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Archery Talk - Posts, Hunting Equipment, Hunting Ideas, Uncategorized

Bwana Bubba’s Thoughts – Hunting Federal Refuges

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William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge

Oregon

Great hunting opportunities are available at many of the State and Federal Refuges.   In Oregon we are very fortunate to have many of both.   The O.D.F.W. has setup the opportunity of applying for a tag for a specific hunt and refuge, such as Hart Mountain.   As I am directing this article of a specific Federal Refuge, the application process has to be done via the website of the refuge.   There are two (2) different O.D.F.W. tags that can be used for the hunting of elk at the refuge and the over-the-counter general elk tag for the area.

      Though you can not shoot bulls, there are a great deal of them to look at and call for fun…

The Federal Refuge that is mentioned is the WILLIAM L. FINLEY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, located south of Corvallis, Oregon off of Highway 99.   The refuge is approximately 5400 acres, with many ponds, creeks and trails.  It is well known for the birds and waterfowl that live there and migrate through.  The Roosevelt Elk that dwell there -in good herd numbers- is unique, in that the majority of the land near the refuge is flat farm land to the east, south, and north, plus being close to a large city.

The hunting of Roosevelt Elk at William Finley is for cows only, mostly an archery hunt, though, in Zone 1 a shotgun can be used during certain time periods.   So there are two (2) zones for hunting the refuge with Zone 2 being the largest.   Zone 2 is intertwined with Scrub Oak trees, Douglas Fir, Cottonwoods, Beaked Hazelnut, Big Leaf Maples and grasslands.   Very diversified land profile for sure.

I believe it could be a great hunt for anyone that wants to work hard and do some pre-scouting, although the elk will travel many miles and even venture off the refuge into Weyerhaeuser properties that are to the west of Zone 1.  I have found the elk to be quite habit forming in movement.   Elk can work extremely large areas in their feeding routine.

In the past month, since we are now into April,  (Closed to foot traffic November 1st-March 31st) we allowed to go past the gates in most of the refuge, I have found the well-worn trails made by vast herds.  In my opinion, I would hunt Zone 2 since the area is so much larger with a greater opportunity to find Elk.

          There are a number of herds working the Refuge. This being the largest with 100+ 

In a recent scouting trip, we spotted a very large herd of elk with at least 100 head.   It took me about an hour to close the distance of a mile out, give or take a few yards, getting to within 100 yards.  It took so long to get to them because I was wading in water from 2” to 20” over uneven terrain. When the herd finally decided to move out, there was a single file of elk that was about a ¼ miles long. It was simply an amazing sight and the camera did not do justice to what the eye saw.   There were still a couple of spikes with their antlers, and a few new-growth antlered bulls.   It was fun to use my onX HUNT mobile APP and Garmin GPS and mark waypoints of trails and sightings.

I have attached a link to WILLIAM L. FINLEY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE  (Note: 2018 hunting applications will be available in May 2018. If you are interested in hunting for elk, there is still time to get an application in for the 2018 Hunting Season.   Make sure you have plenty of time to scout, have a good set of boots, and, just in case, a roll-up pair of stocking chest waders for crossing creeks.

                                          Bedded down earlier in the Oaks… Roosevelt Elk

A small tidbit, Blacktail Deer hunting is also available at the refuge, either sex in this case.  One could maybe have a two (2) species hunt…

Bwana Bubba

Archery Talk - Posts, Hunting Equipment, Successful Hunters 2017, Uncategorized

Last Chance Bull

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Nolan had contacted Bwana Bubba in the spring time of 2017, asking if I knew a place in central Oregon, that he might have chance to harvest a elk during the archery season.   I had an old haunt that, my partners and I had hunted with great success.  I was willing to share, but I wanted him to use  technology, in order to give him a better idea and also stay legal on the hunt…

Last Chance Bull

Oregon Archery Hunt

The day before the end of the 2017 season, I’d driven out to a new place I’d never seen before as a last ditch effort to try and kill an elk.   I’d scouted, prepared, & hunted so hard all season long to make it happen on a D.I.Y. over the counter elk tag, public land, archery elk.  After my blunder on opening day when I missed a cow at 44 yards, I figured my 2017 season was over.  I blew my shot opportunity for the year and it was going to be a long 12 months until I’d get another one. 

