Back from Gerber Reservoir

[Horniac]

Just got back from scouting with my son for his youth antelope tag at Gerber Reservoir.

The unit is as advertised; lots of water, lots of mosquitoes, lots of trees, and very few antelope.

We got there Saturday mid-morning so we just drove the western boundary from Bonanza to Bly. Then headed to Gerber Reservoir to get camp set-up. After learning some of the roads around Gerber we took a short hike in an area a previous hunter told me about and jumped one group of antelope out of the trees. There was one small buck with the 8 or 9 does. That was it for Saturday.

Sunday morning we made another hike in a likely area and found one small buck bedded by himself.

Drove more of the unit during the rest of the day to thunderstorms and lightning with many air to ground strikes all over the unit. The lightning strikes started several small fires. Didn't see anymore antelope until just before dark when we saw two more small bucks hitting some water. There was a pretty neat sunset as we started heading back to camp.

I knew going in that this was going to be a tough hunt for my son but I didn't know it was going to be this tough! I am not sure why they would offer a youth hunt in this unit. My son was pretty depressed after driving around for hours upon hours without any antelope sightings to show for it. I guess we are both spoiled after hunting antelope in Nevada! I now understand why the muzzleloader success rate is only 5% and the bow hunt is 10% on this hunt!

If anyone has any words of wisdom or tips on hunting this unit we would appreciate any help anyone is willing to share. PM me if you prefer. We only have a day to scout prior to the opening and a day and a half to hunt so we won't be too choosy. We intend to target the small bucks we have found unless we can locate something bigger Friday. Hopefully the bowhunters won't have them too buggered up so we can relocate one of the bucks we found if need be...

I will be happy to provide info to any of you on this site who may still have a youth hunter in the field after we are done Sunday or anyone who has a muzzy tag for this hunt. Of course if I can't relocate the few bucks we found or find a few new ones I won't be of too much help to you but I will do my best...

Good luck to all!


Horniac

 

[WapitiBob]

We used to see antelope from the roads all the time. Not anymore. You have to got off the roads and out into the little swales and pockets were the Goats feel "removed" from the traffic.

 

[silverlake176]

Did you check out the Campbell Resevior area? I was up in that area two weeks ago and seen alot of antelope. Another area I've goten into alot of antelope in is Dry Prarie. Look for it on a map. Between Bly and Gerber. My brother shot his 14.5" buck there when he had his youth antelope tag in 2004. Back in 1998 I had the Gerber antelope tag where I shot and missed 24 times. I was thirteen at the time and say the least I had buck fever big time when I seen the antelope. The 24 shots were over a span of 9 different groups of antelope that we seen in the Dry Prarie area. Feel free to give me a call at 541-892-4273 if you would like to pick my brain on the area. I know the area fairly well.

 

[Horniac]

"RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

Thanks for the tips guys.

Silverlake176, I did check out the Campbell Reservoir area but we went through there mid-morning and all the goats could have been bedded by then. There are 3 or 4 sections of BLM up there but a lot of the ground we drove through was posted.

I don't think we got over to Dry Prairie though we came in to Gerber from the north out of Bly. It was one of the areas that we had talked about going to but for some reason we missed getting over there. Sounds like a good place to take a look at on the Friday before the opener.

Sounds like you and your brother had some great times on that hunt! I hope we do as well. I definitely would like to talk to you about the hunt and will give you a call...

Thanks.

Horniac

 

[ruttinbull]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

This is not an easy hunt. I have had two muzzleloader tags through the years and have filled them both. I also have had several bow tags but never drew blood...close so close.

Even in the best of times this was not an easy hunt and it still behooves me why this is a youth hunt. However the success rate has been fairly good and that is what the folks at ODFW hang their hat on.

The anelope have no problem going in to the junipers, pines, lodgepoles or even the firs. I have found antelope sign quite high. I have seen them come out of some very odd places.

I am in the area a "fair" amount. I dont know if I will get out again before your season starts. If I do, I will let you know what I see.

You can also call me at my office but I wont be there until next week. I will PM the number

 

[bullnanza]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

I too will be in the gerber area for a youth goat hunt. I dont know anything about the area and wont be able to do any scouting. We have each taken a couple of nice goats in Wyoming in the past few years so we kinda know how to find them if they are there[hopefully].I hunted whitehorse #2 last year and the coyotes outnumbered the antelope, so I know Oregon can be tough. What I do need info on is motel locations near the hunt. Does Bonanaza have anything or will a guy have to go to kfalls or lakeveiw? We are only going to be hunting for a couple of days and I hate hot weather tent camping. I dont mind driving 40 or 50 miles if thats what it takes to find lodging. Also are the roads extremely rough in the area? Any info would be grewatly appreciated.

