Southeast Oregon muley hunt. Deer Population still struggling

[TimberJunkie]

Well....just got home from 12 days in SE Oregon hunting mule deer. What a bitchin hunt!! I walked over 100 miles in that time and saw lots of bucks...Lots of little bucks. In one day I saw 10 different forkys. Which is good and bad. Good...young crop of bucks, deer numbers are getting a boost, Bad....not packing a forky 10 miles back to the truck.

Our party went 4 for 5 and shot a few nice bucks, no trophys for sure, but hard earned and delicious deer. None were from a truck or road, and all required some intense packing, although each pack was shorter than the last. We did see some cougar sign, but never a live cat.

All in all, it looks like the SE units are making a slow recovery, and I will probably go back in 3 or 4 years to see that young crop of bucks again.

Hope everyone's deer and Elk season is going well, safe travels and good times.

 

[Tim McCoy]

Congrats! Glad to hear you saw plenty of young up and comers. I do love to hunt that corner of the state.

 

[ivorytip]

well done, great hunt

 

[Travisitguy]

agreed, great area and nice bucks your party got. was this the Steens?

 

[TimberJunkie]

agreed, great area and nice bucks your party got. was this the Steens?

Yes, it was Steens. We also talked with A lot of Beattys Butte hunters that did good. We saw one 33" buck that a lady harvested in Steens. Easily 200" . But no other big bucks. A few Beattys Butte unit guys came into Fields with some 25 to 27 inch wide bucks.

 

[Hitch]

Well done.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Congrats on a great hunt. Also seeing all those small bucks leaves you knowing they will be big bucks soon.

 

[Travisitguy]

I also saw many small Forky's in that unit 2yrs ago so its good to hear you saw more this season. I imagine the mild winters have helped as well although the drought conditions have a negative affect as well.

 

[Sully]

We also hunted a SE Oregon zone and have done so for the last three years in a row. I have been seeing a lot of deer if you are patient and willing to get away from the roads. While not many are real big it is still great see decent numbers of bucks. Hopefully it will continue to get better. Congrats on a successful hunt.