Really,nice attempt to get GPS coordinates.:doh:

 

Heck, since he asked politely...

Chittum Creek is awesome! Usually just after the bulls in there, but am always jumping some monster muleys. I found a spot to build a ground blind, I'm going to call it the throne since I saw the KING of bulls there two years ago. I always mark my trail with toilet paper...surveyors tape is too obvious.

Good luck!

 

I am not asking for specific hunting spots I'm just curious about how others who hunt the same wilderness have been doing. I don't need coordinates or locations to hunt I have my own spots. Thanks for the positive feedback and for those who lack the capability of understanding what forums are for "discussion" think before you type please.

 

Moon meadows - and hunt the thickets around it. It's super thick - be ready at any moment...

 

I hunt on the west side of desolation curious how people fair on the east side of it I do a lot of hunting around Oregon gulch and gut ridge mine area. But elsewhere closer to olive lake its lucky to even see a little buck

 

You have to remember that with more and more people crowding into less spots with fewer animal that guys aren't willing to even mention units anymore,much less landmarks,so forums that were once open for discussion's are becoming closed mouthed.I hunted the west side of that unit late 80's to late 90's,seeing numerous big bucks daily.I hunted it for elk in 2011 and saw 1 doe in the brush and 2 forkedhorns in the headlights in 11 days of hunting.It is a shadow of what it once was,like a lot of places.Good luck in your research.

 

I hear that a lot but the majority of the pressure I see all over eastern Oregon is near roads i rarely see people in deep and when I do see them can't be too frustrated cause they are in trying to earn it too. All the good ol' boys around here talk about how much things have changed an I believe it but the toads are still all over it just requires a hell of a lot more effort than it did back then with rise in hunters predators and lack of herd growth mature bucks are hard to come by. Just ready to go scouting and being impatient haha
.

 

Longest sentence ever.

 

That's right, wasn't aware I needed to use proper grammar.

 

Why not use proper grammar? If you know how to write in proper English, then why not? It's easier for others to read and understand what someone is trying to convey. Plus, you don't come across as uneducated. I tend to give more credibility towards those who can put a simple sentence together and can tell the difference between their, there, they're and our, are, etc.

As far as the Desolation, I agree with others that it has fallen far from what it was in the late 90's and early 2000's. I hunted there every year during archery season until 2010 and my family still does. All hunting is done on foot but is near a lot of roads (parts of that unit you can't go a half mile without running into one). Every season we use to see some great mule deer and now it's mostly does and forked horns.

 

I have been hunting Desolation for ~ 27 years. Here is my latest experience. I saw 3 cougars and 2 wolves....... Move on!:twocents:

 

Why move on? Elk hunting is prime still I have seen way more bear than any other predator.

 

I went through Desolation once during archery season. It was the biggest campground I had ever seen, and every spot was taken.

 

Reluctantly my buddies talked me into going over there for deer this year. As everyone else has pointed out it is a former shadow of what it once was.

Hunters may stick around the roads, but year round that explosion of predators follow the hoofs.

I didn't start hunting it until the mid-90's or so and it was pretty good up to the early 2000's and then it starting crashing. Kid seen his first wolf over there 4 or 5 years ago.

Will give it a good college try anyways and see what happens.

 

Guess it just really all depends on when you hit it. No need to find a camping spot when you carry camp on your back.

 

I hunt the SW corner of that unit. There is way fewer deer there than when I first hunted there in 1995. But if you hunt the borders between private and public property you can get a nice white tail. That's what I do and it works for me.

 

Good hunting can be found in about every unit. If you know how elk act and react to things they are pretty easy to find. The elk like to be away from people in general, so if they are being pressured look for the thickest nastiest stuff and that is where they will be, not always but that's a good start. I have never had any issues with people in the wilderness most people are to lazy to hike much more than an hour from the rig.

There are lots of elk in the johnday wilderness north, south, east and west.

Deer are in there also, much more than several other units. Patience and consistency is what it will take to find a big ones. I have seen some toads up there.

