JACKSON - Late-season bow hunters should focus on lower elevation areas, especially around oak grasslands. Tree stands and antler-rattling are good bets now, especially when set up on game trails.

GRANTS PASS — Ethan Swiger and his grandfather drove the Josephine County backroads together Nov. 1 looking to usher the 12-year-old boy into one of the family's more passionate of pastimes.

JACKSON - Late-season bow hunting opens Saturday. Hunters should focus on lower elevations, especially around oak grasslands. Tree stands and antler-rattling are good bets now, especially when set up on game trails.

BAKER CITY — Matea Huggins isn't even a teenager yet, but already she's the star of a hunting tale that would enchant listeners at any Oregon campfire.

A new police-patrolled travel-management area will help keep about 680,000 acres of Southern Oregon industrial timberlands open to public access for hunting, fishing and other pursuits over the next five years.

Some of Oregon's more seasoned elk poachers have learned to side-step getting caught in a backwoods wildlife-enforcement-decoy sting by following the mantra, "If it ain't movin', they ain't shootin'."

JACKSON - The general rifle season for blacktail bucks remains open through Nov. 6 and late-season success should be very good. Mature bucks are already showing signs of being in the rut, so add some doe scent to your clothes for a little edge. Start looking for deer at mid- to low-elevation areas and consider doing some antler-rattling to get the big bucks interested.

PROSPECT — The weatherman is bringing good news, but not great news, for Saturday's start of the general bull-elk season.

JACKSON - Duck and goose hunting opens Saturday throughout Western Oregon, and rainy weather should improve opening weekend conditions. Cold weather in Canada has enticed birds to migrate down the flyway earlier this year. The Rogue River corridor and the Denman Wildlife Area are two popular local waterfowl hunting locations.

Thumb-tacked to the "Bragging Wall" at Sportsmen's Warehouse is a photo of a rather under-whelming black-tailed buck, a little forked-horn deer held up by a man whose smile is wider than the deer's antlers.

Whether you're a seasoned hunter or just getting started, knowing where and when to hunt in Oregon has always meant a lot of questions.

JACKSON/JOSEPHINE - The opening week of rifle season for blacktail bucks has been very good throughout the region, especially for those who have hunted at high elevations and taken advantage of snow and rainy weather. Lots of good bucks were reported throughout the Applegate, Rogue and South Dixon units. The deer are starting to move from higher elevations. Continue to focus on game trails.

LAKE CREEK — The blacktail-rich hills around this central Jackson County outpost are normally so crackling dry for the opening of the buck-deer season that rifle hunters say they don't eat their Cornflakes for breakfast ... they walk on them.

State wildlife biologists plan to add a carrot, then possibly a stick, to entice Oregon's big-game and turkey hunters to take seriously the mandatory part of mandatory-reporting of hunting success.

A roadside outpost near Prineville next week will be part of Oregon's continuing effort to ensure that Chronic Wasting Disease does not make a fatal reach into the state's wild deer and elk herds.

JACKSON/JOSEPHINE - Rifle season for blacktail bucks opens Saturday, and early-season hunters should focus on high-elevation forest land. Weather will have some effect on the migration movement, with colder, wetter weather causing more movement. Focus on game trails.

PROSPECT — The "96 percenters" who head into Jackson County's woods each fall with a general-season rifle tag that ultimately goes unfilled ought to consider changing their game plans for finally filling their tag this fall.

Thirteen is turning into a lucky number for Oregon waterfowl hunters, who are poised this fall to extend their record run of the longest duck seasons possible.

The 2009 big-game hunting season will kick off next week with the death of one of Oregon's storied fall traditions — guys standing in line to buy their license and deer tag at the very last moment before the hunt.

EUGENE — The sound of rifle fire, on most big-game hunts, sends every critter in the area fleeing for the horizon.