Plans To Elk Hunt Oregon In 2022?
Elk
Contributors to this thread:
The new hunting regulations are out for 2022. Lots of Eastern Oregon is going to be a controlled hunt drawing moving foreword. Lots of the units you have to apply for that specific unit, and that is the only unit you can hunt. They also created a “zone” of 5 units that allow you to hunt in any of the 5 if you draw that tag.
Luckily I’m a resident, and got the tag I was chasing with points in 2016. I’ll just put in for the unit that I normally hunt on the general season archery tag a s a first choice and am guessing it will be no problem to draw each year that way.
The number of non resident hunters will be reduced greatly under this new draw system. Here in Oregon the non residents are allowed 5 percent of the total tags in controlled hunts.
The total tag numbers were set at about the number of hunters that reported hunting the unit in about half. The other half will see substantial reductions in the number of hunters next year.
For me personally I think this will be a positive change long term. The area I hunt has seen a pretty big reduction in bull numbers, so the tag reductions during rifle and archery season should help with that.
Are there any Roosevelt units in the draw that are really good?
Pretty much all the western units are over the counter, with the exception of the tioga unit I believe. These new draw units are all in NE Oregon
It's a good change but from my perspective but didn't go far enough.
The new hunting regulations are out for 2022. Lots of Eastern Oregon is going to be a controlled hunt drawing moving foreword. Lots of the units you have to apply for that specific unit, and that is the only unit you can hunt. They also created a “zone” of 5 units that allow you to hunt in any of the 5 if you draw that tag.
Luckily I’m a resident, and got the tag I was chasing with points in 2016. I’ll just put in for the unit that I normally hunt on the general season archery tag a s a first choice and am guessing it will be no problem to draw each year that way.
The number of non resident hunters will be reduced greatly under this new draw system. Here in Oregon the non residents are allowed 5 percent of the total tags in controlled hunts.
The total tag numbers were set at about the number of hunters that reported hunting the unit in about half. The other half will see substantial reductions in the number of hunters next year.
For me personally I think this will be a positive change long term. The area I hunt has seen a pretty big reduction in bull numbers, so the tag reductions during rifle and archery season should help with that.
They needed to do this 25 years ago. And I agree with Bob, they didn't go far enough. It's just going to squeeze more hunters into already jampacked units. OTC elk hunting tags are just a very poor way to manage the specie.
"Hunting" bulls in units where the bull:cow ratio is 10:100 is not actually elk hunting. It's a perverted form of it because it's not a natural herd. It's not normal for 2 year olds to do all the breeding.
There are too many hunters for the amount of animals there are, which makes LE tags the only viable option. OTC is not management, it's a free-for-all and a slaughter - especially for rifle hunting.
I hunted the Tioga Unit for several years. It was a draw unit, however alot of tags were given out so it was easy to draw even for a NR. I'm guessing Oregon is like a lot of other western states.....they like NR money as it pays the bills. I can't see them wanting to reduce NR's too much without a loss of revenue concern. Not saying it's right or wrong....just how I see the business.
Non residents have historically been about 7% of the tags. The fiscal impact shows about 800 fewer nr under the new regs and a revenue loss of $500K.
Idyll, I agree and have spoken out on the otc issue. Its not real popular position among bow hunters here. They want opportunity then complain about herd numbers.
People who want to rifle hunt will have to hope to get a backup archery tag as a second choice. They will have to decide by May 15 what they want to do. I think dedicated bow hunters will find the change to be a positive one in the long run. I have 13 elk points now and will have to decide on a hunt that I can get with that many points or risk being a west side hunter. BTW: Tioga is an open unit for 3-point+ bulls only. Powers is a draw except for spikes.
As I recall......it took a few points to draw the Powers Unit. That was a supposed to managed a trophy unit. Tioga gets hit hard by the city folks on the rifle hunts.
Hey Bowhunt, where did you see that there is a "5 zone" group of units you can hunt? I've been going through the booklet and haven't seen that anywhere. That's what they do in Idaho but can't seem to find that for Oregon. please advise
bowhunt's Link
Plenty of archery OTC hunts in eastern OR to hunt if you don't draw.
Link to the 2022 elk hunting regulations.
The 5 zone group is 253R1 and 253R2 the Eagle Cap Zone Bow. They include all of units 53, 60-63.