Hunting Photos and Stories

I shot my one antler deer back in 1997. I was just 16 years old. My dad and myself with some family friends all drew some doe tags for an area outside of Roseburg Oregon. Back then you could easily draw a doe tag and the season was at the same time as the general buck season on the Westside of the state. We each went down there with 2 tags a doe tag and a buck tag. This was the 3rd year in a row that we had this set up in the same area.

I had been big game hunting for a couple years and had gotten myself a mule deer buck, but up to that point, the wapiti had evaded me. So when 2005 rolled around I knew it was time to try a new unit. We decided on a unit that none of the guys in our group had hunted before. Two of my teachers had hunted the unit before which is where our decision to make the switch came from. Many hours in front of the computer screen, many emails, and a couple of summer scouting trips had our camp feeling semi prepared and excited for our third season rifle hunt.

I am a big game hunter. That is where my deepest passion is. For a long time I didn't have a desire to hunt anything but large ungulates. Buddies and family members would poke and prod at me trying expose a reason why I didn't want to hunt waterfowl. I didn't really have a reason though. I just wasn't drawn to it I guess. Now, one of my biggest regrets is not getting into it sooner. I have to thank both my brother-in-laws for finally convincing me to give it a whirl. I had no idea what I was missing out on.

Like any successful elk hunter, I will never forget my first bull. I got him the first year that I took over planning for our group's hunts. I did a ton of electronic and phone scouting prior to the draw that year and came up with what I figured to be the answer to our group's elk hunting dilemma. Our scouting trip to the area in August got us revved up. We were seeing groups of 15-30 elk on a regular basis. I even got video of bulls fighting and bugling.