Anyways welcome to Ifish (nice sheds)

 

Thanks and I agree

 

Here's a buck I killed during the 2005 archery season, after that, didn't see a whole lot for decent sized bucks. I shot him at 25 yards about a 3/4 mile from the nearest drivable road while still hunting through some timber.

You're right, there are still some good bucks around, but they're fewer and farther between. I don't think they're solely confined to the wilderness either. I think deer densities may be higher outside the wilderness where there has been logging to create a higher abundance of food. With the exception of newer burn areas.

 

Here's a buck I killed during the 2005 archery season, after that, didn't see a whole lot for decent sized bucks. I shot him at 25 yards about a 3/4 mile from the nearest drivable road while still hunting through some timber.

You're right, there are still some good bucks around, but they're fewer and farther between. I don't think they're solely confined to the wilderness either. I think deer densities may be higher outside the wilderness where there has been logging to create a higher abundance of food. With the exception of newer burn areas.

We used to hunt in desolation about 10 to 15 years ago. When we first started there, we passed up 30-50 bucks daily. When we stopped going, we didn't even tag out for three people taking the first legal animal. What we noticed is that with the "backcountry" hunter craze, everyone made a beeline right to the wilderness area trying to get further in, etc. and it actually was more crowded in there than outside. Everyone drove right past some of the best hunting we had in there. My dad has taken 2 nice 4x4's (25in wide, and a 27in) but that was a long time ago, and we don't even bother now.

 

This is my buck I shot back in 2009 he is a 3 x 2 18" wide and 23" tall

 

I'll chime in I guess since I've hunted this unit off and on since about 1993 and really its probably my favorite unit to hunt. Its been said 3 or 4 times already, starting around 2000-2001 the numbers just started dropping off more year after year. We used to always find bucks, sometimes bigger which we didn't always get but we pretty much always had success. I haven't deer hunted the unit in about 6 years but do go up a few times a year just to poke around. At least in my little area I hunt it appears there are a few more deer - but still hardly what I remember from 10 years ago.

It can be a tough unit to hunt, lots or thick stuff but there are still some of these around if you can find them

 

Looking at last years stats there were only 94 4pt.+ bucks taken out of 395 total. The older component is missing and Desolation is sporting the lowest older buck component of the surrounding units.

I got in to the tail end of the great hunting of this unit and as other stated, the decline was dramatic and swift. I remember my first year passing up 20+ bucks.

 

http://www.ifish.net/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=195546&stc=1&d=1404334598
This was killed about 8 yrs. ago in the eastern half of the wilderness.Hunter packed in on a DIY hunt seen the buck during archery and went back for rifle

 

http://www.ifish.net/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=195546&stc=1&d=1404334598[/Ihttp://www.ifish.net/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=195554&s

tc=1&d=1404334914MG]
This is the other one they got down by the river they also got a 2x3 just not pic worthy

 

We quit bowhunting it in the early '90's because it seemed to be getting quite a bit more crowded. Sounds like we quit too early :wink:. Sure is beautiful country. We killed elk both in and out of the wilderness.

 

Mid 90's Desolation buck that scored just over 190 gross. My ex-wife actually spotted this buck but the fellow in the picture who was hunting with us decided he should be the one to shoot it

Both wife & friend are no ex's

 

I think we are looking at proof of why Desolation was such a great success early on and why it declined later on. There was a great older buck component early on, the cougars moved in plus the harvest remained high and we took out the older component and now recruitment is crap due to poor breeding and survival. If the bio's would have compensated for the cougar predation early on, Desolation may have still been turning out big bucks in good numbers, but there would have been less tags.

 

I think we are looking at proof of why Desolation was such a great success early on and why it declined later on. There was a great older buck component early on, the cougars moved in plus the harvest remained high and we took out the older component and now recruitment is crap due to poor breeding and survival. If the bio's would have compensated for the cougar predation early on, Desolation may have still been turning out big bucks in good numbers, but there would have been less tags.

Agree - that unit has awesome genetics for growing some fine bucks, but the tag number for that unit should be half of what it is before we see quality improve again.