Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Any Oregon elk hunters in the house?

Grew up and hunt in Jackson/Douglas cty, So. Oregon. In for a 200M2 muzzleloader tag this year. Results in about 3 weeks.......
Sako

Sounds like a fun hunt. (if you can keep your powder dry..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />)

C&B

If you've been in Georgia for a long time, you may be surprised at how S. Oregon has changed since you were a kid. The country is still pretty (what hasn't burned up) but there are way too many bipods.
222

Georgia and quite a few other places courtesy of the US Army the past two+ decades. Have only had the chance to get back home and hunt once since 9-11, about every other year before that. Some with the bow, some with the rifle and some with the muzzleloader.

You're correct, it sure has changed.

Conversation with Dad whilst glassing from a very high vantange point quite a few years ago:

"Dad, what the heck is that <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" /> down where I killed my first buck (1972)"?

"Son, are you looking at the temple or the shrine thing?"

"Huh <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />? A buddhist temple way out in the middle of nowhere and scrub oaks? Man we dusted some big blacktails down there way back when....."

Sako

Dry powder is always a good thing! Got a few tricks up my sleeve to keep it that way....
Sako

Have never hunted with a muzzle loader, but have hunted the (wet) west side of Oregon my whole life, and still don't know how anybody keeps their powder dry there. Short of a gun-shaped zip-loc bag, how do you do it? Ever had a shut-down in that regard?

(Rain is the #1 reason I migrated east)

C&B

LOL. I use zip-locs for keeping lots of things dry, just not over my gun...
My technique.....

Buy a fresh tin of caps every year.......
I pop 3 caps through my muzzleloader prior to loading it.
Tape over the muzzle after loading.
Place cap on nipple, then seal it with a bit of warm/melted candle wax all the way around the nipple edge.
Most importantly,
Always, always, always shoot/thoroughly clean at the end of each hunting day (or at a break mid-day if you're unsure.

Just my way of keeping the water out. Never had a hang/mis-fire while hunting. Have had some at the range, but it was when I was using old caps.

Got a friend back home who got lazy his first muzzleloader season back in the mid 90's. Kept the same load in his gun for 3 days. I'll bet he still has nightmares about that 6x6 Roosey standing broadside at 35 yds in the snow. Mis-fire, change cap, mis-fire, bull trots off......... He got a cow the next day, but still gets ribbed about the "mis-fire incident".
Sako

An experience like your friend had would haunt a guy all the way to the grave!

Are you pretty certain you have the points needed to draw the tag?

Cast

Haa! I know all about that Buddist Temple! There are some very nice (and safe) blacktail bucks that live right around the residence.
I've hunted the Applegate blackpowder hunt (deer) off and on for years, but never the Muzzleloader elk in the Rogue area. I do know folks that hunt it though and most of them like to hunt near the park boundary and the county line road...I think thats what they call it anyway. Mostly that country that goes from Union Creek to the NW corner of the Park boundary- right up next to the park itself. The idea is to catch the elk as they are coming out of the park and the heavy snows.
If you get the tag, send me a pm and I'll try to get a little more detailed information for you...probably not "the exact spot" but the basic elk hole. Good luck, BT53

Hey, I forgot... To water proof my muzzleloader cap, I take a snippit of black surgical tubing and put a dab of lube or vasoline on the inside edge of it, then push it over the cap to cover the edge of the cap and rest of the nipple. Works like a charm! BT53 <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Cast-don't know if I have the points or not. I drew in '03, but couldn't make it due to another, more important hunt across the big pond. Got a point from last year, though.

BT53-We've probably stomped the same grounds. Frickin' temple! Dad busted a big 4x3 there in '72 as well about a minute after I got my 4x4.

We do hunt the west side up to the park if conditions are right. Had some luck up there with the muzzleloader. Snow is always a big help, but ya can't count on it as you well know. As a friend says about elk, "They is where they is and might not be there tomorrow". Whatever the season, we'll scout as many days as possible right up to the evening before. Will definitely post my draw results.
The surgical tubing sounds like a good thing-might hafta try it out.
Sako

I taped my muzzle and had some rubber bands for the caps. I only shot the load out once a week or so and it always fired.


I hunt the Eagle Cap during the archery hunt.

I killed one of my largest blacktails up in the rocks above there. That whole Asslandistan area is being bought up by commie lib hippies from down south. I've taken some great bucks up there. This last season we had the early snow and some real monsters where taken later in the season. If you want a decent chance at a good bull in the cascades, ml or bow is the only way.

Historicaly, thats some great BT hunting country. The big surprise is the elk that call it home. I saw one herd of 31 elk down there last winter. Two were bulls, a spike and a 5x5. I've seen elk down there 3 years running now. ODFW even does a census count there. BT53

There are a few large ranches in that area that hold alot of elk. I've been in the middle of some nice elk herds up there a few times. The elk and even some wild horses travel a big area up there. I don't hunt that area much any more, the ranches I liked to hunt have closed their gates and lease to guides now.

The elk herds are starting grow pretty well up on top. I have seen more elk almost every year up high on the flats. Of course before and after the cascade rifle elk season. I gave up on the general cascade season years ago. If I want to hunt the cascades for elk I do it with a bow, but the bowhunting crowd is getting enormous. It's not what it was 15 years ago.

Agreed.. I take my pointed sticks east

"Asslandistan". Good one and totally agree. Almost ashamed to say I went to school there to include SOC (or whatever it's called these days.) It's gone downhill so much I don't even visit. Dad has a place on the river that I now call home when I'm able to.
How's the herd(s) up DI behind Griz these days?
Can't even imagine the present number of bowhunters compared to 15 or even 29 years ago when I first started bowhunting those parts and beyond. Dang, ya remember the Nov. Keno bow season for deer? Found the "big funnel" there one snowy day when I was 18. What I saw migrating out of the high country was truly amazing.
Don and Shirley still at Dewclaw?
Sako

Hey SAKO. Yes, Don and Shirley are still there and active. Pretty much the only true pro shop in town. They're looking forward to retirement. Great folks!
The herds behind Griz has expanded tremendously. Mostly on private lands and hard to access. LOP tags get the lions share I suspect. I saw elk at Keene Creek resevoir off of 66 and know they are in the Mill crk watershed and Agate Flats areas as well...but scattered. A bunch behind the Box R too.
As for Ashland, well thats a mixed bag for sure. The old time'y locals have to put up with a lot of crap from the newbies. I guess the best way to describe it is that Ashland is the "Eugene of southern Oregon" or FUBAR for short! BT53 <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I was born in Roseburg in 1960. Graduated from Grants Pass High School in 1978.

My folks moved to Wa from 1980 to 1996. I went into the Air Force in 1983. In 1998 I started hunting in Oregon again. I have been able to get in a Cascade Elk hunt most of the years since then.