Unit 16 Santiam

The signature game of the unit and the reason most tags get bought. Columbian blacktail (with some blacktail/mule-deer-cross genetics on the east edge) are widespread but live in thick cover, so densities are moderate in the north and lower toward the south. Big mature bucks exist - the south end and private timber produce the better headgear - but consistent success means hunting the cover, not glassing open slopes. Roughly one in eight hunters tags out unit-wide most seasons.

• →Hunt the edges of recent clearcuts and timber harvests at first and last light - blackberry, forbs, and brush regrowth are blacktail magnets and the only places you reliably see them out of timber
• →Still-hunt slowly into the wind through dense Douglas-fir/hemlock benches and creek bottoms midday; blacktails bed in heavy cover and won't move far
• →Where you have private-timber or farmland-edge access in the south, expect the heaviest-antlered bucks - glass field edges at dawn/dusk
• →Late-season: when snow drops to mid elevations, hunt the snowline - blacktails slide downhill with it, concentrating on mid-elevation south faces
• →Use cut banks, skid roads, and old grades to move quietly and cut tracks in soft ground after rain

A genuine Roosevelt (and Roosevelt/blacktail-cross) elk unit that has produced some big bulls in recent years. Herds use the timbered mid-slopes and clearcut mosaics of the national-forest and state-forest ground, and antlerless opportunity exists in the Santiam sub-areas. Numbers and access support a real opportunity hunt rather than a trophy lottery, but mature bulls are present for hunters willing to grind the steep timber.

• →Locate herds around clearcut/old-growth edges and north-facing timbered draws that hold feed and cover; elk shift between feeding cuts and bedding timber
• →Glass the larger reprod units and meadow openings at dawn from across a canyon, then still-hunt or move in on located animals
• →Hunt benches and saddles connecting drainages - elk travel and pressure pushes them into the nastiest timber and wilderness fringe
• →Be ready for steep, wet, brushy ground and long packs; access the wilderness fringe on foot or horseback to escape road pressure
• →During archery rut, work the timbered slopes near water and wallows; bulls answer but hang up in cover

Black bear are common throughout the timbered West Cascades habitat. The regenerating clearcuts, berry fields, and creek bottoms that feed deer and elk also concentrate bears.

• →Glass green clearcuts, reprod units, and roadside grass/forb flushes at dawn and dusk in spring when bears feed on new growth
• →In fall, key on berry patches, oak/mast pockets, and skunk-cabbage bottoms
• →Cover ground on logging-road systems glassing open cuts across drainages
• →Move slowly through bottomland brush and creek corridors where bears feed and travel

Cougars are present and huntable across the unit wherever the deer and elk are - the dense Cascade timber holds a healthy lion population. Most are taken incidentally by deer and elk hunters rather than by dedicated effort without dogs.

• →Carry a tag while deer/elk hunting and watch fresh snow and muddy roads for tracks
• →Use a predator call near fresh deer kills or in steep timbered canyon country
• →Hunt the same cover edges and rim breaks that concentrate deer - cougars follow the prey
• →After snow, cut roads and ridgelines to locate and follow tracks