Smoke from the Falls Fire hazes the sky over the Izee-Paulina Highway looking west from Highway 395 on July 16, 2024.

SALEM — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will host a series of online public meetings July 10 and 16 to explain and collect comments about significant proposed changes to mule deer hunting starting in 2026.

There won’t be any changes for the hunting seasons this fall for the 56,000 or so people who hunt mule deer east of the Cascades.

The proposal, if adopted by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission this September, would apply to 2026 hunts, said Josh Smith, mule deer coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Each meeting will include a presentation on 2026 proposed regulations, a question-and-answer session, and opportunity for public comment. Proposed 2026 tag numbers and regulation changes, as well as links to each of the online meetings, have been posted at tinyurl.com/p3unfmx2.

Due to declining mule deer populations, a trend ODFW attributes to multiple factors including predation, climate change, and habitat loss and degradation, Oregon’s 2024 mule deer plan calls on the agency to use herd ranges, rather than the current wildlife management units, as the basis for managing the species, including hunting tag allocations.

In many areas, mule deer live in a different area during hunting seasons than during the agency’s annual winter population count, said Smith, who works at ODFW’s La Grande office.

Due to the discrepancy, ODFW biologists believe the agency is allocating hunting tag numbers based on faulty numbers, Smith said.

The commission is scheduled to adopt regulations during its Sept. 12 meeting in Ontario.

The meeting schedule:

• Northwest Region (Newport/Tillamook/Sauvie Island/Clackamas/Springfield/Corvallis): July 10, 6:30-7:30 p.m.

• Southwest Region (Roseburg/Charleston/Central Point/Gold Beach): July 10, 6-7:30 p.m.

• Northeast Region (Pendleton/La Grande/John Day/Baker/Enterprise/Heppner): July 10, 6-7:30 p.m.

• Southeast Region (The Dalles/Prineville/Bend/Klamath Falls/Lakeview/Ontario/Hines: July 16, 6-8 p.m.