 

[archeryjh]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

no motels in bonanza or bly- your best bet would be klamath cause there is a ton of pipeliners in lakeview and im pretty sure they got allthe motels booked up

 

[Horniac]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

Bullnanza,

Archeryjh took care of your question on the hotels. As far as the roads the main road is paved all the way to Gerber Reservoir from Bonanza. The roads around the reservoir are good (the main roads are made of crushed red cinder) but many of them are wash boarded badly so you have to take them slow unless you don't mind get shaken apart. All pretty flat and wide (no worry about getting any of that nasty Texas pin striping) and not many grades or rough spots to negotiate. Based on my scouting trip, I decided my 4-wheelers were going to be staying home. It will be much more comfortable with the AC and satellite radio in that heat! Besides, it sounds like we will be doing a lot of walking to find the goats anyway. Bonanza is about 20 minutes from the reservoir and they have fuel and some small stores. Same situation at Bly. There wasn't too much at Beatty.

Good luck!


Horniac

 

[bullnanza]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

Thank you for all of the info. Hopefully it wont be 100 degrees in the shade during the season. Some cool weather would be welcome for sure. Good luck.

 

[Horniac]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

bullnanza,

Good luck as well!

In a previous post, you mentioned that you hunted Whitehorse #2 last year. I drew the same tag this year. I would love to talk to you about the hunt if possible. I will send you a PM.

Thanks in advance...

Horniac

 

[lostinOregon]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

Horniac,

Son had the tag 5 years ago, it is not your typical antelope hunt. No glassing required. There was a herd living right at the reservoir on the SE side. I found the majority of the antelope in the timber, kind of like deer hunting and on the south California border. I was worried that it would be a bad experience for my son once I saw what it was like, however if you keep after it you can find some goats, it is just not what a antelope hunt is normally like. He took his the first afternoon, good luck and have fun,

Rich

 

[bullnanza]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

I did hunt whitehorse 2 last year and it was a waste of pref. points IMO. There were very few animals, in five days we saw about 75 antelope total, with maybe 1 or 2 13" bucks, and 6 or 8 small dink bucks. We put 500 miles or so on our rig just trying to find some antelope. We hunted around Jordan Valley for the first couple of days and found a few antelope mostly around the reservoir and to the south of it, then went south of the river for a couple of days and didnt find a thing. The farther north the better IMO, at least last year . I had helped a friend hunt whitehorse #1 in 2006 and there were a FEW more animals[ he shot a 14" low to mid 70s buck after 4 days of hard hunting], but still nowhere near what I would expect in terms of numbers. Way too much country to cover for a few antelope IMO. Wyoming has spoiled me for sure. GOOD LUCK

 

[Horniac]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

lostinOregon,

Thanks for the post. I have heard the same thing about them spending a lot of time in the timber. In fact, half the bucks we found were in or near the trees. We are planning on doing a lot of hiking if we don't connect on our planned set-up location opening morning. We did drive the state line road all the way east and into the Fremont National Forest to about the County line (end of Gerber unit) and there is some good looking open country amidst all that that timber but we didn't see any antelope. It is kind of hard for me to commit to burning a bunch of his limited hunting time on hunting the timber in what may turn out to be an unproductive antelope area but I guess we will have to take a gamble at some point. We will have fun no matter what the outcome and congratulations to you and your son on his successful hunt!

Horniac

 

[Horniac]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

Well, we are back from Gerber but unfortunately we weren't successful though not for lack of effort.

We got there Thursday night about 6:00 PM and got camp set-up. We had about 1/2 hour of good light left so we ran out and did some scouting but didn't turn up any animals.

Friday morning we were up early and found a group of 13 does with a shooter buck. Got a few photos of him (not very good though through the spotting scope).

His prongs were very good but I don't think he was that tall. I figured he was in the high 13's and might go 14" as he hooked over pretty good. He looked to us to have average mass but a little light on the 3rd and 4th quarter circumferences. His horns flared out pretty wide. He was a very nice buck for a young hunter.

After that group moved off, we cruised down the road a ways and a bachelor group of 3 small bucks crossed the road. We were off to an awesome start. After traveling up north for the afternoon and checking out the Campbell Reservoir area we were back to see if we could turn up the buck again. Right before dark we found the group again about two miles from where we originally located him. We watched them until they went over the bluff and out of sight. My son and I were very excited for the opener.

