Hello hunters! My dad and I are planning on doing an over the counter archery elk hunt in Oregon this September. Specifically, we are looking at Unit 52, hunting public land. We are curious who out there has hunted this, or surrounding units? We're not looking for any specific spots, just some general info: do you see many elk/bulls, is there a lot of pressure during archery season, how are the roads and terrain, any issues with predators or public land access? We are looking to have an enjoyable hunt making memories, and bringing home a bull would be a bonus. Thanks in advance!
Oregon Archery OTC DIY
- Thread starter blacklu
- Start date
XXL
Member
Plenty of Elk, plenty of hunters, roads vary from paved highway to roadless areas, terrain is generally timbered and mountainous, wolves and cougars present. You can have a great hunt during a beautiful time of the year. Rut tends to run closer to the last of September.
ODFW Stats 2017
ODFW Stats 2017
ShootsManyBullets
Well-known member
12% success rate across the state is impressive
WapitiBob
Well-known member
Not as impressive as our 10/100 bull/cow ratios!!
ShootsManyBullets
Well-known member
The numbers say Wyoming elk hunting sounds pretty good this year
That unit does have plenty of elk, and some nice bulls are harvested there. Not sure where you're from, but investing some time will likely be required. Plenty of forest service land to hunt on, I'd for sure ID at least a half dozen places to check out. I've had a couple of fun hunts in that area. It's plenty busy with people during archery. One thing it has going is that one of the neighboring units went to either-sex archery elk, so to me it seemed that pressure in that unit increased, and across the road it was more peaceful. The general tag does allow you to hunt lots of units, so you can kind of bounce around that part of the Blues if you are so inclined. Road access is ridiculous, as in lots of it. The southern half of the unit is where you'll find the bigger pieces w/out traffic.
@XXL Thanks for the info! Our main concern is getting away from other hunters, which looked like it might be difficult with how many roads and trails are shown on Onx Maps and the hunter statistics from last year. But I'm sure we can figure something out; we will be going the last week of the general archery season, so the third week of September.
@ScottP We are from Wisconsin, but have a friend who owns a cabin in the Western side of the unit, surrounded by the National Forest Land. Got lucky there to have a nice base camp! And he has given us some local knowledge which is great. Thanks for all the info, we will take a closer look at the Southern half of the unit and get a good half dozen spots picked out cyber scouting. Can't wait for September!
@ScottP We are from Wisconsin, but have a friend who owns a cabin in the Western side of the unit, surrounded by the National Forest Land. Got lucky there to have a nice base camp! And he has given us some local knowledge which is great. Thanks for all the info, we will take a closer look at the Southern half of the unit and get a good half dozen spots picked out cyber scouting. Can't wait for September!
It's a bit tricky as the that unit is dominated by the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, one of the remaining two in the nation that hasn't completed travel management subpart B - what this means for you is that there is no Motor Vehicle Use Map (they haven't designated roads and trails), and that cross-country travel is still allowed on established two-tracks. However, there are a couple of cooperative travel management areas, which are special cases. you can find maps for those on ODFW's website. good luck with your planning.
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