oregons new eastern oregon unit change for 2026

[dan.kirkpatrick]

got the new synopsis for 2026,,prettymuch all of eastern oregon deer units and boundary's are new this year,,along with tag numbers,,some look like tag reductions.wondering what folks think of this change and what will be the hotter deer units with the changes,,anybody to put out a estimation of points needed on certain hunts?pretty much a guessing game this year.

 

[dan.kirkpatrick]

im sure there are some other oregon guys on here that hunt the east side//so far over the years i havnt seen odfw do much to help the struggling herds,,more water guzzlers would be a good start down on several of the s e units,,even though the names have changed im guessing the previous "better" units will still be popular.if we could knock down the predators that would help also

 

[Salmonchaser]

Watching this myself. I’ve looked into the science behind the changes and honestly believe it is something that should have been done long ago. My understanding is we’ll apply based on the subunits in the greater region. But I’ve had a couple variations on how points will be managed. There will be bitching. It is a start when science prevails over emotional arguments. Controlling predators is not ODFWs fault, they are constrained in that regard by Willamette valley voters who outlawed hounds and bait. They, ODFw do as much as they can with Studies in problem areas, keeping the hounds of a few guys well trained and they have loosened the restrictions on obtaining lion and bear tags. Lion tag is the only tag you can buy during the season. It is by far the cheapest tag a non resident can buy. Both bear and lion are $16.50. Bear tags can be bought after the start of deer season but you have to pay a small processing” fee, contact your local ODFW office, I’ve done so the last two years after deciding during scouting I wanted to hunt bear again. IF you ask me, when it comes to predators, ODFW is making it easy on guys to shoot lions and bears, they just want you to have a tag on it by the time you get to town.

 

[gouch]

At least they are trying to do something to better manage the deer herds. We will see if it makes any difference but, at least on paper, it makes a lot of sense.

 

[Salmonchaser]

I have been able to sit down regularly with a couple of recently retired biologists. I was suprised to learn how many challenges there are. Poaching in E/O is significant equals vehicle strikes. Predation is a problem. Please shoot cougars. Thrill kills are significant, deer shot a long way from the road and not taken kind of thing. A big problem is adult doe survival, well below sustainability levels in a number of areas.
I have a nine mile loop I frequently walk, coiuple times a week with my dogs. Public accessible ground, a mix of usfs and private timber company. ODFW has nine cougars located on the same loop that are part of a study group from what I’ve been told. I’ve also seen a couple wolves, see occasional tracks if there is snow and more than a few bears. Not a lot of deer for some reason

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

I have been able to sit down regularly with a couple of recently retired biologists. I was suprised to learn how many challenges there are. Poaching in E/O is significant equals vehicle strikes. Predation is a problem. Please shoot cougars. Thrill kills are significant, deer shot a long way from the road and not taken kind of thing. A big problem is adult doe survival, well below sustainability levels in a number of areas.
I have a nine mile loop I frequently walk, coiuple times a week with my dogs. Public accessible ground, a mix of usfs and private timber company. ODFW has nine cougars located on the same loop that are part of a study group from what I’ve been told. I’ve also seen a couple wolves, see occasional tracks if there is snow and more than a few bears. Not a lot of deer for some reason

when do the predators run out of things to eat?

 

[Salmonchaser]

Well they haven’t tried to eat me or my dogs-yet. I try to do my part with a cougar and bears tag every year, I”m just not very good at cougar hunting.

 

[gouch]

I have been able to sit down regularly with a couple of recently retired biologists. I was suprised to learn how many challenges there are. Poaching in E/O is significant equals vehicle strikes. Predation is a problem. Please shoot cougars. Thrill kills are significant, deer shot a long way from the road and not taken kind of thing. A big problem is adult doe survival, well below sustainability levels in a number of areas.
I have a nine mile loop I frequently walk, coiuple times a week with my dogs. Public accessible ground, a mix of usfs and private timber company. ODFW has nine cougars located on the same loop that are part of a study group from what I’ve been told. I’ve also seen a couple wolves, see occasional tracks if there is snow and more than a few bears. Not a lot of deer for some reason

When I was working for the Forest service we did a job near the South Umpqua river. Every day we would see and hear people running hounds. One day we got to talk to them. They were with the ODFW tagging cougars in the Jackson Creek drainage. Five years later we were back in that area, and we ran into the guy with his hounds and got to talking. He said they were originally out there for three months and tagged 50 cougar and were now back to check on them and tag any new ones.

He said they had been out there every day for a month and had not come across even one cat. It seems a virous had come through and wiped out the cougars. Funny thing was that when there were at least 50 cougars in the area we were seeing deer everywhere. But five years later when there were no cougars in the area, we would only occasionally see deer.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

A change I'd like to see is to put a cap on how many auction, governor, disable vet, etc. tags can be used in any one unit. When you add the seemingly unlimited tribal tags to those and they concentrate on one unit during the rut it throws any kind of management out the window.

