Washington and Oregon hunters pursue elk in some of the West's most varied terrain, ranging from classic mountain habitats to high desert and rain forests. Photo by Eric J. Hansen.

Elk hunters in the Pacific Northwest enjoy a wider range of opportunities than hunters anywhere else in the country. For starters, they have two subspecies of elk to choose from: Roosevelt elk in the forests and coastal valleys west of the Cascade Mountains, and the Rocky Mountain elk of the interior.

Also, the settings where hunters in Oregon and Washington pursue elk are more varied than in any other region. They range from classic mountain habitats to high desert to rain forest.

Finally, with a complex array of early and late seasons, different antler-point regulations, open-entry and permit hunts, just about every elk hunter in the Beaver and Evergreen states can find a hunt that suits him.

Anyone who has ever hunted elk knows that they are one of hunting's greatest challenges.

During 2005, 100,561 Washington hunters bought elk licenses, and they killed 6,503 animals.

In Oregon, more than 105,000 elk hunters took to the field in 2006, and they brought back 13,000 elk.

Success rates for elk are typically less than 13 percent, and are much lower in many units. With odds like these, a hunter needs all of the help he can get. That's why we put together this Washington-Oregon Game & Fish 2007 Elk Forecast. We'll give you the inside track to fill your elk tag this season.

OREGON COAST, CASCADES
When it comes to elk harvest totals, Oregon is usually in the Top 3 among Western states, beating out several of the celebrated Rocky Mountain destinations.

Roosevelt elk are native to the heavily timbered areas west of the Cascades, but by the early 20th century, most herds had been extirpated by market hunters. Today, most western Oregon elk are either Rocky Mountain elk or mixtures of the two subspecies. However, the northwest coast's Saddle Mountain Unit appears to contain a largely, if not entirely, native population of Roosevelt elk.

Roosevelt elk can grow larger than Rocky Mountain elk, but usually have less reach to their antlers. As a rule, they are also darker -- an adaptation to their shadowed forest habitats -- and tend to gather in smaller herds than eastside elk.

Elk-hunting options on the Oregon Coast in 2007 will be similar to recent years. The popular north coast Saddle Mountain Unit will be a controlled hunt with no general season for modern firearms hunters, although it does offer an archery general season with 3-point or minimum or antlerless regulations.

The MidCoast-Valley rifle season in the other coastal units will again be divided into two parts this year, with an early-November four-day hunt, followed by a week-long spike-only hunt in late November.

The Alsea Unit has been one of the most productive areas recently. In 2005, the most recent data available, it yielded 145 elk during the first general-season hunt and 62 in the second season. Hunters can expect the same conditions this year.

The Alsea is also popular and productive among bow hunters, who took 23 bulls and 114 cows in 2005 and had an exceptional 16 percent success rate.

For several years now, the ODFW has managed the Wilson and Trask units with a mid-October rifle hunt that is open to any bull. It is highly popular, because it gives hunters a shot at elk during the waning days of the rut, when the animals' guard is down. During 2005, modern firearms hunters killed 335 bulls in the Wilson Unit and 327 in the Trask Unit during the early hunt, and had 16 and 12 percent success rates, respectively.

The second general season in these units is the same as in the other MidCoast-Valley Units, and harvest and success numbers drop significantly.

As in other coastal units, success in the early season depends largely on the weather. Hunters will be most successful if early rain softens the ground and strips the leaves from the trees.

All rifle hunting for elk on the south coast's Tioga, Sixes, Powers and Chetco units is now controlled-hunt only. The Tioga Unit is the most productive, and during typical years, the ODFW issues more than 2,000 3-points-or-better permits for the unit.

It is too late to apply for a rifle permit for 2007. But bowhunters have a 30-day September season this year, during which 3-plus-point bulls and antlerless elk are legal.

Two years ago, archery hunters took 92 bulls and 149 cows from the Tioga Unit and scored an impressive 20 percent success rate. But they may do even better in the neighboring Sixes Unit: Two years ago, archers compiled a 32 percent success rate.