Both Coast bull elk seasons are open in units 10–15, 17, 18, 20, 23–27.

Wilson is 12, Trask is 14 — both included in both seasons. A Coast tag is valid across that whole list, so a first-season tag also covers Saddle Mountain (10) an hour north if you want to spread out.

• Deer runs 35 days; elk runs 4 + 7. Treat deer as the school year and elk as the final exam.
• Nov 7–13 is West Cascade elk season — not this area, but the local woods empty out. Good scouting days.
• A bear tag is cheap insurance. Aug 1 – Dec 31 overlaps every other hunt. Without it, a legal bear stepping out during deer season is something you can only watch.
• Late November weather. Both elk seasons fall in the wettest, darkest stretch of the north coast year. Rain gear and a headlamp are not optional.

• Clear-cut edges, three to ten years old. Blacktail feed in the brush and bed in adjacent timber. The Tillamook is an active working forest — there are hundreds of these units along the corridor.
• Behind the ODF gates. The closures exist specifically to give deer and elk somewhere to escape pressure. Walking a mile past a gate puts you further from other hunters than driving ten miles will.
• Benches and old landings mid-slope on north-facing ground, especially during warm early-October weather.

• The first and last 45 minutes of light. Coastal blacktail are effectively nocturnal in between.
• Rain and fog help — deer move all day in bad weather and wet brush lets you close the distance quietly.
• Late October, as the rut nudges bucks into daylight, is the strongest stretch of the season.

• Glass, don't walk. Sit an opposing hillside at dawn with binoculars on a clear-cut. Walking blacktail country is how you push deer you never see.
• Wind in your face, move at half the speed that feels reasonable, stop more than you walk.
• Anything from .243 through .30-06 is more than enough rifle. Practise from field positions — kneeling, over a pack, against a stump. Nobody out here gets a benchrest.

A spike is a male elk with at least one visible unbranched antler. The brow tine — the single lowest branch, shorter than the ear — does not count as a branch. Any other tine above the brow tine on the main beam makes that antler branched, and that bull is not legal on a spike tag.

In the field: get binoculars up, examine the main beam above the brow tine on both sides, and if there is any doubt at all, let him walk. A raghorn and a spike look identical at 200 yards in coastal fog to an eye that hasn't practised the distinction.

• Roosevelt elk live in herds with large home ranges. Unlike deer, they are not everywhere — they occupy a handful of drainages and stay there. September and October scouting is the whole game.
• Look for fresh sign on spur roads, wallows, rubbed saplings and cropped grass on old landings. A road with elk tracks crossing it weekly in October will have elk near it in November.
• Elk favour the bigger, quieter blocks — gated areas, the heads of drainages, the far side of a ridge from the nearest open road.

• By mid-November the rut is over. Bulls are quiet, grouped with cows or bachelored up. Calling is largely unproductive; finding and following fresh tracks in wet ground is how most coastal bulls die.
• Elk move away from road pressure on opening morning. Being a mile past a gate at daylight on Nov 14 is worth more than any gear on the market.
• Plan the pack-out before the shot. A Roosevelt bull is 700+ lbs on the hoof, and quartering happens in the rain, in the dark, on steep ground. Know the distance back to the truck and be honest about it.

There is a General Season Antlerless Elk Damage Tag valid Aug 1 – Mar 31, but damage tags are tied to specific landowner and damage situations, not open public-land hunting. The unit-wide antlerless hunts (Wilson 612, Trask 614) are controlled hunts with a May application deadline.

1. Create a MyODFW account at odfw.huntfishoregon.com.
2. Buy the annual hunting license first — tags will not sell without it.
3. Add the deer tag and your chosen Coast elk season tag.
4. Carry them in the MyODFW app (electronic tags are valid) or print them. Keep a backup — cell service dies fast up the side drainages.
5. Report every tag at the same site by Jan 31, 2027, successful or not.

Oregon requires hunter education only for hunters under 18. An adult does not legally need it. Take it anyway — it is the cheapest single improvement a new hunter can make, and out-of-state hunts will demand the certificate later.

ODFW hunter safety education → Online course with an in-person field day, or a conventional classroom course.

Layers stream live from the State of Oregon Public Land Management service and the ODFW Wildlife Management Units service. An internet connection is required for them to draw.