 

[dan.kirkpatrick]

last i checked a cougar tag was $42,seems a bit much considering you cant use dogs,,would be nice if they were $16.50 like the bear tag,,not sure what the new price is for 2026.

 

[Laszlo Cravensworth]

last i checked a cougar tag was $42,seems a bit much considering you cant use dogs,,would be nice if they were $16.50 like the bear tag,,not sure what the new price is for 2026.

Pretty sure cougar tags have been $16.50 since I started hunting here.

Page 8 of the 2026 regs.

 

[El Jason]

not sure what the new price is for 2026.

Same as last year. $16.50

 

[Blue Steel]

Predation is a problem. Please shoot cougars. Thrill kills are significant, deer shot a long way from the road and not taken kind of thing. A big problem is adult doe survival, well below sustainability levels in a number of areas.

And if wolves take a cougar’s elk or deer kill, the cougar has to go and kill another, sooner. In that circumstance you wonder how many cougars average more than one big game animal per week. Poaching deer and elk also a likely problem. Too many things competing for fewer and fewer animals.

 

[Blue Steel]

got the new synopsis for 2026,,prettymuch all of eastern oregon deer units and boundary's are new this year,,along with tag numbers,,some look like tag reductions.wondering what folks think of this change and what will be the hotter deer units with the changes,,anybody to put out a estimation of points needed on certain hunts?pretty much a guessing game this year.

Interesting for many NE Oregon regions you now have choose between drawing for a muley or whitetail tag, so who knows what odds will be for one of those tags.

 

[FairWeather]

Haven't hunted the east side yet. I’ve just been buying points thus far, but think 2026 may be the year I actually apply. A friend of mine’s daughter’s boyfriend just drew an antelope tag this year with 0 points, so it can happen.

I like the intention behind moving away from managing the hunts by geography, and instead do so by herd. Seems a good step to ensuring we aren’t what wipes them all out.

 

[Letthemgrow]

Seems a good step to ensuring we aren’t what wipes them all out.

By not managing the predators we are allowing them to be wiped out.

And, how about we add a 1 year minimum jail sentence for poachers? Automatic, no plea bargain bullshit. Taking their hunting license away isn't going to stop them, they are already breaking the law.

If somebody's buddy/relative is sitting in jail maybe they would think a little harder before they went out and did it.

 

[El Jason]

And, how about we add a 1 year minimum jail sentence for poachers?

Minimum sentences always seem like a good idea on the surface, until they are applied and reality sets in. Then you end up with some drama story about someone being unfairly punished by big government.

 

[Blue Steel]

This guy out of Pendleton got busted, news article from 2023. $75K in fines (due to number of animals taken), potential felony prosecution, and then for the next three elk seasons (maybe to 2026) had/has to spend time in jail. Unsure how meaningful that last one is, since he presumably also had his hunting license revoked.

Elk season is now jailing season for poacher; New sentencing guidelines elevate some poaching crimes from misdemeanor to felony.

Wonder if he'll ever pay the $75K, or maybe he'll have his wages garnished for a while.

Another online resource shows from 2019 to 2020, a jump in discovered poaching incidents:

Elk 103 to 161

Deer 185 to 220

One problem is at least the units I hunt, it's been a lot of years since I've seen an LEO, whether State Trooper or County Sheriff deputy. That wasn't always the case, when back in late 1990s/early to mid 2000s you'd at least once see a State Trooper driving the USFS roads.

 

[FairWeather]

poaching seems like a problem that could be addressed more effectively with drone surveillance. Get a drone operator to buzz the night skies near suspected poaching activity, especially if it’s a drone with thermal imaging, and they’d locate them pretty handily. Then it’s just a matter of sending out the LEO to check it out.

I think it’d be a good internship opportunity to partner with any of the community colleges with drone operator programs.

 

[FairWeather]

By not managing the predators we are allowing them to be wiped out.

And, how about we add a 1 year minimum jail sentence for poachers? Automatic, no plea bargain bullshit. Taking their hunting license away isn't going to stop them, they are already breaking the law.

If somebody's buddy/relative is sitting in jail maybe they would think a little harder before they went out and did it.

Re: the prison sentence, I would want that would depend on the severity of the offense. Poaching is a broad term, and not all offenses are the same.

Using the incorrect tackle in certain waters is still considered poaching, even if they haven’t caught anything. Seems extreme to go to prison for a year over that.

But for big game, especially offenses committed with a firearm, I would fully support making the first offense a felony thereby stripping away their gun rights. That way if they want to reoffend they’ll have to set themselves up for a much harsher punishment on the second offense.