Early archery hunt in eastern Oregon??

[vanhornhunter]

Hey guys, just kinda wondering if there's any one else out there that hunts the first week of september down in Oregon? I've been considering going down there because it opens 9 days before washington.I might be going back to college in the fall and its starts opening day of archery elk I'm looking at the heppner and ukiah units.Sorry if this isn't supposed to be on this forum but I figured there might be a few Oregon hunters out there.

[bucklucky]

There isnt that many hunters out from what I seen but you definately want to get ahold of Biologists and get info on elk numbers and good places too start scouting. Definately need to scout. I went last yerar thinking it would be pretty easy to put a good elk hunt together but failed. I did find some descent areas that held some bulls just ran out of time. I would find a few good areas and deer hunt them first unless you want to spend the money for both tags. I hunted the imnaha and murderers creek and scouted it once before the hunt . Found plenty of elk but in the imnaha that first week there is cattle all over the place and I mean in the eagle caps too. I bailed and went to my secondary unit murderers creek. Wife had a deer tag so we hunted deer and killed a little 4x3. Elk was tough. Good luck.

[viper55]

I am from that area of Oregon and Heppner can be good and bad. Depends on the summer, it can get pretty dang hot. Also Ukiah is a good unit. I actually hunt the Desolation unit which is south of the Ukiah unit. Heppner may be a draw though....Let me know if you have any other Questions. I am thinking of hunting down there myself.

[jdb]

I hunted murderers creek about 7 years ago for deer and we saw lots of does and a couple bucks down low in the private ground but we saw good bulls almost everyday. JB

[vanhornhunter]

Well its sounds like I need to get down there and start scouting.I thinki'll start with the biologist.The only area Ive hunted has been southwest of ukiah and we saw alot of bulls the last week of the season.I need to look into the murders creek unit though Ive heard and seen guys getting some pretty decent bulls out of there.Thanks for the imput guys.

[bucklucky]

I almost forgot but if you want a pretty good map of a certain unit get a RAMS MAPS It shows the entire GMU boundrie , topography, public/private lands/ UTM @ latitude/longitude for GPS , roads trails and campgrouns. www.bigskymaps.com. I found mine in a store in Oregon the last day of my hunt. Wish I would have found it earlier.

[vanhornhunter]

I bought three of those maps! I can't wait to get out there and start looking for some animals.

[finnman]

We are taking a camping trip in the Murderers creek unit on June 28th, we will be there for 8 days, 2 of my friends are going to be archery hunting deer and elk down there this fall, one friend rifle hunted it 3 years ago and took a 260 class 6x6, and they saw some good bucks too. My wife and I are hunting the Malhuer unit with the rifles this year for deer. So no elk hunt for me this year. I will let you know what we see.

[Opportunist]

The heppner unit should be pretty busy on opening weekend same as murderers creek, but the woods will empty out after the weekend. I like it when it's hot, it condenses the elk down to wet areas and gets them up moving earlier in the evening to get to water. It's just a different hunt than a later september hunt when a guy is using the rut to hunt. Calling still works but they come in quiet. It's more of spot and stalk, sit on water or trails or just still hunting through dark north facing timber and tracking if possible.

I've hunted the Heppner, Snake river and Ochoco's opening week but never connected but got into elk. My hunting partner hunted Murderers last year opening week with same results, into elk no blood, but he did pass on a couple of raghorns he called in. It's deffinitely do-able. I hunted the Snake river unit probably ten plus years ago opening week and the bulls were going absolutely ape*censored*, so a guy never knows. I hunted with a buddy who had a Starkey Experimental archery tag last year opening week and the elk were in full rut, I watched a 320-330" bull breed a cow.

Eastern Oregon sucks the last two weeks of the season unless you have a special permit at least compared to how it used to be ten years ago, they need to go special permit on all units. All of the elk hunters roll in the last two weeks, the bulls get call shy and go nocturnal then guys start calling at night stupidly which really shuts the elk down even more and there gets to be pissin' matches over known wallows that have permanent stands on them.

I'd be more inclined to hunt eastern Oregon general season within the first two weeks of the season than the last two weeks. I killed this bull on september 7th in the heppner unit, he's no monster but he came in screamin'.



I'm letting my son cut his teeth this year in Washington archery elk, then I'm taking him next year to Southeast Idaho the first week of season, before school starts. We'll be mostly treestand hunting and stillhunting the heavy timber. Good luck on your hunt and by the way nice bull you got in the heppner last season, I saw it in your gallery.

[vanhornhunter]

Thanks for all the info Opportunist.I wish I killed that bull on my pictures.I guy I was hunting with got that one.We were hunting on a ranch sw of ukiah.Saw a lot of nice bulls just couldnt connect my self.WE did see alot of people the last week of hunting there.Ive gotta couple of scouting trips planned for late july and the middle of august, so hopefully I can find some bulls.

[Machias]

He probably came in screaming over those legs!   

[Opportunist]

Machias, Not much I can say.

[Machias]

Hey your the one standing there with the elk, I'm still looking for my first bull.  Only cows so far!!   

[Gobble]

Hey your the one standing there with the elk, I'm still looking for my first bull.  Only cows so far!!   

+1

It's too hard to pass up a great meat cow