Anyone Hunt Heppner For Late Deer Or Elk ?

T

Togwotee

Long Time Member
Messages
6,484
My wife has the points to draw the late Heppner deer tag. I know this unit well but I've hardly been in it the last 20 years. I was there for the last few days of regular deer season last year and it was depressing.

I know the deer numbers are WAY WAY down from what they used to be . and I've tried getting some info from the local game dept but they really can't tell me much. I'm hoping to get an idea of what the 2nd season elk hunters have been seeing for bucks that would be a good indicator. since there have only been 10 late deer hunters hunt this I don't have much hope of ever talking to one of them.
 
I don't have recent boots on the ground help, but there is potential for some good bucks. Saw some hogs in there over the years. Saw one buck that was probably the one true 200" I've ever seen (20+ years ago of course). Good habitat as well. The idea of low deer numbers has been beat to death so you know what you're getting. My thought is, with the amount of private in there, you could have some bruisers scattered around that are coming out of hiding for the late season. That's just speculation, not actual knowledge though :)
 
Wasn't in Heppner but was in the Desolation unit next door last year for the 2nd season spike elk hunt. The weather was pretty nasty so I probably didn't see what I usually see but it was pretty slim for any deer. I did see 2 decent bucks one being a really good mature 4x4. I've hunted both Desolation or Heppner over the last 30+ years and the genetics for growing a great buck are still in there but you might have to really look to find a nice buck. If I had the points I'd be in for that tag though - good luck of you do go.
 
It's a 9 day season at Thanksgiving with 10 hunters in an area known for big bucks. so logic would tell you with a little effort you should be able to find a decent buck on a hunt like that. but this is Oregon today.

I don't know a thing about White River and until this hunt came up that's what I had been putting her in for. she should draw it next year if she doesn't put in for Heppner. I'm going to feel bad if I take her on a snipe hunt just because I remember how great Heppner was when I was a kid.

I suspect you're right, a few still exist but it's going to be tough. that's fine as long as the weather doesn't push the deer down on private or make travel impossible.
 
May as well put in for it now and hope for the best - no real sense saving all those points. Doubt things will get better anytime soon here in Oregon, sad deal for sure.
 
The follow up.

After a week of daylight until dark hunting my wife took a 150 class buck, the best one we'd seen. one other hunter we ran into hadn't seen anything better than a 3 point. a couple others were in the same boat as us. no good bucks were taken that I'm aware of . lots of does with no buck with them and a weak rut activity. very low buck to doe ratio for sure.

It was a fun hunt but not a trophy hunt which is sad I know what it used to be like and this tag would have rivaled any tag in the west.
 
Shortly someone will chime in and stupidly say "well if you know how to hunt, you can still find bucks"

Oregon Deer populations are abysmal and ODFW wont do anything about it if no one holds their feet to the fire. 15-20 years ago they started the Mule Deer Initiative to address the problem..... Heard anything about that? nope, didn't think so .

I used to hunt Heppner a lot. Took someone out last year for their first hunt assuming i could at least find them a Forked horn ..... boy that was a mistake . The overall numbers (or lack thereof)
are truly scary
 
True story.

My family used to hunt Hepner when I was a kid. I was too young to carry a gun but in the 60's any idiot could kill a 4pt any day they wanted to. we had 2 dozen bucks in camp opening weekend once.

Last month we hunted daylight until dark for a week at Thanksgiving and we didn't see half that many bucks. it was fun as well as depressing I'm not sure yet how I feel about it.

Until hunters demand better ODFW will just keep cashing our checks and flipping us off.
 
Sort of depressing waiting many years watching the decline of deer (or any species) just to finally draw and have it worse than you thought.
Thanks for the update.
 
Unfortunately there isn't a deer tag in OR worth the points this one took. one guy I talked to blew max points on it and he was pretty depressed since he had no idea what he was getting into. that's what I told him and I'm confident it's true.

In my opinion ALL mule deer hunts in OR should end until herd numbers reach realistic objective levels. but that's never going to happen .
 
Reading the OHA magazine that came the other day, they had an article about 2022 hunt changes and a quick overview. For mule deer it stated we are down to 168k mule deer with I think it said 2 or 3 units at MO, the rest of them all below are way below.

