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Photo from Mail Tribune files Dean Rogers can pass on many mule deer bucks with small antler racks to find his trophy this fall on Hart Mountain. Lucky number drawn for hunter By MARK FREEMAN Despite 1-in-6,000 odds, Dean Rogers awoke Sunday convinced he had won a spectacular hunt during a Saturday night Oregon hunting-tag raffle. It was just a matter of which hunt. "Actually, I looked for a number in the phone book to call them to see which one I won," says Rogers, 57, of Mt. Vernon. "But I couldn't find one." No matter. Sunday night, they called him. Now Rogers is headed to Southeast Oregon's Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge this fall to partake in perhaps the most coveted deer hunt in the western states this year. Rogers won the state Access and Habitat Program raffle drawing, making him one of two men to hunt Hart Mountain's famed mule deer with rifles this fall for the first time in 38 years. Since 1961, only muzzleloaders and archers have hunted mule deer at the 285,000-acre refuge, which sports massive bucks well-schooled in staying just out of musket and arrow range. Rogers' tag was one of 10 state deer and elk tags doled out Saturday during a raffle, in which the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife sold more than 55,000 tickets. Here are others who won raffle BEND -- Dean Rogers of Mt. Vernon was one of 10 lucky hunters who drew special deer or elk hunting tags during Saturday's Access and Habitat Program raffle. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife sold 55,343 tags for the 10 hunts, which give winners special fall seasons to hunt trophy deer and elk in various regions of Oregon. All 10 winning hunters are Oregon residents. An 11th hunter, Manny Anillo of Miami, Fla., was the winner of the bighorn sheep raffle tag. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife holds the raffle to raise money for hunter access and habitat programs statewide. This year's drawing was held at the Oregon Hunters Association's statewide convention. The winners can all hunt in their allotted region Sept. 1 through Nov. 30. The bag limit is one animal, either sex, of the species for either a deer or elk, depending upon the tag. The other winners were as follows: Western Oregon Deer Hunt went : Terry Rodakowski, Eugene. The Northeast Oregon Deer Hunt : David Dreschler, Portland. Southeast Oregon Deer Hunt : R.M. Bernards, McMinnville. Central Oregon Deer Hunt : Bill Mulder, Toledo. Northeast Oregon Elk Hunt : Allen Cicrich, Beaverton. Southeast Oregon Elk Hunt : Tom Donohue, Lyons. Central Oregon Elk Hunt : Mike Sheets, Redmond. Western Oregon Elk Hunt : Tom Johnson, Astoria. Statewide Elk Hunt : Todd A. Erickson, Carlton. The Hart Mountain tag topped raffle-players' interest with 18,000 entries. The tag allows its owner to hunt anywhere on the refuge with a rifle for one mule deer between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30. A similar tag netted $27,000 at auction Feb. 6 in Medford. It's owner, Stephen Walker of Santa Barbara, Calif., bought it after concluding the Hart Mountain hunt is the top deer hunt this year in the western states. Rogers and Walker will be the first in 38 years to select the refuge's world-class bucks through a rifle scope -- all but assuring them of a shot at the mule-deer record books. "It's going to be a very exclusive, wonderful hunt for these folks," says Beth Waterbury, who runs Oregon's Access and Habitat Program and who informed Rogers of his winning draw. Not bad for Rogers, a mule deer fanatic who bought only three tickets for the Hart Mountain drawing. In fact, he actually was disappointed at first that he did not win what he considered the top tag -- the Southeast Oregon tag to hunt the Steens Mountains. He has since come to believe differently. "Honestly, I didn't know they haven't rifle-hunted there in so long. "Here I am, winning the grand prize," he says, "and I didn't even know what the grand prize was." But Rogers expected something from the drawing Saturday night at the Oregon Hunters Association statewide convention in Bend. Six weeks ago, he spent $100 for 75 Access and Habitat Program raffle tickets. He spent the next several days filling out his tickets, with 60 for the Southeast Oregon Deer Hunt tag he coveted. Rogers, a construction foreman who eats and sleeps mule deer hunting, filled out his three Hart Mountain tags as an afterthought. Though he says has never won anything, save a few trinkets at church raffles, Rogers had told friends and family for weeks that he expected to win one of the raffle tags. So Waterbury's call Sunday came as no surprise. But learning that the Hart Mountain hunt is so prestigious was a surprise. "I'm really pumped," Rogers says. "This is a hunt of a lifetime." Rogers plans to find and drop a mule deer whose antlers are worthy of listing in the Boone and Crockett Club's record book. He also plans to hunt with the same .270-caliber Ruger bolt-action rifle that he bought in the early 1960s -- about the last time rifles were allowed in the refuge. The rifle's range is only about 300 yards -- far less than high-powered rifles but still likely good enough for Rogers. "I'm not big on big calibers," he says. "As far as I'm concerned, it's (shot) placement. "I don't take bad shots. I don't waste a lot of ammo." Rogers also plans not to waste his chance. He has never been to the refuge, but plans to travel there on a scouting trip with friends who are familiar with the country. "I'm going to take all the time I need," Rogers says. "If I have to wait until the last day, I will. It won't make any difference." (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. He can be reached at 776-4470.) 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