April 2, 2021 3:30 a.m. 

Southwest Oregon archery elk hunters are encouraged to attend an April 7th virtual meeting to learn about proposed changes to the 2022 archery elk season and provide their input.

Jeremy Thompson of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said while archery elk hunting in western Oregon and much of eastern Oregon would remain a general season under the draft proposal, several northeast Oregon units would move to some form of controlled archery to better manage elk populations. Thompson said the proposed change would also more equitably distribute necessary harvest reductions between rifle and archery hunters.

A release said tags would not be portable to general season hunts, so archery elk hunters would need to choose either Eastern Oregon General, Western Oregon General of the controlled hunt tag they drew.

Thompson said ODFW wants input on the draft proposal before developing a final staff proposal that would go before the Commission at its June 18th meeting. Final big game regulations will be adopted at the September 2021 Commission meeting,

Comments can be taken during the meeting, by emailing odfw.wildlifeinfo@tate.or.us no later than April 15th, or by testifying at the June Commission meeting.

A link to the April 7th virtual meeting: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1600126561#success