Not good.
 
I really really doubt there are close to that number of deer left in eastern OR. when I took my hunters safety 45 years ago they told us the role of hunters is to manage the game herds. so what has changed ? if numbers are below objective aren't we out of a job until they are above objective?
 
Togwotee said:
My wife has the points to draw the late Heppner deer tag. I know this unit well but I've hardly been in it the last 20 years. I was there for the last few days of regular deer season last year and it was depressing.

I know the deer numbers are WAY WAY down from what they used to be . and I've tried getting some info from the local game dept but they really can't tell me much. I'm hoping to get an idea of what the 2nd season elk hunters have been seeing for bucks that would be a good indicator. since there have only been 10 late deer hunters hunt this I don't have much hope of ever talking to one of
Click to expand...

Togwotee said:
My wife has the points to draw the late Heppner deer tag. I know this unit well but I've hardly been in it the last 20 years. I was there for the last few days of regular deer season last year and it was depressing.

I know the deer numbers are WAY WAY down from what they used to be . and I've tried getting some info from the local game dept but they really can't tell me much. I'm hoping to get an idea of what the 2nd season elk hunters have been seeing for bucks that would be a good indicator. since there have only been 10 late deer hunters hunt this I don't have much hope of ever talking to one of them.
Click to expand...
I drew the late season tag last fall. Here is the result....

muley 1.jpg
 
Thanks. Most of the bucks are on private, but if you hang near the edges sometimes you get lucky. That being said I would love for ODFW to seriously cut the number of tags during regular rifle for a few years and let the population recover.....
 
Tj66custom said:
Thanks. Most of the bucks are on private, but if you hang near the edges sometimes you get lucky. That being said I would love for ODFW to seriously cut the number of tags during regular rifle for a few years and let the population recover.....
Click to expand...
Great buck was that guided or DIY
 
Guided. I figured this was most likely a once in a lifetime draw opportunity. My father and I have hunted Heppner several times in the past. Muzzleloader, archery and regular rifle and decent bucks were hard to come by.
 
Tj66custom said:
Thanks. Most of the bucks are on private, but if you hang near the edges sometimes you get lucky. That being said I would love for ODFW to seriously cut the number of tags during regular rifle for a few years and let the population recover.....
Click to expand...
Nice buck!

We could end the hunting for mule deer in Oregon for a few years but it won't help, that's just a bandaid fix. The problem is much bigger than just hunters.
 
Tj66custom said:
Guided. I figured this was most likely a once in a lifetime draw opportunity. My father and I have hunted Heppner several times in the past. Muzzleloader, archery and regular rifle and decent bucks were hard to come by.
Click to expand...

Smart decision and great buck
 
Togwotee said:
True story.

My family used to hunt Hepner when I was a kid. I was too young to carry a gun but in the 60's any idiot could kill a 4pt any day they wanted to. we had 2 dozen bucks in camp opening weekend once.

Last month we hunted daylight until dark for a week at Thanksgiving and we didn't see half that many bucks. it was fun as well as depressing I'm not sure yet how I feel about it.

Until hunters demand better ODFW will just keep cashing our checks and flipping us off.
Click to expand...
We use to hunt Heppner back in the 80's and 90's every year and we pulled some really nice bucks out of there. The biggest bucks I've ever seen, in any state, I saw in Heppner during those years. One buck we nicknamed Porky was a 32"-34" 7x8, extremely heavy with trash, and we saw him every year during elk season for 6-7 seasons. As far as I know he was never killed but he wasn't the only buck like that we'd see every year.

I sure do miss those days and I highly doubt we will ever get back to those times.
 
Tj66custom said:
Guided. I figured this was most likely a once in a lifetime draw opportunity. My father and I have hunted Heppner several times in the past. Muzzleloader, archery and regular rifle and decent bucks were hard to come by.
Click to expand...
John Cole/Hunters Rendezvous??
 
oregonmuley said:
Reading the OHA magazine that came the other day, they had an article about 2022 hunt changes and a quick overview. For mule deer it stated we are down to 168k mule deer with I think it said 2 or 3 units at MO, the rest of them all below are way below.

