Steens deer

6chukar

6chukar

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Anyone have a positive experience in the Steens in the last couple of years? I can’t wait to get up there and start poking around. Looks like badass country.
 
I spend a lot of time in the Steens in November photographing mule deer so I see the best there is in the area. The gene pool is capable of producing some hogs but the overall numbers suck. Even the local game wardens couldn't find a decent buck to shoot last year, I'm told. But if you wear out some tires and lots of boot leather you may find something special.
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Hoping to see some positive feedback from you guys between your scouting and hunt. I am sitting on 19 points and held out this year.....planning on burning them on this hunt at some point.
 
Awesome pics! I will have 4 days to scout and the entire season to hunt. I burned 13 points NR. Looking forward to seeing the country.
 
Send me a PM when you starting to scout. We had three tags there last year....and i would hunt it totally different than I did then. My nephew has the tag this year
 
Consider how best to avoid the gaggle of geeks before you arrive. Every millennial in Seattle is camped on or near the mountain, with adventure vans parked in every wide spot along the road. If what I observed on the Pueblos is any indication, the deer are lying very low.
 
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bullskin said:
Consider how best to avoid the gaggle of geeks before you arrive. Every millennial in Seattle is camped on or near the mountain, with adventure vans parked in every wide spot along the road. If what I observed on the Pueblos is any indication, the deer are lying very low.
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Amen to that. That country attracts crazies. Was up there in June two years ago and at the top of Steens Mountain, right before you get to the radio towers, someone had packed their camp right up to the very edge and set up a cabin tent. I believe they have clocked winds up there in excess of 100 mph, and these geniuses put their tent within 40-50 feet of a 4000+ ft. drop. o_O Darwin still has work to do.
 
I took my oldest son there in 2017 and my middle son last year and they both got bucks. It was a great time! It took some work to find bucks and more than once the wild/feral horses spooked a buck we were stalking but it made for some great stories. It is a cool unit, there are some bucks still but you'll need to do some crazy hunting to find the trophies. The pictures are of my younger son last year. We hunted seriously for 8 days (we hiked at least 10 miles per day and glassed a lot) and this is the second biggest buck we saw. A trophy for a first buck but maybe not what someone might be looking for after saving up 13 or 19 points. The reality is that there are not many hunts better in Oregon anymore though. Good luck!
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desperatehills said:
How did your hunt go?
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I thought it went well. It was stupid hot and the moon was almost full so finding deer after the first hour of daylight was tough. I passed this buck the first day I got there. I really just wanted to see what else the area had to offer. After a few days of seeing 5-10 small bucks a day I decided he was the one. We were able to locate him again and that was all she wrote. Great time and I had my son with me. He is 28” wide and has almost 20” g2s
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6chukar said:
I thought it went well. It was stupid hot and the moon was almost full so finding deer after the first hour of daylight was tough. I passed this buck the first day I got there. I really just wanted to see what else the area had to offer. After a few days of seeing 5-10 small bucks a day I decided he was the one. We were able to locate him again and that was all she wrote. Great time and I had my son with me. He is 28” wide and has almost 20” g2sView attachment 15483

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You had more patience than me I would have taken him the first time I saw him. Nice Job.
 
Dang that’s a cool buck, your crazy to pass on him haha glad you were able to relocate him and get him congratulations!


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I thought it went well. It was stupid hot and the moon was almost full so finding deer after the first hour of daylight was tough. I passed this buck the first day I got there. I really just wanted to see what else the area had to offer. After a few days of seeing 5-10 small bucks a day I decided he was the one. We were able to locate him again and that was all she wrote. Great time and I had my son with me. He is 28” wide and has almost 20” in

nice
 
You did really well. I had that tag two years ago in 2018. I didn't get much time to hunt it to due to work unfortunately. I only saw one good buck that I couldn't seal the deal on. Well done!!
 
Great buck, me, my dad and my wife drew this Tage after saving points the last 10 plus years. Any tips on places to camp that may have water/ bathrooms? Also, any general tips on where to go would be appreciated. I've grown up hunting archery/muzzleloader deer in the Applegate/cascades so this is completely new to me in the high desert.
 
There are BLM campgrounds at Jackman Park, Fish Lake, and Page Springs on the north portion of the loop road. On the south end there are the South Steens and Blitzen Crossing campgrounds, if I remember correctly, since I seldom wander down south. If you've never been there before, make sure you have a high clearance vehicle.
 
ricochet said:
There are BLM campgrounds at Jackman Park, Fish Lake, and Page Springs on the north portion of the loop road. On the south end there are the South Steens and Blitzen Crossing campgrounds, if I remember correctly, since I seldom wander down south. If you've never been there before, make sure you have a high clearance vehicle.
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Thanks for the suggestions. Definitely helpful. Hoping to go scout before the season and finalize a spot to camp.
 
