Unit 56 Wenaha

A strong Blue Mountains elk unit with mature bulls held by the wilderness core and roadless canyon timber. Elk summer high and drop into the canyons and onto south-slope winter range with the first hard weather; the roadless northern half protects age class.

• →Hunt the wilderness and roadless timber where road-hunting pressure can't reach the bulls
• →Glass south- and west-facing grass slopes at first and last light, then work security timber on the north sides
• →Be prepared for long, steep packouts out of Wenaha and side-canyon bottoms
• →Late seasons: follow snow and migrating herds down onto lower winter range

Mule deer inhabit the open canyon slopes and timbered ridges, with better bucks in the roadless and wilderness country. Big-game winters here can be hard, so herd numbers swing with weather.

• →Glass open bunchgrass and sage breaks on sunny exposures at dawn
• →Push timber pockets and the heads of draws where bucks bed
• →Hunt the transition between open winter-range slopes and timber
• →Cover country on foot along the canyon rims for isolated mature bucks

One of Oregon's classic Rocky Mountain bighorn units, with rams using the steep grass-and-rock breaks along the Grande Ronde and Wenaha canyons. A very hard-to-draw, once-in-a-lifetime tag producing trophy rams.

• →Glass the steepest rock-and-grass canyon faces from across the drainage
• →Scout well ahead of a tag — rams hold to specific escape terrain
• →Plan for extreme terrain and long spot-and-stalk approaches
• →Hunt the Grande Ronde and lower Wenaha breaks where bands winter

The Wenaha holds a huntable mountain goat population in its highest, most broken terrain — one of only a handful of Oregon goat hunts, drawn extremely rarely and offering a true trophy.

• →Focus on the highest cliffs and rock faces of the wilderness core
• →Long-range glassing followed by committed alpine stalks
• →Expect a physically demanding, multi-day backcountry effort

Black bears are widespread in the canyon brush and timber, huntable on a spring draw hunt and incidentally in fall. Good numbers work berry patches and green south slopes.

• →Spring: glass green-up on south-facing canyon slopes
• →Fall: hunt fruiting brush and mast in the timbered draws
• →Cover ground glassing open breaks morning and evening

Cougars follow the deer and elk through this canyon country and can be taken on a general tag while hunting other game.

• →Cut fresh tracks along snowy ridge roads and canyon rims
• →Hunt near deer and elk winter concentrations
• →Predator calling in broken timber-and-canyon edges