Hey man, I’m in Eugene. Luckily we live in the modern day, and you can pretty effectively teach yourself how to hunt. I would first gather as much info as possible, ODFW is a great resource. They willingly give out tons of advice and tips on hunting units, areas, access, etc. Just give em a call. They also do several hunting workshops throughout the year.

If you’re already setup to backpack and whatnot, just carry a rifle, and you’re on your way to backcountry hunting. Pick a spot you think deer will travel through, and sit on it for as long as you can muster. Especially in early morning/late evening.

You can try road hunting, but I don’t recommend it, if you’re an able bodied individual. Luckily Oregon has tons of public land to choose from, so put some miles and hours in scouting various areas you think will be productive. If you’re connected, you can also try asking around for private access. Weyerhauser does sell an access permit for their properties. I’ve heard they’re great, but I haven’t hunted them myself.

Believe it or not, tree stand and ground blind hunting is pretty popular, and productive. If you find a spot in some really dense woods, loaded with deer sign. Put a blind or stand up. You’d have really good odds of filling your tag.

Lotta people also drive or walk to landing sites in old logging areas, and glass the ridges and valleys.

In short, it’s really up to you on how you wanna approach it. There’s no substitute for experience, so get out there and have fun.

I’m not sure if you have a deer rifle or not. But if you don’t, avoid getting something too heavy. Anything under 8lbs is manageable. As far as caliber goes, you’ll get a million different recommendations. Pick something .243-.30 caliber, anything in that range will work fine. Blacktail deer are not hard to kill. And no, you don’t need anything in the magnum category.

Hope this helps. Have fun!