Unit 52 (Starkey)

Blue Mountains edge habitat

Starkey runs from I-84 near La Grande across to Tower Mountain Road and the Anthony Lakes country. The high points are Bear Butte at 7517 ft, Black Butte at 7053 ft, Badger Butte at 6983 ft, Chicken Hill at 6963 ft and Tower Mountain at 6850 ft. The low ground is about 2865 ft. ODFW says bear populations are rising slightly and hunting should look like past years. Look for bears in drainages, meadows and along edge habitat at lower elevations.

Closures that make walk-in ground

ODFW notes that road closure areas in the Catherine Creek and Starkey units give good walk-in access to bear habitat. That's useful for a spring hunt as well. The hunt excludes the fenced Starkey Experimental Forest and Range enclosure and a buffer outside it, so check the map before you set up. Forest Development Roads 5226 and 21, Mud Lake and Spring Creek campgrounds and Hilgard Junction State Park give you starting points. La Grande, Island City, North Powder and Union are the nearest towns. Tower Mountain Road and Frazier Forest Camp mark the west side, and Four Corners Forest Camp sits on the Hwy 244 line to the north.

The ground ODFW draws for this hunt

The Starkey Unit, WMU 52, covers about 806 square miles measured on ODFW's polygon, and ODFW rates it 67% public land. Named features inside the line fall in Union County, Baker County, Umatilla County and Grant County. Elevation runs from about 2,769 to 7,517 feet. The highest named points are Bear Butte (7,517 ft), Black Butte (7,053 ft) and Badger Butte (6,983 ft). ODFW's line is the legal one, so check it against a current land-ownership map, and get permission before you cross private ground or a locked gate inside it.

Spring means open ground and green-up

This tag runs in April and May, after bears leave the dens. In general, early bears feed on new green growth, so glass meadows and south-facing slopes in the morning and again late in the day. Sit a ridge with a long view, keep still and let the binoculars do the work. A bear that spots you will be gone in a few strides.

If you hold a fall tag instead

ODFW's forecast addresses the fall season, and it's worth knowing. Look for bears around huckleberry patches in mid-August and old orchards in mid-September. Bears are heavy on huckleberries, thimbleberries, currants and hawthorn berries then, and the fruit crop looks good. A big black bear in steep timber means a hard pack-out, so quarter the animal and take the hide and meat in separate loads. Check the wind constantly, and don't start a stalk you can't finish quietly.

ODFW's 2026 black bear hunts on this ground

Seasons, bag limits and tags come from ODFW's 2026 regulations. Check the current book before you apply or go, because these change every year.

• 752A Starkey - Ukiah, Apr. 1 - May 31: 330 tags.

The 2025 harvest in ODFW's numbers

ODFW's 2025 statistics for this WMU, covering black bear hunters.

• Starkey: 444 hunters, 18 animals, 4% success over 4,089 hunter days.

Roads in and the nearest towns

The longest named roads through this ground are I 84;US 30, NF 73, National Forest Development Road 5226 and National Forest Development Road 21. The nearest towns are La Grande (15 mi), Island City (18 mi) and North Powder (21 mi), measured from the centre of the unit.