OVER THE COUNTER
Oregon’s Cascade Buck Hunts
T
he Cascade Mountains offer
some of the best blacktail deer
hunting opportunity for anyone
who purchases a Western Oregon
deer rifle season tag, which are sold over the
counter. Many of the units that fall within
the Cascades—the Santiam, McKenzie, In-
digo, Dixon, Evans Creek, and Rogue—have
some of the state’s highest deer densities
and hunter success bears that out.
The available areas to hunt start at the
crest of the Cascade Mountains and trickle
to the valley floor offering a myriad of dif-
ferent hunting ground. Aside from a small
population of deer that summer in the high-
er elevations, population trends confirm
the highest concentration of deer are found
in the lower elevations of the Cascades con-
centrating most of the hunting pressure in
the foothills.
Access is arguably the biggest obstacle
facing hunters here. Because blacktail deer
are most commonly associated with tracts
of land that have been logged and replant-
ed, the best hunting ground is on private
timber land. This might dissuade some
hunters, but there are plenty of opportuni-
ties for someone who finds landowners and
learns their access programs. It’s also rec-
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WESTERN HUNTING JOURNAL
Hunting the Cascade Mountains is excellent option for blacktail deer rifle hunters.
ommended that hunters focus on road clo-
sures where walk-in access is allowed. Most
private timber companies allow hunters to
walk in on foot and there are also several
wilderness areas in these units, which is a
great opportunity for someone who wants
to set up a spike camp.
For those hunters who want to hunt
deer with a rifle during September might
consider applying for the W. High Cascade
Controlled Hunt. The hunt takes place Sept.
8-16. The caveat is if a hunter does not fill
their tag during this September hunt, they
can continue hunting blacktails during the
general season. The units featured here ap-
ply to that rule. The one caveat is that the
Cascade buck areas are closed during the
elk rifle season (Oct. 13-19). Keep in mind
that while the Cascade units are closed
during the elk season, that doesn’t prevent
someone from hunting units along the
coast.
As would be expected, hunter success
rate drops during the general deer season
due to the number of hunters increasing
skewing the harvest statistics. Yet, the op-
portunity exists and it’s one of the best over
the counter deer hunting opportunities in
the state. WHJ STAFF
Santiam Unit (Unit 16)
Bordered by major highways on the Willa-
mette Valley to the east, this unit stretches to
the Cascade Mountains to the west to the Pa-
cific Crest Trail. Most of the land in the eastern
half is lowland farmland with a checkerboard
ownership mix of BLM, state forestry and pri-
vate ownership. The western portion of the
unit made up of both US Forest Service and
private timber land. The unit consists of 63
percent public ground.
The Santiam Unit is one of the largest in
the state which explains why it is one of the
more popular units to hunt deer. Given that
nearly 8,000 hunters hunt here, the success
rate is very good (over 1,000 deer are take
annually).
McKenzie Unit (Unit 19)
Much like the Santiam, the McKenzie Unit
sees a fair amount of hunting pressure
during the general season thanks in large
part to the fact that much of the land is pub-
licly owned; 60 percent of the unit is public.
Most of the best hunting takes place in the
foothills of the Cascades on private timber
ground where vehicle access is limited. The
upper elevations near the Willamette Na-