Hunting in Oregon

[HighDesert]

Hey guys new to the Site and just sifting around. I was wondering if anyone here has ever applied to Oregon for any of the states muzzleloader hunts. If so what hunt do you think is the best and why.
Dave

 

[Rebel]

I have been applying for years now for the deer and elk muzzleloader hunts. Got drawn once in '77 for a doe hunt in the Roque unit. Didn't know a thing about the unit and didn't get a chance to scout it. When we got over there it was like a jungle. Anything i would have seen would have definately been in muzzleloader range. Going to keep trying to get drawn for a tag.

 

[tg]

I have hunted the M100 area in the costal Mts. and Willamette valley for many years with good sucess, I have only failed to draw the tag once in the last ten years, one really must overcome the terrain/habitat, as it is the most difficult part of hunting western Blacktails, I would suggest trying for a tag in an area you are familiar with as this will increase you odds considerably

 

[Bill41]

I moved to the NE area of Oregon about 4 years ago. Right off the bat I wasn't too impressed with the way they have the ML hunting seasons set up. In the areas that are close to me the ML seasons are after the regular rifle seasons. I read an article from ODFW that basically stated there was no difference in ML and rifle hunting methods so the MLs got no preferential treatment. Obviously this article was written by somebody that does not know much if anything. Thankfully ML season is limited to the more traditional style MLs. I hunt with a .62 flintlock and do not think the new inlines with sabots qualify as traditional hunting. Anyway I'll get off the soapbox.
If you are looking for more open country the NE areas and the John Day river country have some nice hunting.

 

[Hellgate]

For several years we applied for the Ditch Cr ML deer hunt because we had hunted that unit (Heppner) for 30 years with centerfire rifles. Lately the doe tags for the unit are only good for outside the Forest Service boundary on ranch land where permission to hunt is nearly impossible. So the Ditch cr hunt was good in that it was a "hair tag" meaning buck, doe, or fawn within the Nat. forest. We've taken deer on that hunt but this coming year they made it a buck only hunt so i likely will not go back for a while. THERE ARE FEW DEER in the Heppner unit 48 due to several years of drought in the fall when does fatten up for the winter. No fat, no survival & fewer fawns. It'll be nice if in a few years they get the rain they need and the herd builds up. So, I am not thrilled with NE OR as a hunting area for deer. Back in the 1960s & 70s we had deer & elk running through camp just about every year. It's been sparse for about 10 years now. I do not know if that is all of E OR or not. In Western oregon "the elk populations have met ODFW objectives" which means they have all they want and the seasons & hunts are more generous. The advice of beating the bushes (scouting) your own locale is good advice. The Alsea unit has good numbers of elk & deer. They tend to not be in the sames areas though. Where there are a lot of elk there tend to be a lot fewer deer & vice versa.