The draft proposals for 2001 controlled hunt tag numbers and 2002 seasons will be adopted by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission June 8-9 at a public meeting in Portland. Comments from the public meetings will be provided to the Commissioners for their consideration. At meetings in Klamath Falls, Bend, Pendleton, Medford, Newport and Clackamas, all public comments will be recorded and given to the Commission. This new approach is being used to better obtain public input.
Biologists also are concerned about hair loss in black-tailed deer.
Effects of this condition on the population are unknown but it does cause some affected animals to die. These concerns resulted in the lower tag recommendations. ODFW biologists also proposed reducing the number of elk tags in northeastern Oregon because of poor calf survival in some areas and declining population trends. Most of the tag reduction will occur in northeast Oregon. A proposal to split the High Cascade buck deer hunt into two different hunts to better distribute hunters in 2002 will be presented to the Commission.