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Black Bear on the Pacific Coast – Oregon
Oregon’s bear population numbers between 25,000 and 35,000 animals, spread over approximately 40,000 square miles of habitat. In 1994, voters banned the use of hounds or hunting with bait. Hunter success plummeted in the years after the ban, but as bear numbers increased and more hunters adapted to spot-and-stalk and calling tactics, hunter success has…
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Feral Round-Up in Central Oregon
Thirty-two feral sheep worked away into the junipers. A black ram with a full curl of horn stepped out from behind a tree. Instead of coming up our canyon, the sheep fed through the sage and bitterbrush and over the next ridge. “That black one is a good one,” Todd whispered. “There’s a buckskin-colored one…
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Oregon Fall Turkey Hunt
Southwest Oregon has more turkeys than any other corner of the state. So many, that Oregon has instituted a fall season to keep populations in check. Lots of edge habitat with mixed oaks, madrones and bottom lands along creeks and rivers keep these turkeys (Rio Grande transplants) happy.
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Hunt Trophy-Class Columbia Blacktails
If there’s one animal on the West Coast that frustrates hunters more than any other, it is the Columbian blacktail deer. A big blacktail buck may be one of North America’s toughest antlered trophies. Here’s a late-season rut hunt in one of Oregon’s top blacktail units that offers an opportunity to look at a lot…
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Southwest Oregon’s Quail of the Mountain
Mountain quail sightings are short affairs punctuated by whirrs of wings and palpitations of the heart, but a hunter is more likely to hear mountain quail before he sees them. An alarm call cle-cle-cle is the sound a hunter is most likely to hear. After the covey is disturbed, mountain quail regroup with a series…
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Though no Substitute For Hunting Skills, the Right Gear can Help you Bag your Deer
When she sees a deer or a picture of one, our nearly two year-old daughter will exclaim, “Ah, bucka. See bucka!” We’ll tell her, “Right. Deer,” or, “Buck deer.” “Yah. Gear,” she says. I think she has a point. Every huntger needs to consider the gear they will take into the field on opening day.…
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Skyline Sheep Hunt in the Steens
“Turn around. And look at your dad.” Steve whispered. 600 yards away, 28 year-old Mason Payer sat staring into the canyon trying to find the sheep. He was focused on the wrong spot. The sheep were there. If Mason would turn, he could see them.Mason had said, ‘no radios’ and Steve Payer agreed. But until…
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In the Throne Room of the Mountain King
He climbed by the light of the moon, careful to make little noise in these last minutes before dawn. But in the darkness, he took a wrong turn and found himself against a wall. “I’d think, ‘Find a little handhold and then find a place for my foot and then find another handhold and I’ll…
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Ask not for whom the vultures wait. They wait for thee.
Spring is coming and the wildflowers will be opening soon. The sage will turn silver-green and the sky is blue. Trout are feeding on the surface again. Doves are roosting in the junipers. It’s easy to think that all of nature exists for our pleasure but the truth is that there are some critters out there that…
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High in the Eagle Caps for a Mountain Goat
Matt McDowell pulled away from the spotting scope and turned. “We need to take a closer look at this goat.” Scott Tibbs, sore from nine miles in the saddle and dizzy in the high altitude, scrambled for his pack and rifle. Tibbs followed McDowell down through the scree, a descent of 400 vertical feet into…
Field Guide
Oregon Hunting
Hunting in Oregon is a more diverse experience than anywhere else in the country. One of the great things about Oregon hunting is the incredible variety of species available for the taking; a hunter can choose to pursue mule deer, blacktail deer, Columbian whitetail, northeast whitetail, Rocky Mountain and Roosevelt elk as well as goats, sheep and predators. The abundance of diverse habitat allows for everything from sage rats to black bear hunting in Oregon!
I’ve been fishing and hunting in Oregon since I was a teenager and I’ve gotten to know the country, habitat and hotspots. The result was an Oregon hunting guide—my book, Hunting Oregon.
The first Hunting Oregon was brought to you by Sun Publishing in 1999. As every Oregon hunter knows, animal habits and habitat change. That’s why we published the second edition—Gary Lewis’s Hunting Oregon. This update, finished in 2010, is completely new, with chapters written by Scott Haugen and Duane Dungannon. In full color, this Oregon hunting guide is what every hunter needs to have before they head out into the field.
There are other ways to prepare for your time in the Oregon outdoors, and I’ve listed a few helpful resources below, to go along with Hunting Oregon.