Oregon Desolation Elk Kelsay Butte area

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rsearcy

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I am looking at the wilderness area north of Kelsay Butte towards the John Day as a place to archery elk hunt. Anyone have any info on the area they care to share? It looks rough enough to keep the crowds down, but still doable without horses if your willing to work.
 
Hey there, I've hunted the Desolation for the last 6 years or so but hunt outside the wilderness. The key to this unit is finding a place that no one else will look at. What I mean by this is that there are places that won't look appealing to the eye but will hold elk. Places people overlook basically. Now the wilderness is a little different because there are a ton of people that hunt it. Whenever I'm over there and drive past a trail head it looks like a walmart parking lot. Now maybe they aren't all like that but the ones close to where I'm at are. I talk to a guy that does hunt in the wilderness and he has done ok and has managed to stay away from other folks by bushwacking away from the main trails. If you can find an area like this than you may do ok. But the one problem you will most likely run into is that the elk will always be moving, there are too many people and they are constantly being pushed. So they won't hold in an area very long. I imagine your looking for a good bull and there are some good bulls there but they are very elusive and usually pretty call shy. There are a ton of cows, I might see a bull or two the entire time I'm over there, usually a 8 day trip and a 3 day weekend trip. Hope this helps let me know if you have any other questions.
 
Thanks Oregonbowhunter

That's the kind of info I was looking for.

I usually hunt over in Heppner and manage to do pretty good because I know some spots like you describe, but it's hard to get away from the roads and people. I was mostly curios about the amount of pressure in the wilderness area. Sounds like there is quite a bit. I will probably do some looking around over there this year while hitting my known spots across the highway.
 
All my experience has been in the eastern half of the unit. I have not hunted the western half and don't know of the hunting over there.
 

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