Every September through November, ODF, ODFW and the Tillamook chapter of the Oregon Hunters Association gate selected roads in the Wilson, Trask and Nehalem River drainages. The stated purpose is improving deer and elk escapement — in plain terms, giving animals somewhere pressure-free to go.

Hunting behind the gates is allowed. Foot, mountain bike, horse — any non-motorized travel is welcome. It is the single best public-land advantage available here, and most hunters will not walk.

Recurring travel-management areas include Arch Support Big Bear Fall Creek Ridge Gods Valley Hole in the Wall Joyce Quarry / North Murray Wolf Creek. Gate locations shift year to year based on operations.

Get the current maps from the Tillamook State Forest hunting page or in person at the ODF Tillamook office, 5005 Third St.

• Wilson Unit 12 boundary map (PDF)
• Trask Unit 14 boundary map (PDF)
• Tillamook State Forest map — northern half (PDF)
• Tillamook State Forest map — southern half (PDF)
• Tillamook State Forest Recreation Guide (PDF)
• Oregon fire danger & restriction map (live)

• No shooting from or across a public road or road right-of-way. That includes Highway 6 and every named forest road. Get off the road and out of the right-of-way before a round is chambered.
• No shooting from a vehicle. Stopped, out, and clear of the road.
• No thermal or night vision — at all. New for 2026, ODFW expanded the rule: it is unlawful to hunt, locate, or scout with infrared, thermal, or any night-vision sight or equipment. That includes a thermal device attached to a scope or rifle even when switched off. Trail cameras remain legal.
• No artificial light cast on game from within 500 feet of a vehicle while carrying a weapon capable of killing it.
• No electronic calls for big game.
• Right animal, right tag, right season. An antlerless deer on a buck tag, or a branch-antlered bull on a spike tag, is not a mistake the state forgives.
• Trespass. Private timber blocks are laced through the state forest and many are unmarked on the ground. If it hasn't been confirmed public, don't shoot on it.

• Validate the tag immediately on the kill — before moving the animal — and keep it with the carcass. Electronic tags in the MyODFW app are valid; learn to validate offline before standing over a dead elk with no bars.
• Report every tag by Jan 31, 2027, whether filled, hunted, or never used. Miss it and a $25 penalty attaches to a licence purchase two years later.
• Carry the licence and tag on your person, not in the truck.

• Target shooting on ODF land (relevant for sighting in): commercially manufactured or paper targets only, solid earth backstop required, no shooting at live trees, not from or across a road or trail, no exploding targets such as Tannerite, no shooting at glass or garbage, dawn to dusk only. Pack out every shell and target.
• Fire season restrictions run through summer and early autumn and can close the forest or ban motorized travel off improved roads. Check the live restriction map before every trip in August and September.
• Cascade Head – Lincoln City special area in far southwest Trask is closed to centrefire rifles, muzzleloaders and handguns — archery and shotgun slugs only.
• Blaze orange is not required for adult hunters in Oregon. Wear it anyway during rifle seasons; the Tillamook gets crowded on an elk opener.

• MyODFW account created; annual hunting licence purchased
• Deer tag bought by Oct 2 and a Coast elk season chosen
• Rifle sighted in from field positions, not just a bench
• Deer and elk season pages of the 2026 Big Game Regulations read end to end — especially the second-season elk bag limit
• Current ODF road-closure map in hand
• Offline maps downloaded for the Wilson River drainage — cell service dies fast
• Someone knows where you parked and when you'll be back
• Pack-out kit: game bags, knife, headlamp, spare batteries, rope
• Rain gear that actually works
• Calendar reminder set for Jan 31, 2027 — report your tags

• 2026 Oregon Big Game Hunting Regulations (PDF) — the authoritative document
• ODFW — 2026 Big Game Seasons — general season dates, tags and deadlines
• ODFW — Wilson Unit 12 — boundary description, 65% public land
• ODFW — Trask Unit 14 — boundary description, 42% public land, Cascade Head restriction
• Oregon Hunters Association — what's new for 2026 — thermal-optic rule change, western Oregon elk population status
• Tillamook State Forest — hunting season road management
• ODF — target shooting rules
• ODFW — report your hunt
• ODFW — hunter safety education
• ODFW — legal methods and weapon restrictions
• MyODFW — buy licences and tags, report hunts
• Map layers: State of Oregon Public Land Management and ODFW Wildlife Management Units ArcGIS services