Unit 57 Sled Springs

Sled Springs is among the top whitetail units in northeast Oregon, with good numbers of Rocky Mountain whitetail in the timber-farm-and-canyon mosaic. Bucks are heavily nocturnal but patient stand hunters do well.

• →Stand-hunt travel corridors between timber bedding and grass/ag feeding areas at first and last light
• →Hunt field and clearcut edges, and the brushy heads of canyon draws
• →Watch the rut for daylight buck movement in November
• →Glass open canyon slopes early, then still-hunt timber benches midday

A solid Blue Mountains elk unit; herds hold in the plateau timber and drop into canyon bottoms. Green-dot road closures on the timberlands help protect bulls and push elk off the open roads.

• →Hunt behind green-dot closures on foot where road pressure is lowest
• →Work security timber and north-slope pockets during daylight
• →Glass canyon-head meadows and old cuts at dawn and dusk
• →Locate herds early and stay with them as they shift with pressure

Mule deer share the unit with whitetail, favoring the open canyon breaks and sage-grass slopes. Numbers are steady but bucks compete for attention with the strong whitetail herd.

• →Glass open bunchgrass canyon faces at dawn for feeding bucks
• →Hunt the timber-to-open transition and draw heads
• →Separate muleys from whitetail by focusing on the more open canyon country
• →Cover ground along canyon rims for isolated mature bucks

Black bears are common in the timber and canyon brush, huntable on the spring draw hunt and incidentally in fall on the general tag.

• →Spring: glass green-up on south-facing canyon slopes
• →Fall: hunt fruiting brush, chokecherry and mast in draws
• →Watch old logging units and edges morning and evening

Cougars track the abundant deer and elk through this country and are available on a general tag while hunting other species.

• →Cut fresh tracks on snowy logging roads and canyon rims
• →Hunt near deer and elk concentrations
• →Predator call in canyon-edge timber