoco archery bull and the E Mt. Emily rifle deer general season.

For years I've been hearing about Mt Emily being a good draw so my partner and I decided to try for it.  Low and behold we got it.  I know we have a lot of scouting to do this summer but I've been reading that the area just hasn't been that good. We have not hunted in this area before and I'm just wondering what others think of the unit.  Are there good buck there? What should we expect as far as country and quality of deer. I was also wondering if atv's or utv's are allowed on the roads or if their is any back country to pack into.  Thanks for anything

[go4steelhd]

I grew up in La Grande at the base or Mt Emily. I've never heard anyone say It was a good deer unit. For elk that's a different story. My avatar pic is a mt Emily bull. I've spent a LOT of time in that unit over the years.
What is your expectations of your hunt?

[Reidus]

mt emily late tag is a good one. Takes a lot of pts.

[Rufenit]

Go4, I've hunted a lot in my time and have taken enough deer to be satisfied. Now I mainly go for the camp and the company. Having said that, I'm always looking to take a good buck 160+. I'm hunting Idaho in mid October and eastern Montana in mid November.  I guess I got some bad advice for Mt Emily deer, luckily it only cost me three points

Mark

[go4steelhd]

I was In That unit in 2010,11,12 the week of the rut the best buck out of those three years I seen was 170. I also archery hunted deer one of those years. I shot  small 3x4. I was truly disappointed in the amount of deer I seen. They get an occasional giant out of there. But I think that can be said for almost every unit in any state. In the 90's there were LOTS of deer in there.

I will PM where I have seen the highest numbers

[Rufenit]

I'm assuming that if the late rut hunt is good, then is it safe to say that they are migrating in from some other unit

Mark

[go4steelhd]

I don't think the late hunt is good. My buddy at BMA guides the late hunt almost every year. He says he would not use three points on the late hunt I think with as many points as it takes people think they are going to shoot a 180 plus deer. http://www.bluemountainadventures.com/Slide-Show.html  Click on slide show. The ones in the snow are from the late hunt. The other bucks are from other units

[theleo]

It's a better tag than drawing the Minam but it's not the greatest. For general rifle season I'm much more a fan of the desert units bordering the Snake and Idaho like: Lookout Mt., Keating, Pine Creek, Owyhee, and White Horse. For late season Sled Springs is a good tag with a muzzle loader.

[go4steelhd]

 

[theleo]

I'm assuming that if the late rut hunt is good, then is it safe to say that they are migrating in from some other unit

Mark

The bucks are just easier to find because they're chasing does.

[theleo]

If you're strictly rifle hunting and have time to invest hunting a tag, Trout Creek Mts. and Steens Mts. are tags you should seriously be looking towards.

[KopperBuck]

There's quite a bit of access into that unit, being that you can drive and see a lot of it. That said it's steep. No two ways about it - but it helps with the pressure. You'll see a lot of traffic on the road, but not so much on the hoof.

I don't mean to discourage you, but the deer #s are not that great. We spent about 20 days in there this spring bear hunting. We saw less than two dozen deer. We also had over 100 bear sightings, and a cat. It's a head scratcher - they want to manage it for trophy bull, they offer the late season rut tag for deer, but the predator #s are off the charts. I'm with whoever previously mentioned not putting in for the tag with many points. Same with the rut hunt - the hunt is more about seeing rutting deer than an actual trophy hunt. The dates and the Mt. Emily name seem to get people to apply more than anything. And they won't be migrating in, if anything, they migrate out to the boundaries.

We use 4 wheelers to access a lot of the unit because it's just plain faster. Just know what roads you can and can't be on. 

[KopperBuck]

What's the boundary for E/W, assuming some combination of FS 31? Regarding backcountry, I'm guessing you won't have what one would consider true back country. There's the NF Umatilla Wilderness, but that's probably out of your unit, same with Meacham Cr area. Those would be really the only back country areas in the unit.

There's more timber on the east side of the unit as well.

From point A to point B in a horizontal line is not far, getting there can be a whole other deal. Or you find a road that gets you closer.

PM me if you get any specific questions as you get closer to the hunt.

[hoytxl2009]

I also grew up in LaGrande and moved to Washington only two years ago. Some of the biggest bucks I've seen in my life we're in Mt Emily. People over think this area and forget to realize that most trophy bucks in this unit are not deep and steep. PM me and I can share some info on my experience.

[Rufenit]

Thanks for the replies. I really got to start getting out and get a lay of the land.