Washington hunting

pmkvt14

FNG
Joined
Aug 1, 2022
Messages
15
All my wife is looking to relocating to Washington from CO, any concerns i should have about the hunting laws?
 

Raghornklr

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 29, 2019
Messages
186
Location
Out west
Pick your weapon and season, 3pt minimum on the west side and spike only on the east. Fewer elk than Colorado by a long shot. I believe Colorado is set up fairly similar. And these are generalizations.
 

Jason277

WKR
Joined
Aug 28, 2019
Messages
469
Location
issaquah wa
Definitely way less elk and yes they are trying to railroad hunting here but it sounds like CO is in the same boat .
 
Joined
Apr 7, 2021
Messages
17
Location
Oregon
Pick your weapon and season, 3pt minimum on the west side and spike only on the east. Fewer elk than Colorado by a long shot. I believe Colorado is set up fairly similar. And these are generalizations.
I don't know the WA regs so forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean spike only on the east? The regs page makes it seem like there are a lot of any elk/any bull units on the eastside for general tag rifle
 

Raghornklr

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 29, 2019
Messages
186
Location
Out west

NRA4LIFE

WKR
Joined
Nov 20, 2016
Messages
1,507
Location
washington
Spike only for OTC hunting in most descent East side units. Branched antlered requires drawing a permit. Just to level set things, 20+ years of applying and still haven't drawn one of those. Western OTC permits are different but I have never hunted the west side. The Cascade range separates east from west.
 
Joined
Apr 7, 2021
Messages
17
Location
Oregon
Thanks, yeah I knew the more premier WA units were basically impossible draws but didn't know the rest was so weighted towards spikes. How do you guys find the spike hunts to be?
 

ridgefire

WKR
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Messages
629
Location
western wa
Elk hunting in Washington chokes for the most part unless you can draw a tag which is next to impossible. I don’t know what the success rate on spikes is but I’m guessing it’s under 5%. Pretty slim pickings.
 
Joined
Dec 15, 2020
Messages
39
Location
Washington
The hunting regulations are a little more complicated than CO, but if you can navigate CO regs WA shouldn't be too challenging. I have only hunted CO once, but some key differences are WA does not have separate rules for private vs public, draw hunt dates can be unit specific vs CO's 1st and 4th rifle.

When you buy your elk tag in WA, you need to pick weapon choice (archery, muzzleloader or modern firearm) and Westside/Eastside of state. You can only apply for draw tags that match your purchased general tag required for that hunt. WA has early and late seasons for each weapon choice, general tag is valid for both. Elk is pretty limited for late season hunts.

WA also has two sub species of elk, rocky mountain elk like CO and Roosevelt on the coast.
 
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