Mountainninja said:
Thanks for the suggestions. Definitely helpful. Hoping to go scout before the season and finalize a spot to camp.
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Those campgrounds are pretty much full during the season so getting there early is advantageous. I drew the tag last year, (with one point!) but never found a buck I wanted to shoot. There are still some decent bucks up there but, as all of us old timers often say, it's not like it used to be.
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That's a good tip. Yeah, that's how it goes for my elk hunt spots. Not like it used to be. Fortunately my wife is going and she has never killed any big game so it should be pretty exciting for her and maybe we'll see something big hopefully. If not it's meat on the table.
 
Mountainninja said:
That's a good tip. Yeah, that's how it goes for my elk hunt spots. Not like it used to be. Fortunately my wife is going and she has never killed any big game so it should be pretty exciting for her and maybe we'll see something big hopefully. If not it's meat on the table.
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I sure hope you shoot 3 of the smallest bucks you can find, if you're just looking for meat in the freezer. Since younger bucks have the most tender meat. Good luck, You will have your pick of bucks because there so many deer in the Steens unit.
 
Stay late big bucks there for you to chase. A friend killed forty last year only to see a 30" buck watch him deal with his 2 point.
 
Giving an update. We have only seen 1 legal buck at over 1100 yds away. By time we saw it people for another canyon were throwing lead at it. My main goal is for my wife to get her first big game animal. We have hiked a ton, down nasty revines . Glassed a lot and drove all over . Hunted the loop rd and by stone house. Any tips or ideas? It has been warm and the few deer we have seen have only been in the moring and evening. Beautiful terrain but surprisingly low amount of deer. We have seen more feral horses than deer...
 
October 18th I believe. Took a couple weeks off to be here. Beautiful terrain. Just disappointed I used 15 points for this tag.. Maybe it gets better as time goes?..
 
Huh? Interesting the Steens is just a "Meat on the table" hunt like you said on an earlier post. Hard to believe with the areas you mentioned that you haven't seen 20 or more bucks a day? The habitat sure should hold them like you mentioned. I wonder if they're just not there anymore ?
 
kickerbuck said:
Huh? Interesting the Steens is just a "Meat on the table" hunt like you said on an earlier post. Hard to believe with the areas you mentioned that you haven't seen 20 or more bucks a day? The habitat sure should hold them like you mentioned. I wonder if they're just not there anymore ?
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Yeah I'm not sure. Had my dad drop me off at were the road is closed and walked 5 miles down the canyon to the bottom. And only saw 2 does. I did see 10 antelope which was pretty cool for those who antelope hunt. Couple nice antelope bucks. Seems like the deer I only see are at first light and near dark. Not alot of movement during the day.
 
You're not going to see enough rut by the 18th to help you out much.

I haven't hunted deer there for a while but up north around the private usually has more deer if you're just looking to fill your tag. some big ones have been taken there but you have to get lucky to catch them on public ground.

Good luck, you deserve a better hunt for that number of points. but this is OR so disappointing mule deer numbers come free with your license.
 
Unfortunately that's the reality in most deer units in Oregon. I spent a week elk hunting over east and saw maybe 10 deer total and the biggest buck was a forky. We were in some amazing looking deer habitat and the deer numbers were non existent. The best deer hunting I've ever seen in Oregon was in 2021 and we saw 31 bucks in 4 days of hunting. Most deer were 3pts or better. THAT is what you should expect from a draw tag that takes 6+ years to draw!

Good luck on your Steens tag! Keep after it! With this weather change you should start seeing some more deer. Don't overlook the lower elevations down in the sage and juniper hills!
 
They are there, keep at it. Hiking isn’t going to turn up much unless you’re pushing brushed up areas and rims. The buck my wife shot this year was bedded in the sage 30 yards from us and I had to literally yell and wave my arms in order to get him to stand for a shot. There was another 170 class buck bedded at about 20 yards we didn’t even see. My point is that mature deer will hold tight and let you walk right past them.

Be set up to glass before it’s light enough to see and be glassing until dark. Those are the times bucks are active right now. I would find a good vantage and sit behind glass all day watching for mid day movement.

Oregon deer numbers are better right now than they have been since 2016 and there are older deer on the landscape right now. Old deer are very seldom seen during daylight hours. Any time you spend waking should be looking for tracks, once you find them glass those areas at dusk and dawn. It doesn’t take much sage to hide a deer.
 
I spend a lot of time down there chukar hunting later in the year and there are not a lot of deer, and there are very few big ones.

Best since 2016 is funny, but I guess awful is a little better than horrible.

My first memories as a kid in the Steen's and Trouts in the late 60's and as I grew up through the 70's and 80's would sound like a lie today. and the old timers then said it was even better in the 40's and 50's. point is we could have so much more, but it'll never happen as long as we let ODFW get by with the crapshow that's called deer hunting today.

It starts with killing cats, ODFW has the authority . then we close all deer hunting until numbers meet or exceed objective. no deer, no deer hunting, so go hunt predators and speed it up. too much? sounds crazy? yep. and that's why our hunting sucks and will keep sucking.
 
NPHunter said:
They are there, keep at it. Hiking isn’t going to turn up much unless you’re pushing brushed up areas and rims. The buck my wife shot this year was bedded in the sage 30 yards from us and I had to literally yell and wave my arms in order to get him to stand for a shot. There was another 170 class buck bedded at about 20 yards we didn’t even see. My point is that mature deer will hold tight and let you walk right past them.