Not good.
Click to expand...
And what's OHA's stance on things these days? Seems like they've always pushed for "opportunity" over quality, and that's exactly what we've got these days. The opportunity to hunt but virtually zero hope of it being a quality experience. With OHA seemingly one of biggest hunter advocate voices in Oregon, they need to get vocal and lead the charge for change.
 
osu92 said:
And what's OHA's stance on things these days? Seems like they've always pushed for "opportunity" over quality, and that's exactly what we've got these days. The opportunity to hunt but virtually zero hope of it being a quality experience. With OHA seemingly one of biggest hunter advocate voices in Oregon, they need to get vocal and lead the charge for change.
Click to expand...
I agree with you - OHA doesn't really seem to have any idea of how to improve our mule deer numbers. If they do I sure can't tell you what it is or what they have tried to change at the F & G.
 
bonepicker said:
John’s a good guy and good guide, pics speak for themselves, that buck is better than 90%+ of the bucks you’ll see in Oregon. Nice!
Click to expand...
Better than 90%??? You're saying if you see 10 Oregon bucks, 1 will be as good or better than that one??? I think you might have meant 99%.
 
Easy there OSU! :eek: I said “90%+” that leaves enough room for everybody’s perspective on bucks in Oregon. I tend to agree with you but it’s been a long time since many of us have seen 100 bucks in a year so we can’t know for sure ?
 
bonepicker said:
Easy there OSU! :eek: I said “90%+” that leaves enough room for everybody’s perspective on bucks in Oregon. I tend to agree with you but it’s been a long time since many of us have seen 100 bucks in a year so we can’t know for sure ?
Click to expand...
You'd have to travel the whole state to see 100 bucks, even this time a year! And you're right - my bad! Didn't see your '+' in there. :)
 
bonepicker said:
John’s a good guy and good guide, pics speak for themselves, that buck is better than 90%+ of the bucks you’ll see in Oregon. Nice!
Click to expand...
Thanks. I have been hunting a long time for an opportunity at a buck of that caliber. Both John and Cody are great people and know their areas well. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to hunt with them again in the future.
 
That is a nice buck, probably the best one taken in the hunt.

You're right private would be a big asset as always and I tried to buy a trespass permit. I have a few connections in the area and I talked to some of the bigger ranch owners but nobody wanted any big bucks taken off them. they said the numbers are so low and the quality was so bad they needed every mature buck on the place. I couldn't argue that and I respect the fact they cared.

John runs a good operation I'm not surprised you did well. if it had been my tag I may have done that myself .
 
Just looked at Nevada tag recommendations, they cut most units big time! They seem to manage for the animals, not the hunters. ODFW could take a lesson from them
 
Just got my buck back from the taxidermist. Thanks again to Cody Cole for the great hunt and Brody Turner for the awesome taxidermy.

DF847170-EBE2-4D8F-9D22-B85BA95ADF81.jpeg


82110BCC-38D7-45B6-BB7E-0E0905FCCEC6.jpeg
 
What are we gonna do with these guy's? These level's aren't sustainable with current practices are they? If we are ok with or leave them at this level, they will continue to drop. What is their reasoning? They are below MO on nearly every unit comprised of Mule Deer in the state... Are they just going to change the MO?
 
. ODFW manages game based on revenue not biology, 90% of the states hunters either don't know what it used to be like or they don't care. ODFW tried nothing and it didn't work so they're not going to change their strategy.

Any unit that's below objective should have all tag sales stopped. this would do two things, it would increase deer numbers and at the same time give ODFW a reason to care. no tags, no money and that's what it's all about.

I think crappy is the new normal. because we accept it as normal.
 
I'm 38, there has been an incredible decline in the deer numbers from when I was 21 or 22. I used to always buy an archery buck tag for September. I was focusing on elk, while deer were just an opportunistic option. I'd see and hunt a couple 150" class deer every year, rarely killed one. Usually shot a road buck going to or from an elk hunt. I stopped buying tags when I turned 28, there simply weren't enough deer to justify having the tag in my pocket. I rarely see a deer anymore it seems like, let a long a buck. Although two years ago It did seem like I saw more deer than years previous.
 