We were up early for the opener and because of the wind direction and the direction they were headed when we last saw them the night before, we checked out the spot that we had found them the morning before. No luck so we moved towards the position we had left them the night before. After going about 1 1/2 miles without seeing anything we heard a wheezy noise that stopped us in our tracks. Then another as we frantically tried to pinpoint the position of what we now knew was the warning sound of an antelope. Just as our brain registered what was going on the antelope moved out and we caught their movement. My son got a round chambered, flipped up the scope caps, and tried to get steady on the tripod rest I was carrying for him. The group stopped and I ranged the broadside buck at 370 yards. He was using my 7MM remington mag that is sighted in to be dead on at 300 yards but there was a doe just to the left of the buck. I kept waiting for him to shoot but though he had him in the crosshairs, he just didn't feel comfortable with the shot so we watched the antelope just walk (OK run) out of our lives. We gave chase but could never get closer and they went over the ridge and we lost them.

We did about a 8 mile hike on some National Forest land by Campbell that afternoon/evening and though we found a lot of sign, weren't able to turn up any animals. A picture of my son glassing.

We only had a few hours to hunt Sunday morning before I had to get him home to get ready for his first day of his senior year in high school so we tried to see if we could get on the shooter buck again. We make another walk in the area we had seen the buck but weren't able to turn him up so we packed up camp and headed for home.

Though we weren't successful we knew that it was going to be a tough hunt going in and made the best of it and still had a great time. The weather was unseasonably cool (awesome for antelope hunting) and we even got a little rain on Sunday morning. I was very proud of my son - he never complained and he couldn't have hunted any harder. We met some very nice local people on the hunt and I got a lot of help from some of the members on this site - ruttinbull, silverlake176 to name a few - thanks!

We are hoping he will fare better on the North Bank Habitat deer hunt he drew and I am leaving Friday for my antelope hunt on the Whitehorse so I am guardedly optimistic about my chances for tagging a good buck! I hope I don't go 0 for 2 in Oregon...

Horniac

 

[jp3999]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

Man, that's too bad. Good lookin goat. Good luck on your hunt and your son's upcoming hunt.
Jeff

 

[Ruttin365]

RE: "RE: Back from Gerber Reservoir

Horniac,
Thanks for the update of Blakes hunt. Sounds like a great time even though you guys didn't bring home any meat. The meat will come and I predict this weekend will be it. Have a great time in Whitehorse and keep us all informed. Talk to you soon..
Ruttin365

 

[oneaway]

Sounds like you had fun! I hope you have a good Whitehorse #2 hunt. That North Bank hunt should be fun. My buddies daughter had that last year, and saw a ton of bucks! Good luck!!!

 

[bullnanza]

Spent 4 days at Gerber/phillips and surrounding area and found about 50 antelope total. What, IS ODFW THINKING PUTTING ANY TAGS OUT IN THIS UNIT PERIOD, let alone a youth hunt tag. Are they trying to rid the unit of antelope? IMO there are not huntable numbers of antelope present in the unit. I congradulate the hunters who took the few antelope taken in the youth hunt. It was a very tough hunt. Antelope hunting is about picking and choosing and seeing a fair ammount of animals. Gerber has some excellent areas for antelope,the huge meadow northwest of Gerber Res. for one, but, there are simply no animals there. Good luck to the muzzleloader hunters next week, if all 60 hunters take animals the antelope will be wiped out which is what ODFW must have as a long term herd objective.

 

[Horniac]

Hey bullnanza,

I tried to warn you that this was not an easy hunt and not like hunting Wyoming where almost anyone that isn't legally blind can find an antelope. I agree that this is not the hunt that ODFW should have as a youth hunt. Taking youth hunters on a hunt where they are lucky to see an antelope, let alone being able to harvest one, will not do much for recruiting new hunters to our ranks and can potentially sour young hunters on our sport. They should have it a unit like the Whitehorse where they will at least see a lot of antelope to keep them motivated and excited about the hunt.

Horniac

 

[bullnanza]

You were rite on with your prediction. IMO they should close the area to all Antelope hunting for three to five years but I am sure they wont. There is a ton of great lope habitat in the area but there just are so few animals. It is a gross mismanagement of an area by ODFW for sure.

 

[Taverner]

It's a tough hunt for sure, I've tagged along a couple of times when people have the bow tag. Finding them is a VERY tough proposition.

It's definetly not a youth hunt, that's simply setting them up to get bored and lose interest.


"Quitting is not an option!"

 

[WapitiBob]

My daughter had this tag a cpl years ago. She ended up shooting at and missing a good Buck. In general, the hunt sucked. We walked our asses off across those clinkers.

We're going to Wyoming next month for Antelope. She has 3 tags, I have 4. That's the place to take your kids to get them started.