Be set up to glass before it’s light enough to see and be glassing until dark. Those are the times bucks are active right now. I would find a good vantage and sit behind glass all day watching for mid day movement.

Oregon deer numbers are better right now than they have been since 2016 and there are older deer on the landscape right now. Old deer are very seldom seen during daylight hours. Any time you spend waking should be looking for tracks, once you find them glass those areas at dusk and dawn. It doesn’t take much sage to hide a deer.
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Saw yer post on ifish and replied to it. Yer wife's buck was a DANDY! Reminded me alot of my WY buck I killed last year. I was guessing hers at 165-170". Nice heavy horns! Congrats to you and her on a great OR Buck!
 
I knew this was going to be a challenging hunt. But I never thought it’d be this bad! I’ve see. One tiny buck in 5 hard days of hunting, spending a ton of time behind good optics. I’ve seen maybe 60-70 does? I killed a mountain lion on opening day. Which was great. But I can’t believe I can’t find a buck? I had hoped pressure would have dropped off by now, but no one is filling tags. It’s even busier cause snow has pushed people off the top and into other areas. Gonna grind to the end and hope to find one.
 
Mossyhorn70 said:
I knew this was going to be a challenging hunt. But I never thought it’d be this bad! I’ve see. One tiny buck in 5 hard days of hunting, spending a ton of time behind good optics. I’ve seen maybe 60-70 does? I killed a mountain lion on opening day. Which was great. But I can’t believe I can’t find a buck? I had hoped pressure would have dropped off by now, but no one is filling tags. It’s even busier cause snow has pushed people off the top and into other areas. Gonna grind to the end and hope to find one.
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Congrats and good job on the kitty cat. Wish you luck the rest of the way.
 
There's hardly any Deer left in Oregon let alone the Steens! You're not seeing them because they're not there!!! Yes, some people will fill a few tags and maybe even a nice buck will get shot just because there are 400 people hunting them with rifles. But give me a break the Steens use to have 30K deer in the unit and now hardly any. 7-8 points for a hunt that sucks with no chance at a mature buck, equals Oregon is finished!!!
 
kickerbuck said:
There's hardly any Deer left in Oregon let alone the Steens! You're not seeing them because they're not there!!! Yes, some people will fill a few tags and maybe even a nice buck will get shot just because there are 400 people hunting them with rifles. But give me a break the Steens use to have 30K deer in the unit and now hardly any. 7-8 points for a hunt that sucks with no chance at a mature buck, equals Oregon is finished!!!
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There are ZERO early October rifle mule deer hunts in Oregon that are worth waiting 6-8 years to draw! You can draw 0-2 PT units and have just as good of a hunt! Flash back to 2007 when deer and elk populations were even better than they are now. I lived in Utah for 3 years (2007-2010) and it really opened my eyes to how poorly managed Oregon's big game herds are. General Season every year draw units in Utah were BETTER than 3-4 PT units in Oregon. I got lucky and drew a Limited Entry Archery deer tag my first year there. I'd see 10-30 bucks every single day scouting in the summer and killed a 165" 4X4 opening day. THIS is what it could be like in Oregon if we managed the tag numbers and predators properly.
 
Oregon and Utah have different management plans for buck to doe ratios. Utah manages for a higher buck to doe ratio even on general units Oregons management plan is opportunity based and issues more tags than there are bucks in the unit
 
"Opportunity based" as in giving away WAY too many tags versus giving a rats azz about the quality of hunting. Then it STILL takes 2-3 years of applications to even draw a remotely mediocre mule deer tag. Whatever the "Plan" is in Oregon, it is worthless.
 
But it's going to be hard for deer to congregate when they're basically on the ESA. I have a hay field that usually had 200 deer on it in November in the 70's and 80's. then it was 100, then 50. I bet next month there will be 10 or less. if it wasn't for elk CWD would die out in Oregon due to lack of hosts.
 
My son got a Steens Mountain mule deer tag. We've never been there. I've been doing some e-scouting, and it looks like big country—in many ways, it's intimidating and hard to know where to even start. Does anyone have any recommendations?
 
After the first few days of the season the bucks will head for the high country or at least away from the roads. We had snow before season the year we hunted it and every set of tracks we saw were headed up into the aspens. I'll send you a private message so that I am not posting anyone's honey hole for everyone to see.
 
HoofsUp said:
After the first few days of the season the bucks will head for the high country or at least away from the roads. We had snow before season the year we hunted it and every set of tracks we saw were headed up into the aspens. I'll send you a private message so that I am not posting anyone's honey hole for everyone to see.
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My husband has a tag for the Steens this year and we haven’t seen anything but Antelope. All the tracks we’ve seen are old as well.
 
Yep. See every post the last few years about the Steens.

On a positive note, it’s a great place to camp! Fish Lake can have some good fall fishing.
 
There are always a few great bucks in the Steens. kind of like saying someone will win the megabucks lottery. but stay after it and make the best of it, there's always hope.
 

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