By Garrett Christensen on Monday, August 7th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
NORTHEAST OREGON – (Release from ODFW) Northeast Oregon hunters should be aware that several Travel Management Areas (TMAs) listed in the 2023 Oregon Big Game Hunting Regulations as having a change for this year will operate under 2022 rules instead.
ODFW made changes to TMAs for 2023 when the Commission adopted regulations back in September 2022. Most of the changes started TMAs at an earlier date or included a specific date the TMA was in effect (for example, start date of Aug. 20 rather than three days before archery season). The purpose of the changes was to protect wildlife habitat, improve the hunting experience and make the regulations more consistent and understandable for all visitors.
But as portions of these TMAs are on U.S. Forest Service lands, a separate public process is needed to adopt them. That USFS process is not yet complete.
Instead of what’s printed in the regulations, the following rules will be in effect for the TMAs and winter range closures listed below (in most cases, reversion to 2022 rules):
Find GeoPDF maps of several TMAs with the correct dates for 2023 at the following link https://myodfw.com/articles/hunting-maps or on the ODFW storefront on Avenza, https://store.avenza.com/collections/oregon-department-of-fish-and-wildlife
The purpose of TMAs is to protect wildlife habitat, reduce disturbance of wildlife from motorized vehicles and help keep big game from shifting to private land during hunting seasons.
Research conducted at Starkey Experimental Forest shows that elk avoid roads that are open to motorized vehicle use, whether this is on-road vehicles or ATVs. A 2022 study by ODFW found avoidance of roads was even stronger during hunting seasons. This pattern of avoiding roads has been observed throughout North America and is typically one of the strongest factors affecting habitat use by elk.
The purpose of TMAs is to protect wildlife habitat, reduce disturbance of wildlife from motorized vehicles and help keep big game from shifting to private land during hunting seasons.