I sent in my suggestion several years ago: Raise the price of a hunting license by $1 and give every hunter a free cougar tag. I've heard the "I saw a cougar but I didn't have a tag" story way too many times.
 
The lion kill still wouldn't be what's needed. ODFW under the law has the ability to send in agents and kill lion for management purposes, but they don't . they say funding is the issue, that could easily be handled but they see no need to have the controversy or be bothered.

It always comes down to this, as long as OR hunters are content there's no reason for ODFW to change the product. if Ford made pickups that blew up in 100 miles nobody would buy Ford pickups, but ODFW can sell worthless tags and we fight over them. if it ain't broke don't fix it.
 
The Mule Deer Initiative did pay for some lion reduction but when it's done in a few isolated units all you accomplish is creating a vacuum that brings in cats from surrounding areas. To have any real effect it would need to be statewide and that would cost a bunch. I believe there were 20 cougars a year taken off the Steens Mountains unit, (at taxpayers' expense) for a five year period. I've spent large chunks of time down there, especially in November photographing the mule deer rut. At the end of that five year period on a morning with several inches of fresh snow, I drove up the Loop Road for about ten miles, and cut three sets of cougar tracks, three different cats. I believe predation has a more detrimental effect than most people realize. We need to live trap cougars and dump them in downtown Portland so the people who voted for this insane ban on using hounds would need to deal with the outcome up close and personal. Would also cut way down on their homeless problem, just kidding, sorta. :devilish:

_AAW9903-Edit-2.jpg
 
ricochet said:
The Mule Deer Initiative did pay for some lion reduction but when it's done in a few isolated units all you accomplish is creating a vacuum that brings in cats from surrounding areas. To have any real effect it would need to be statewide and that would cost a bunch. I believe there were 20 cougars a year taken off the Steens Mountains unit, (at taxpayers' expense) for a five year period. I've spent large chunks of time down there, especially in November photographing the mule deer rut. At the end of that five year period on a morning with several inches of fresh snow, I drove up the Loop Road for about ten miles, and cut three sets of cougar tracks, three different cats. I believe predation has a more detrimental effect than most people realize. We need to live trap cougars and dump them in downtown Portland so the people who voted for this insane ban on using hounds would need to deal with the outcome up close and personal. Would also cut way down on their homeless problem, just kidding, sorta. :devilish:

View attachment 79573
Click to expand...
100% agree, I also feel like stopping hunting would have almost zero effect, we only take bucks out of the herds and there are still plenty to breed the small amount of does we have. The issue is most of those fawns aren’t making it more than a few months before a predator kills them.

I’d love to see a several hundred cats roaming Portland, I do think people would have a different opinion when they see first hand the damage they are doing. Our neighbor just shot a cat out of her tree in her front lawn in city limits, it landed next to her preschool and kindergarteners trampoline, I’m just glad they got it before it picked off one of her children.
 
When you kill bucks they're gone, then the cats eat mostly does. and the quality is greatly reduced as well.

ODFW would get the money if they wanted it, from donations and hunting groups. or make a predator check off donation on your license purchase like other states do. they simply don't want to be bothered by it all, we expect nothing and that's what we get.
 

Similar threads

M
2024 San Juan late Elk
Replies
14
Views
1k
Springlakedude
S
A
221-223 elk
Replies
1
Views
164
eyeman
E
S
Guided Utah Late Limited Entry Bull Elk Openings For Tagholders
Replies
0
Views
317
sshuntn
S

Member Gallery Photos and Videos!

169F7D39-C279-436E-9F3C-673720A96DFC.jpeg
L1070861.jpeg
elk9.jpg
1AF58152-C2EC-4AEA-8052-BF1660004693.jpeg
Mid-Season Utah Trophy Bull
10326FE6-BC3E-4B2F-8C3A-3C15F9CC9EEA.jpeg
20220319_145138.jpg
Nice Buck
IMG_1316.jpeg
All 3 .jpg
IMG_0891.jpeg
IMG-0753 (1).jpg
Back
Top Bottom