GOLD BEACH — General season black-tailed deer hunters will be allowed to shoot single-point spike bucks in Western Oregon beginning in 2020 under new hunting rules adopted by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The change will increase the chance of success for about 60,000 hunters who take part in the Western Oregon season. Rifle hunters generally average about a 20-percent success rate.

Under the previous rule, hunters could shoot only forked-horn deer. The change is not expected to have much impact on the overall blacktail population because spikes have a high mortality rate on their own, according to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife statistics.

Also adopted for 2020 are new general season antlerless elk “damage tags” in chronic elk-damage areas like Sams Valley and the foothills east of Medford where most damage tags currently are issued, biologist said.

These low-elevation elk generally are not migratory, so culling their numbers won’t impact the migratory herds, says Steve Nimela, ODFW’s Rogue District wildlife biologist.