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…
Thoughts go back to my early days of hunting elk with a rifle and bow. I would rifle hunt in the eastern part of Oregon for Rocky Mountain bulls, while bow hunting was in the western part of Oregon for Roosevelt bulls. So those early hunts to the east were about going into the timber and waiting for elk to come by within shooting range. One thing I never did was to build a fire to keep warm, but my uncles all did it. I remember on one hunt Uncle Floyd was deep into the pines up near Texas Butte. You could hear him cough, as he was a smoker, plus he had his fire going. That was something that his sons and I would never do. Low and behold a nice respectable 5X5 came by his fire and he put him down… So in the western part of the state, we would go into our favorite spot and walk pockets listening for elk movement and try to get in close enough to get shot. They never seem to do the calling like Rocky Mtn. elk would do. This process of hunting worked for us in those days.
This happens to be from the 2015 first season Rocky Mtn. Elk season in Oregon. It is an old haunt that I have introduced my son too. So my son and his cousin, knowing the area had never used a GPS went hunting with the new Garmin 64’s and onXmaps Hunt Plat map installed (I demanded they have them to stay legal). As you can see he stayed legal. There is some access for the public near the river, that is grandfathered in for about 50 years or more. In this country it is about seeing the elk, deer and pronghorn and chasing after them. Open country with Junipers, sagebrush, rimrock, cheat grass and seeded grazing grasses (after range fires).
Getting to the basis of this article about chasing elk down as I would put it came about some years later when we were bowhunting the rimrock, juniper and sagebrush of central Oregon for big mule deer bucks on the B.L.M., National Forest that was bordered and encompassed with private land. One particular deer scouting trip prior to the opening archery season, glassing at a mile into a basin we could see from our observation point while looking for the famous bucks of the Big Muddy, we spotted elk, not just one elk, but about 12 bulls, all being branch bulls.
This bull was spotted with another bull at about 2000 yards. I shot this bull at 50 yards. Both bulls were taken, one by myself and my partner, after we split up in the draw. We watched the bull at about 200 yards split up.
This launched our elk hunting in this country for more than 20 years and still to this day when I have time. Spotting elk from distance does give you an advantage; this has led to least at 85% average of getting elk this way for me, partners and others within the hunting circles. I will say that in the early days, GPS and mapping (software) was nil. Most of the guys I hunted with were all past military and few of us still in the military, so venturing into the so call unknown and reading the land was pretty easy going.
I have found glassing ridges, hillsides, shaded areas and even into basins on an afternoon after the average hunter has headed back to camp and settle down for the late afternoon and evening happens to be my favorite time to glass for elk. The country is vast with B.L.M. and National Forest for miles in all directions. You have been glassing for about 30 minutes and you spot a group of elk which you feel is about 2 miles away. You can see with your binoculars there are some pretty good bulls in the herd. They are just grazing, with a few bedded down. It is said by most that we have probably harvest more elk in the afternoon after 1PM, than ever in the morning hours.
This bull was taken by my son. We all spotted the elk at a mile away. I decided with my son, Brian Henninger’s brother John and a buddy of my son to go after him. I got my son within 50 feet of the bedded bull. In the picture if Brian Henninger PGA. On this hunt all the hunters got a bull within 2 hours of each other.
It is now to setup a plan to get onto these elk, as it is about 1400 or 2PM in the afternoon with visibility of at least a mile.
Getting this plan underway in the 21st century is so much easier with Garmin GPS’s and onXmaps HUNT mapping software and being able to dial in the lay of the land with precision accuracy, sort of like getting 10X’s on a target during a shooting tournament…
First off, I would have my Garmin GPS, with the Montana being my favorite which is loaded with my onXmaps HUNT PLAT map. Seeing that there is a peak off in the distance between the elk and myself, I can judge the precise distance to the elk with the mapping and GPS. The maps are up to date and show the private, federal lands, state lands and other.
This bull was spotted at about 1/2 mile away. On this bull, I thought it was another bull seen earlier. Only had a side profile when I launched a 210 gr. Nosler Partition at 600 yards.
The second thing I am going to do is install a number of waypoints, such as the peak and the proximity of elk as I see it on the map.
