So I am new to elk hunting and 2027 will be my first season at it. Planning to go eastern general bow tag. I come from a deer hunting background, mostly desert mule deer. I have been deep diving in to all the podcasts and YouTube videos I can get a hold of and I have my diaphragm call showing up this week that I am going to be working on. One of the biggest takeaways I have learned from my research is that the learning curve is steep and if it was easy everyone would have a bull on their wall. Secondly I know it comes down to prep work and for the most successful hunters the next season starts the day after the last season. I have been scouring the forums, harvest reports, population data and am working on narrowing down some general units to be focusing in on. I am trying to find a balance of good potential opportunities of getting in to elk vs being close enough to home (around 2 hours from Redmond) where I can maximize my hunting time with all the other responsibilities life has. The units I am thinking about are: 1. White River 2. Hood 3. Paulina 4. Grizzly 5. Upper Deschutes 6. Metolius If anyone would be willing to share there thoughts good or bad on those units in general I would really appreciate it. I am not asking for area specific information just your takes on the units as a whole. Thank you very much and also I would be stoked to meet some guys especially with the same interests as I am new up here. Get some shooting practice or check out some new areas or if you need a hand packing out some meat!

This may be weird but if anyone wants to try and hunt together this season I am open to giving it a try! As a late onset hunter it’s tough to find people to hunt with and I feel like this community has like minded people all striving for the same goal. I was planning on trying to hunt saddle mountain unit in OR this year but open to trying elsewhere too.

If you have been hunting elk for a few years and still have not shot your first bull then you belong here. 90% of hunters don't even see a legal animal during the season. But this year you have to put a bull on the ground.

Have these started back up yet?