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Dave’s Grizzly Unit Bull shot at 15 yards!

 “Frank you can’t shoot at the bull, you already have one out there somewhere.” Those were the words from an old hunting buddy Dave Brill, as we were calling in a dandy 5X5 bull on the Big Muddy.  We had hiked in about 2 miles from our base camp that Dave, Ben and myself had set-up in the middle of Smith’s Ranch.  We had plan to work a canyon that held a lot of elk just about anytime you ventured into it.  Ben had split off from Dave and me as traveled across the flat just before the canyon.  As we got close we could her a couple of bulls bugling down in the canyon.  It wasn’t long before we could see a large herd of elk and about 5 bulls wandering around with one doing all of the major calling.  I could also see the spike that I had taken a shot at the day before that the arrow had deflected off a tree and bounce across the bull’s back. 

You wonder why I would shoot at a spike; well that is a great question.  The spike had sabers that were are at least 40 inches long.  He would have look pretty good on the wall.  I had only seen one other bull that had horns like that and that bull had been taken by the old owner of All Sports in Portland, OR.  Anyway Dave and I decided to charge right in on the herd and split the bull from the cows.   It wasn’t more than about 10 minutes and we were sitting in the bottom of a dry creek bed with the cows to our back side and the bull in front of us in the Junipers.

I have always liked to be a smaller bull; Dave on the other hand along with Ben would always pretend that they were big bulls when calling.  I have had a great amount of success using Glen Berry calls, both diaphragms and bugles.  I have been using Glen’s call for more than 25 years. If you ever get the chance to talk to Glen or his son Chad at one of the Sportsman’s Shows, you’ll understand why I feel he has a great product for the average and experience hunter.  I have made many a deal with him via a handshake.  Go to Glen’s website and check-out his products! 
http://www.berrygamecalls.com/

Ok! Getting back to part of the story that I will give you today.  I start to do my typical cow and small bull calling.  It wasn’t long before the bull went into a rage, ripping up sage brush and grunting a lot.  The bull came right in on us, you could see his red eyes bulging and saliva dripping from his mouth.  He was not more than 20 yards from us.  I still went to draw as he was coming in, but my awkward sitting arrangement my arrow slipped from the rest.   Dave was at full draw and I wondered if he was ever going to take the shot, the bull was still coming in on us.  The bull would be on top of us soon.  Dave let the arrow fly at about 15 yards, almost missing the bull at that range he hit the bull high in the spine.  The bull is enraged but decides to turn and trot off down the canyon.  Not wanting to pack out the bull that is hurt and not able to run full tilt, I run across to the top of the creek ledge I made the decision to head the bull off and turn him back up the creek, so Dave can get another shot off and put the bull down.  I am able to catch the bull in about 300 yards and make him turn back up the creek.  The bull goes by Dave and he lets an arrow fly and again the bull is hit high in the spine.  The bull comes to the edge of a ledge above the creek and jumps, landing on top of an old corral, breaking through to the ground.  The bull was dead when he hit the ground.

Ben during this time period had been on the ridge above us watching everything unfold.  I believe his words went like the following:  “I thought maybe the Circus was in town with you two guys!” “I wish I had a video camera so I could sell it and make a million.”Charging in on the herd worked on this stalk, but it doesn’t always work which I found out later on the hunt.  The bull I thought I could charge in on, decided to work his way to the spot that I had originally called from… 

Sometimes one has to have patience when it comes elk hunting!  There is more to this story, but that will be a later time.

http://www.berrygamecalls.com/home.html

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