December 2025
Roosevelt Elk Hunting | Oregon
Story By: David Corley
In the early spring of 2024, I began accessing my draw hunt strategy and decided it was a good time to use my Oregon deer points. When I went online to the Oregon Department of Wildlife to begin applying for my deer hunt, I noticed there was a premium tag listed on their website. I pulled up the Huntin’ Fool website and read what an Oregon premium tag was, and it basically said this tag has an expanded season and you can use a weapon of your choice. This means during archery or muzzleloader season, the premium tag holder can use a rifle if you choose and you can hunt in some cases from August through November. There is only one of these tags per unit as well. It was a minimal cost to apply, so I thought, “Why not give it a shot?” and put in for a deer premium tag and an elk premium tag, even though I was only purchasing a point for elk.
A few months later, I pulled up the Oregon hunt draw results to confirm that I drew my mule deer tag. Sure enough, I drew the deer tag. I noticed below the confirmation that I also drew a Roosevelt elk tag. My first thought was, “Dang it, I screwed up and put in for a hunt when I meant to just buy a point!” After a few seconds, it hit me that I got extremely lucky and drew a premium Roosevelt elk tag. The very first time I put in for an Oregon premium elk tag, I drew one!
A few days later, I went into my planning mode as I was retiring from work in August and had a busy hunt schedule. I wanted to give this premium tag the attention it deserved, but I also had some other excellent hunts scheduled. I called Huntin’ Fool, and their staff provided me with a list of past hunters for this unit. I called the list, and most of the past hunters said the regular Roosevelt elk hunt in the area I drew could be tough due to private land issues along with forest and terrain issues. I was getting a bit discouraged, but then I spoke to a past hunter who recommended a gentleman that he said was one of the best hunters to regularly hunt the unit I drew and had killed numerous record book Roosevelt elk. The gentleman’s name was Ryan.
I called Ryan, and we hit it off on the phone. It was clear we both had a strong passion for hunting. We talked for about an hour, and Ryan let me know there were probably going to be fire closures early in the unit and some property would not be open during the early months of the season. I had an elk hunt in Wyoming, so I thought I would come at the end of September or early October to hunt. Ryan said he would be glad to help me on my hunt, but I did not want to infringe on his time as he has a young family and a lot of responsibilities.
I started out the 2024 season and went from one hunt to the next. I had the Roosevelt hunt in the back of my mind when Ryan called me on an afternoon in September while I was actually on my Oregon deer hunt. We had a pleasant discussion, but he nicely told me that I was letting too much time slip by on this premium tag and I needed to get to the unit if I wanted to harvest a good Roosevelt bull. After I got off the call with Ryan, I realized I had gotten so focused on retiring and going on all these adventures that I did not prioritize this premium Roosevelt tag the way I should have. I drove out to Western Oregon shortly after my phone call and accepted Ryan’s help if he had the time.
When I arrived, Ryan and I immediately started covering areas in the public forest where he had seen or killed elk in the past. We had missed the rut due to my not prioritizing this hunt, and we struggled to find elk. We ran into a State Game Warden who let us know that the private forest would be opening up the next day, so we shifted our plans to hunt there. There would be blacktail deer hunters there but no other elk hunters.
The next day, we arrived before dawn at the private forest and there were a lot of blacktail deer hunters in the area. We started glassing at first light and found a lot of sign but no elk. The great thing about the premium tag is that at times, you are the only elk hunter in the unit and the deer hunters are very willing to share information as you are not competing with them. On top of this, a number of the deer hunters knew Ryan and were more than willing to share information on where they saw elk and how good the bulls were. Based on some information from one of the deer hunters we talked to that morning, we glassed into a drainage where he said he had seen a nice bull. With about an hour left of shooting light, we spotted a beautiful 6x6 Roosevelt bull. He was a better bull than even what I had hoped for, but we needed to cut some distance to get within rifle range. We had to stalk across a steep hillside with sharp gullies to get to him. We took our time, and I got to 550 yards. Fortunately, my first shot was a double lung shot that put the bull down for good.
I wanted to write this story because of the selfless assistance I received from a person I hardly knew. Ryan and his wonderful son, Levi, helped me break down and haul my Roosevelt elk bull out of that rugged canyon that night. We did not get off the mountain until 2:30 a.m. I had no idea how much bigger a mature Roosevelt bull elk is than a Rocky Mountain bull elk until that night!
Ryan took time off work to help me get the most out of this Oregon premium tag. I never would have met Ryan had it not been for a hunter on the Huntin’ Fool reference list who took the time to call me back and go the extra mile to put me in contact with Ryan. I also felt so good about how the blacktail deer hunters on the hill that morning really wanted me to shoot a great bull with my premium tag opportunity. I am so thankful for my first Roosevelt bull, but I am even more thankful for how this hunt strengthened my belief in the quality of the people who are part of the hunting community.