Now I take a look at the topo aspect of the terrain with my GPS and my eyes, working on a quick plan to cover the distance to within a ¼ mile of the elk. The elk appear to be very comfortable were they are and I feel they will settle down in the area for part of the evening.
Personally I have always felt to cover the ground quickly, whether I am running, sliding down a hill, but always slowly down coming up on a rise. Many times I personally feel that mistakes are made by taking too much time getting in the zone of the elk.
This bull was called in to within 20 yards after being spotted about 1000 yards away. We covered ground to within 100 yards of the herd. A bit of small bull and cow call called him in. Plus we had cut off some of his cows.
During my pursuit I am mentally thinking how I am going ambush the elk. I also assume that the elk will be close to where I had made sight of them. If rifle hunting, the thought of the ambush will be different than if I am bowhunting the elk as to how close I close the distance. I am a loner, but if I have a partner, he is going to be in my shadows normally, but under the same game plan. I am in combat mode when working this scenario during the hunt.
Along the way I have checked my GPS and even put more waypoints, which gives me a mental picture, plus I have setup estimated time to get to my final observation point, whether a vantage point above or even level eyesight.
This bull was spotted from a mountain top a very long ways away. Michael Jame of Bend, OR took him out at 100 yards. Michael has always been a believer of getting in fast.
Now if I am rifle hunting, I will be on the ready and try to have a vantage point within my comfortable shooting distance. A great deal of time that doesn’t always happen, but I have set this stalk up the way it works for me. I know my weapon or rifle of choice that I use on elk and I also know the capabilities of its shooting distance and putting the elk down.
This bull was shot from long range, but spotted earlier in the evening along with another bull of the same size. Three bulls were taken within 10 minutes of each other. After my son’s bull was down and heading back, heard a shot in another basin. That shot was from Brian Henninger. Two bulls came out of the basin, one dropped from Brian’s close range shot. The other bull stopped, by that time I was on the hard deck in the prone position with By-Pod flipped down. Raised 4 feet over the back, pulled the trigger on the 340 Weatherby with 225 gr. Barnes X and the bull dropped in his tracks. “Never seen anyone shoot that far” (John Henninger). My comment was the Barnes X must have given it a heart attack. No time to chase this bull down, take the shot or let it go.
When it comes to archery, I am more of a stalker of elk too within shooting range, a great deal depends with the elk, being in the rut or not, but I always have cow call and a bugle if I am going to work the herd and bring a try bull in.
With the technology of GPS (Garmin) and onXmaps HUNT mapping software, the hunter can pinpoint the game. As said before, my thoughts have always been to move fast and not worry about being careful about foot noise, until I am within a ¼ mile. In reality this is one of the funniest ways to hunt down an elk in my opinion! My partners and I have taken many bulls over the years by hunting this way.
In order to get become successful in hunting for big game you have to put your time in, learn about the conditions of what you are hunting. Finally you will become one of the 10% that harvest 90% of the game! In the future Octavian will be one of them!
Frank,
I first want to apologize for not writing you back for so long. I had a very stressful and busy year since the last hunting season. However, the 2013, bow hunting season reminded me of the great time you made possible for me to have in 2012. I truly enjoyed the experience and action I had hunting in the locations you gave me last year and cherish the memories. Thank you so much.
As I told you before, I have been working on passing the Bar exam and making a living. There was no way I could have been able to scout the land in order to have a good hunt.
I ended up hunting only 2 of the 3 locations you gave me in 2012 (Keating and Pilot Rock) because I had some car problems. Both of the locations were amazing. In 2013, I was able to make it out to the Pilot Rock and Starkey locations for a few days only. I was not successful during any hunts but I did have a lot of action. Below is a summary of the hunts.
2012 Hunt: Keating Deer-Elk
This place was amazing. There were times when I felt like I was at the zoo. This place was packed with animals. We even came across some wolf tracks the size of my palm. But the wolves did not scare the deer or elk away form the area. For that matter they did not scare anyone away-this place was packed with people. This made it hard to find a place to sleep and hunt.
