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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

Successful Hunters 2009, Youth Hunts & Stories

2009 Oregon Alsea Elk Hunt – Jr’s Hunt

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Frankie and his 583 yard shot Coastal Bull 2009

I would like to say that I was down at Waldport for the 2nd Season Rifle Elk Season this year to watch Frankie, my son shoot his bull at long range, but I was not.

 My son Frankie, Jim N. and his hunting buddies down at the coast hunt for different reasons, one being filling the freezers, two for the pleasure of the hunt with friends.   It is not always about hunting for the big racks and at the coast, the hunting for large racks is not even close to the eastern and central part of the state.   So when these guys are out hunting, they are hunting hard for game to harvest and put in the freeze.   The coast can definitly be more difficult with the terrain and plant growth than the other parts of the state.frankie-2009-coast-03.jpg

Jim N. with his Retrival System for the Coast Elk

This has been a tradition of Frankie and Holly of hunting down at Jim & Cindy’s place down near Waldport off of the bay for about three years.   It is a great place for the two of them to go as they have a house to say in while down there during the course of the year and during the elk season.

I do believe that Frankie has grown accustom to hunting with the older locals around the area, they have taken a shine to him and know that he will get in there and work when an elk is down or he needs to do some game driving.

Linda and I gave Frankie and Holly the opening weekend to hunt together as we had Addison for the weekend and brought her down Sunday evening.

The weekend would have proven a winner for Frankie if trespassers had not driven into the private farm they were on.   Frankie was letting the cow elk pass in front of him at 40 yards expecting the rest of the herd with two (2) bulls in it to pass along also during his ambush of the elk coming out of the pasture into the timber.  This was not going to happen as the non-invited hunters drove their pickup into the long driveway and into the remaining herd.   The rest is history and they were left empty handed on what should have been a successful opening morning hunt.

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John, Frankie and Jim during retrival and getting a rest.

Talked with Frankie on Tuesday and he was pretty depressed about hunting down at the coast and I told him maybe next year we can use the preference points and draw a great eastside tag for Oregon.  Sounds Great Dad!

I get a call on Wednesday early on and Frankie tells me he has a bull down in the same place that Jim had gotten his elk in 2007.   Wow!  Do you need some help in getting him out, from my past memory of getting Jim’s elk out of the marsh?    NO Dad, we will be all done by the time you get here.

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Not a bad way to gut and skin your elk.

Later within about 1 ½ they had the bull out of the marsh area.   I did not remember that Jim had gotten a retrieval season down with a capstan style unit with 2500 feet of heavy rope.   Frankie took the line out the bull which was about 600 yards out direct line of sight.   Once he got the rope around the head, he made comment that he could not keep up with the speed of the removal.

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View from the shooting spot to the elk.

From Frankie’s account of the kill, he had been in Jim’s front area of his property watching the timber across the way and watching to see if any game was going to move out and across the marsh.   One of his buddies was on the edge of the timber area moving or pushing the ghosts of the forest.   Frankie said that a really big Blacktail buck came out within 300 yards.   Within minutes he spots a lone elk at about 500 yards, takes a close look and could see that it was a bull (spike) and knew what to do.   The bull was moving right long and he takes the shot, hitting the elk unknown to him in the lower rear leg.  Having remembered from training never stop shooting until the elk goes down he makes another shot and this one is right on target in the boiler room.  The elk goes down within 15 yards and into the deep part of the marsh.   The 1980 vintage 340 Weatherby with 225 grain Barnes X bullets did the job.  The range for the shot was range finder at 583 yards.   Great shot!

During the rest of the week, Frankie was the brush or timber as beater (driver) and the group was able to get a couple more bulls and one cow elk.   So they went 5 for 7 during the Coast Elk Hunt.

I was informed that he had GPS some hotspots and added the waypoints to my Garmin GPS.  Maybe this next year I will check it out for archery on elk and hold onto our preference points.  Hmm!frankie-2009-coast-06.JPG

1/3 of the way back to the barn

Successful Hunters Previous

Oregon Grizzly Unit Archery Brill’s Bull Elk

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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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