Deer Hunt Area DO-02 (DeGarmo 02)

One refuge, one boundary

ODFW's boundary here is a single line: every acre inside the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge. There's no private patchwork to sort out. Most of the area comes from the Beatys Butte unit, and the rest from Juniper. The named points show how much vertical ground a buck has to work. Warner Peak and Hart Mountain both top out at 8014 ft, High Point stands at 7732 ft, and Adams Butte and Swede Knoll are the lower knobs at 6797 and 6215 ft. The lowest named ground sits near 4557 ft.

What ODFW says about the herd

ODFW's Lake County forecast lists DO-02 among the hunt areas where buck ratios are above management objective. It also reports a county-wide fawn ratio that's better than recent years. The forecast doesn't pin down where on the refuge the bucks sit, and it gives no hunt-area success rate, so don't plan around either one. Use the high points to organize your scouting, then work the drainages and benches that run down from them. Hines, Burns, Valley Falls and Lakeview all sit a long drive away, so treat the refuge as a place you camp near.

The ground ODFW draws for this hunt

ODFW's Deer Hunt Area DO-02 covers about 437 square miles measured on ODFW's own polygon, and ODFW rates it 99% public land. It takes in parts of these WMUs: Beatys Butte (about 74%) and Juniper (about 26%). Named features inside the line fall in Lake County. Elevation runs from about 4,557 to 8,014 feet. The highest named points are Warner Peak (8,014 ft), Hart Mountain (8,014 ft) and High Point (7,732 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.

Three weapon windows, one refuge

The hunts are archery, muzzleloader and a late archery season, each for a buck with visible antler. That matters for how you scout. Bowhunters in the early window will be working water and shade close to the ground, while the late bow hunt lands closer to the rut, when bucks move more freely and you can glass them chasing does. Muzzleloader hunters get a middle window, so plan for a stalk that ends inside a couple hundred yards.

Getting around and getting out

Jack Mountain Road, Rock Creek Lane and the Fields Basin-Rincon Road are the roads named for this ground. Camp Hart Mountain and Post Meadows Campground are the closest listed camps. Hines, Burns, Valley Falls and Lakeview are all a long drive, so stock up before you go. Glass from a high point at first and last light, then commit to a stalk. Fire danger runs high in this part of Oregon, so check refuge and BLM closures before you leave and keep your rig off tall grass.

ODFW's 2026 buck deer 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.

• DO102M HMNAR Muzzeloader, Oct. 17 - Oct. 25: 55 tags, one buck with visible antler.
• DO102R HMNAR Bow, Aug. 6 - Aug. 14: 11 tags, one buck with visible antler.
• DO102R2 HMNAR Late Bow, Nov. 6 - Nov. 12: 11 tags, one buck with visible antler.

The 2025 harvest in ODFW's numbers

ODFW has no harvest figures on the new hunt areas yet. Its 2025 statistics are by WMU, for all deer hunters, every season and tag type, so these are the units this area was drawn from, and each covers more or less ground than the area does.

• Beatys butte (about 74% of this area): 110 hunters, 57 animals, 52% success over 494 hunter days.
• Juniper (about 26% of this area): 144 hunters, 40 animals, 28% success over 688 hunter days.

Roads in and the nearest towns

The longest named roads through this ground are Frenchglen Road, Black Canyon Road, CR 3-12 and Oregon Desert Trail. The nearest towns are Valley Falls (34 mi) and Lakeview (43 mi), measured from the centre of the unit.