The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted 2027 big game hunting regulations at a meeting in La Grande, approving seasons for deer, elk, pronghorn, black bear, cougar, bighorn sheep, and Rocky Mountain goats. Seasons and tag numbers will be similar to 2026 except for calendar shifts, with printed regulations available in late November, the agency said.
Several changes target western Oregon elk hunts. For any-legal-weapon coast elk hunts, the spike-only bag limit will shift from the second to the first period to more evenly distribute hunters. Three Wildlife Management Units will shift from two any-bull-elk periods to one any-bull period and one spike-only period to raise bull ratios to management objectives. Cow harvest will be reduced in the West Cascades hunt by removing antlerless elk from the bag limits of several tag types, a region where the elk population remains below management objectives.
The commission approved a three-year cougar target area in the Trout Creek Mountains in Harney County by a 6-0 vote with one abstention. ODFW will remove no more than 18 cougars over three years to temporarily reduce predation during a planned bighorn sheep augmentation needed to increase genetic diversity in the resident population. The measure targets predation on newly translocated sheep, which are most vulnerable in their first months after release. The low level of genetic diversity has limited population growth despite relatively good habitat conditions and lack of disease.
In other business, the commission approved funding for Access and Habitat projects that open public hunting access to private land or improve wildlife habitat, approved the sale of ODFW's old Pendleton office site of 40.54 acres to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and approved acquisition of 528 acres in Coos County adjacent to the existing Coquille Wildlife Area, which will expand it to 1,224 acres.