Steve Charron from Gilroy, Calif., headed north to hunt with Go West Outfitters in Oregon's Ochoco Unit. This 190-class buck was bedded in a creek bottom. Photo courtesy of GoWestOutfitters.com.

But Oregon has whitetails as well, and the herd in the northeast corner of the state is growing. Biologists estimate that about 6,000 whitetails live in the bottoms along the Imnaha, Walla Walla and Grand Ronde rivers. But the real buzz is about Oregon's other whitetail.

In the 1930s, some feared the Columbia whitetail to be extinct. By the late 1960s, biologists had counted them and estimated there were fewer than 1,000 animals left. In the 1970s, the subspecies was listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, and the recovery effort was under way.

Today, two distinct groups of Columbia whitetails are present in Oregon. There's a thriving population of about 6,200 animals in Douglas County, and about 800 deer in the Columbia drainage, inhabiting several islands and the mainland on the shores of Oregon and Washington.

For Oregon hunters, the great news is that theirs is the only state where hunters can pursue blacktail, mule deer, eastern whitetail and Columbia whitetail and meet the minimum qualifications for SCI's North American Grand Slam of deer. (SCI's minimum is four animals from the list of seven subspecies, which also includes the Coues whitetail, desert mule deer and Sitka blacktail.)

WESTERN OREGON
Blacktail deer numbers are down in Western Oregon, due in part to changing timber practices and rising predator populations. But deer numbers have always fluctuated, and this is still one of the West's best hunts. Watch the trends and you'll find the deer.

Last season, I accompanied friends Lance Manske and Lee Sandberg of Black Oak Outfitters on a blacktail hunt in Douglas County.

Fog blanketed the valley. But we could see the tops of the hills and a buck in a fold of a grassy hilltop. As we watched through the scope, he picked his way onto a bench, disappeared for a few minutes, and then emerged into the sunlight again. We circled the hill below him, parked along the creek and began ascending the hill. Lance and Lee led the way.

We had the wind in our faces and the contours of the hill to hide us. As the sun came up, it burned the fog out of the valley. Sneaking and peeking, we reached the top of the hill.

The deer had moved out ahead. Which way did he go? The success of the hunt would hinge on our answer. Below us lay a stand of bushes and, at the bottom of the hill, a patch of blackberries.

Ryan, the easterner, guessed that the buck had turned toward the timber, but he was outvoted. The four of us turned away from the trees and slipped along the ridge, looking into the next valley. The 4-point buck had been bedded in the bushes only 50 yards from where we'd held our vote.

It burst from its bed into a dead run. Lance found the buck in his scope and squeezed the trigger. As soon as the buck was down, Lee spotted another buck. This one was bedded below us, right up against the blackberry bushes. Lee sat down, snuggled the gun into his shoulder, and then fired. Two shots and two bucks down in two minutes!