oregon 2025 tag success

hopefully this will be the year i pull n e whitehorse muzzy late deer w 14 pts//also got a chance for muzzy antelope,fingers crossed for anything else.deer next year will be very diferent with the deer changes coming next year.
 
All my seed numbers are garbage except for deer, but that one is and long shot and still very unlikely. Would be cool though…

Good luck everybody.
 
Using points for Elk and Pronghorn next year, a few years out on Deer. 2nd choice Elk was a flop this year.
 
NE OR spike bull second season, no buck tag, although the number of tags issued are about 50% of what they were 10-15 years ago.

Good news is I recently bought a couple "vintage" O/U shotguns for upland birds, so they won't be neglected this October.

2024 spike bull harvest statistics for my unit (which used to be the premier NE unit) were 5% first season, and 13% second season (297 hunters).

Two adjacent units for first and second spike bull had 11 and 34%, and 15 and 32% success rates. Both have more "valley areas" than the one I hunt.

OHA's 2025 big game outlook says in part: >>>>Elk numbers continue to be strong in northeast Oregon, according to Lopez. “Harvest has been steady for the past 10 years,” she explained. “They are spending more time in valley areas than in timber lately, which could be because of habitat or predation.” .... The effect of expanding wolf packs on Oregon elk herds is largely unknown at this point, but with wolf numbers reaching a new high every year, that impact is likely increasing. OHA is asking ODFW to prioritize improving our understanding of wolf impacts on ungulates in Oregon.<<<<

Unsure if it can be claimed there are "strong" elk numbers because there have been "steady" harvest numbers, if over the past 10 years some units have seen a material decrease in issued tags or at least the number of hunters who actually hunted. For example, in my unit in 2015 there were 390 spike bull hunters, and harvest rates were 9 and 10 percent first and second seasons. That's versus 2024's 5 and 13% success rates for 297 hunters.


Regardless, good luck to everyone who drew this year.
 
We got the four archery elk tags we wanted so we can hunt together on the east side. Youngest got one of the best youth deer tags. Son-in-law drew a Willamette deer tag (and has a place to hunt it). We also got three different late season muzzleloader tags with concurrent dates, so we'll have to figure out what to do with those. Dad and uncle drew NE rifle elk tags, also. Looks like we'll have plenty of opportunity.

QQ
 
2-2nd choices for me. but at least I'll be hunting. I'll make the most of it and hope to kill a couple more bears also!
Congrats to all that drew!
 
Back
Top