This was the first hunting location I went to and I was not sure how to use the GPS. So it was touch and go. Furthermore, I only hunted this area one day because the transmission on my car went out the next day. Regardless, it was a lot of action for one day.
I tried to make my way to Two Color Lake. I tried to reach the GPS location from the north but it was packed with people. That’s why I decided to try to get to it from the south. So I took roads down and around making my way to Two Color Lake. But I’m not that good with the topo map. As I approached Two Color Lake on the road that leads to it, I ran into some steep, steep, steep, terrain. I made it up as far as I could with the car and then set up camp. I basically made it about three miles south of Two Color lake.
I literally had a hard time not slipping down hill. About 30 min into the “mountain climbing” I realized why I was the only person in this area as opposed to the north side.
About a hundred feet up the road, I ran into about 10 deer scattered around the area. This was an amazing deer spot. But I did not get any shots at a buck. I’m sure that if I would have stayed there all day I would have got a buck. But, I was compelled to move on toward the elk.
I made it to a split in the road. To the right was Two Color Lake, to the left was the Pass. I decided to follow the wolf tracks to the right for a little then departed from them. At this point I was at about 6,800 feet elevation. It was late in the day, around 2pm.
The open grasslands soon turned into forest. The forest soon turned dark and cool covered with lush vegetation. The ground was literally covered in elk tracks and droppings.
After calling a little and walking around this area next to Two Color Lake I was face to face with a spike elk. It was about 15 feet in front of me. It jumped and turned around, and ran about 50 yards away. All I could see was its head. I had no shot. As I sat quietly and tried to make this spike elk believe I was just a cow elk, I realized I was surrounded by elk. They soon took cover. After about 15 min of calling, the spike elk barked at me and ran off and with him the rest of the elk I did not see.
Pilot Rock
This was the second and last area I hunted. This place was also a zoo. There were a lot of elk. I hunted right underneath and towards the Private Property near the location marked “Elk Hot Spot.” This location was steep and hard to hunt. Furthermore, it was packed with people.
However, I had a lot of action. The elk in this location seem to be very aggressive and call a lot. It’s almost like they know people cannot reach them on the steep slopes.
I called in a 5×5 trophy but since I was so exhausted from walking up the hill and calling, I could not draw back in time to get a clean shot off. He saw me and ran down the steep terrain.
In total I saw about 4 bull elk in this location. But since it was so hard to hunt and because of other hunters I did not get any good shots. In fact this location is known by some very aggravating hunters. They come in on the weekends and act like the forest belongs to them.
On my last day of hunting this area I was calling a bull in and a gunshot from someone close scared him off. Furthermore, an airplane flew in close. It came down in a clear cut next to the private property fence and scared away a herd of elk which I had been following the entire day.
2013 Hunt – Pilot Rock
This year was very similar to the last but I only went out for one day here. The place is loaded with elk and hunters. I brought a large bull elk about 30 yards away but could not make sure he was a bull until it was too late. I then walked around until I couldn’t chase another bugle. Some were from real bull elk, and some from other hunters. I was able to spot a large bull on a ridge over but did not have enough energy to walk over.
Finally, I walked to the nearest bugle. As I got closer, I heard another bugle. The second was a group of 3 hunters. I didn’t know until I spotted the elk herd on the other side of them and I was within 20 feet of them. I walked into the open and let them know I’m another hunter. They seemed to be angry at me, but I was the one who just spent morning to night walking the steep terrain. Either way, I had a good time.
Starkey
Here, I hunted the “Elk Park” location only because I did not have enough time to wander around. I did not see any signs of bull elk at the Elk Park. However, I did see a 4×4 bull elk about 5 miles east of the Elk Park as I was driving out on Highway 52. I did run into a lot of cow elk (about 15 in total). There were a lot of bears in the area. One crossed Highway 51 near Highway 52 and I saw a lot of bear droppings and tracks.
Sincerely, Thank you,
The knowledge and experience of these locations changed my life forever.
It was the best hunting of my life. Octavian Dogar
P.S. – My father has not been hunting for a long time since he has been working very hard in this troubled economy. This year he has drawn an elk tag and I was wondering if you could give him some advice too.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
