Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: funkster on February 05, 2009, 08:19:25 AM
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I was thinking how could I expand my elk hunting this coming year? Then it struck me,I live by two pretty good states for elk hunting, Idaho and Oregon! I checked a few harvest reports and I think the Saddle Mtn unit in Oregon is looking good since it is not to far away from where I hunt in southwest Washington, I could split my time between the two. Oregon's bow season starts August 29 and goes through Sept 27 almost a month long of elk hunting :drool: I am trying to do as much home work with tree farm maps and online info as I can but that only goes so far. I will be putting the time in scouting out area's to try to make this a successful trip for my Dad and I. If any of you WA hunter have crossed the boarder and want to point me in a general direction that would be great,thanks in advance.
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there is alot of private gorund down around there. there are some pockets of public but it will take alot of scouting to find them. around there is where im from and there are alot of elk there, its just a matter of getting to them.
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Spur,when you say private land do you mean farm land owned by folks like you and me or weyco tree farm land? Thanks for the response.
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the further south you get you strat running into farm lands owned by common folks. some are really nice but some are real a$$ holes
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Thanks,I really like hunting weyco land when the gates are close. Hop on the old bike and get back 8 or so miles to get away from the yahoo's. I see they own a lot of land in that area, have you ever hunted any of the tree farms?
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Funkster PM me and I'll get back to you in the next couple of days. I've done quite a bit of elk hunting in Oregon and a bit in Idaho as well. The nice thing about Idaho is you can go back and rifle hunt if you don't connect with a bow. I've got 11 points in Oregon so I have a decision to make here real soon.
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Ok,will do! Thanks for all the input guys.
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I did my first archery elk hunting in eastern Oregon and had a blast. I brought home a nice cow. It can be tuff hunting, but lots of land to hunt out east, Desolation Unit is where I hunted. I am planning on heading back out there this year as well.
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Crunchy, pretty good harvest numbers out of a place called "desolation" :chuckle: How was the weather and did you here any bulls singing?
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Yeah it took us a couple of days to find the elk but once we did we were on them pretty hard. Good friend missed a big 6x6 with the arrow deflecting off a downed tree. Three of us were in a big herd with a bull bulgling when I took my cow. The weather was pretty good it was Sept 20-27 for my hunt.
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We rifle hunted the second season for elk about ten years back. There wasn't any problem for access then. We were camped and hunted on private timberland. There were quite a few roads gated for walk in hunting. But this was in late November and not any fire danger. My point is that yes much of the unit is private... but private timber companies. Not fenced ranches. And man after the shots start those elk head straight for the refuge.
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If you think about going farther down south there is some great areas grew up in coosbay the tioga and sixes units. killed a nice bull last year. Now i moved to washington trying to figure out this state wow that seems to be a tough one. any way if you are looking at hunting down south and need some info would gladly help... ps the timber companies have gotten real tight on letting people in during archery season even if you walk in.
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My buddy does a drop camp in eagle cap wilderness every year. 2nd season in November - says it's the best- even if he doesn't pull the trigger. Bulls ever-whar.
Unless you get a guide tag, I think you need to draw in Ore - heard its about 50/50 like MT :dunno:
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For the better units in Oregon it takes at least 5 or 6 points as a Non-Resident.
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archery on the west side is over the counter good rosie hunting in the sixes unit
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sadle Mtn has a ton of elk, some freinds of mine arrow bulls yearly in that unit and its my turn this year!
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My buddy does a drop camp in eagle cap wilderness every year. 2nd season in November - says it's the best- even if he doesn't pull the trigger. Bulls ever-whar.
Unless you get a guide tag, I think you need to draw in Ore - heard its about 50/50 like MT :dunno:
We did an achery drop camp in eaglecap wilderness.Bring your xtra pair of legs. It was fun didnt get any shots thou....
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:cmp1:
Grew up in Eastern Oregon but left their in 1990 to Washington State. Hunted elk mainly in the Blue's above Pendleton that included the Meacham, Kamela, Mt. Emily to La Grande. I don't know how hunting is over their now but it use to be a pretty good area many years back. I now hunt elk in Eastern Washington, Colockum or Manastash areas. I do know that their are a lot of similarities in terrain where I hunt now vs the Blues in Oregon.
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sadle Mtn has a ton of elk, some freinds of mine arrow bulls yearly in that unit and its my turn this year!
So am I reading the regs right? The tags are over the counter for non residents correct? If so, I am 60% sure a few of are crew will be heading down. Now the hardest part of the planning is how I am gonna work it out with my son's football season, it starts August 1st >:(
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I used to hunt the Eagle Cap along the boundary. Cougars and now wolves are hammering the elk numbers. Haven't been back in several years. Idaho is even worse at that latitude for wolves.
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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 }.
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zhunter,
I am thinking about appling for a riffle tag in the Sixes. My partner an I each have 7 points. I am wondering if the roads are gated or is there a lot of traffic? What type of terrain is it? I would appriciate any input.
Thanks
