OHA steps up for Oregon elk

Management practices must target management objectives

Currently only 59% (20) of wildlife management units are above population management objective (MO) for Rocky Mountain elk. Meanwhile, on the west side, just 17% (3) of WMUs for Roosevelt elk are meeting their management goals for population size. In these units above population MO, OHA strongly supports abundant antlerless elk hunting opportunity. This is adaptive management; when the resource exceeds our goals, increases in hunting opportunity should follow.

Unfortunately, Rocky Mountain elk are below population management objective (MO) in 41% (14) of the units, and Roosevelt elk are below population MO in 83% (15) of WMUs in Oregon.

There are many factors contributing to elk population trajectories, including but not limited to forage quality and quantity, predation, development, disturbance (e.g., road densities), and to a lesser extent, disease. OHA is working to address all of these limiting factors, but antlerless elk harvest can also have a tremendous impact on elk population sizes. Debates regarding the impacts of various factors on elk populations are warranted and should be part of the equation, but hunters should not elude the fact that increasing antlerless elk harvest is the foremost way to reduce elk population size.

While supporting robust antlerless elk hunting in units at or above population MO, OHA is pushing for a thorough review of antlerless elk tag allocation (including general season antlerless elk damage tags) for elk populations currently not meeting MO.

Rocky Mountain elk bull ratios are currently below MO in at least 17 WMUs while Roosevelt elk bull ratios are below MO in at least eight WMUs. OHA is supporting work to address low bull ratios in the coast range, and we are encouraging ODFW to work to address low bull ratios statewide. Above all, OHA is pressing the need to revise Oregon’s Elk Management Plan that was published 23 years ago.