Washington State

[Bryanb0224]

New to Washington State need some guidance, been in Texas last 8 years… I have hunted mule deer in New Mexico in the past but have no clue about anything in Washington can anybody give me some guidance not asking for your honey holes just need some help!


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[hwy1strat]

What kind of info are you looking for? Also, have you tried searching for other threads yet?

 

[jimh406]

There aren't a lot of deer in Washington State compared to some other places. However, there is some National Forest, state land, and BLM land. Mule Deer do migrate, so spotting them in Summer doesn't mean they will be there come hunting season unless you do early season High Buck hunts.

Assuming you are in good health, and good shape. I think the High Buck areas are probably your best bet.

If you are interested at all in Whitetail, go over in the Curlew or Pond Oreille areas closer to Spokane.

 

[Elkoholic87]

Hunt a different state.


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[mavinwa2]

First the good side. There are several species of deer you can hunt in WA State. Most likely if you start hunting deer, you will get interested in the 2 species of elk available too.

You will find blacktail deer on the westside of the Cascade mountains and Olympic Peninsula. Also known as the WETSIDE of the state. Forested lands are 43% privately owned. Predominantly by private forest companies, requiring a purchase of access pass from the forest companies. Motorized Access pass fees will cost
$300-$350 annually per person. Back in the 1970-1980's, access was free. Not anymore. But do the research and you will find some State DNR, a little BLM and some national forest access.

For mule deer, you need to research game management units in central, north on the east side of the Cascade mountains, SE and few areas of NE part of the state. Referred to as the DRY side. Focus on main national forest lands for public access. Again about 41% of eastern WA forested lands are privately owned. More BLM lands on the east side, State DNR lands as well.

Good populations of whitetail deer in the SE and NE parts of the state. However, lots of private lands in the prime whitetail units but good parcels of public national forest are available.

Sadly 50% of the positions on the WA game council are chaired by known non-hunter/activists. Most are appointed to the positions by the State Governor or his appointed Game Commissioner. The game commissioner himself admitted publicly that; "I am a hippie from San Francisco with no hunting experience or history thereof". Along with; "hunters are needed less to control game populations as we have healthy numbers of predators to do so:" And he does love wolves, with special 11-person committee to oversee the wolf populations. 6 of these persons are non-hunters, special interest group backing by PETA, Humane Society and other similar factions.
A sorry welcome for you to hunting Washington State.

Forest Landownership, Forest Inventory Analysis Annual Inventory
TOTAL / PUBLIC / PRIVATE
2014 Ownership Entire State (acres) 21,981,284 / 12,574,566 / 9,406,718
Western Washington (acres) 12,215,007 / 6,857,951 / 5,357,056
Eastern Washington (acres) 9,766,277 / 5,716,616 / 4,049,662

 

[Bryanb0224]

Thanks for the replies… and I was actually looking at that high buck hunt and read that they basically spell it out for you on the locations.. I haven’t picked up a rifle in years mostly bow hunt ! I would imagine the terrain would make it a little harder on the bow hunting side of the house but does sound fun!


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[willfrye027]

I would focus on whitetails or blacktails personally. You can hunt hard and have a chance at a big deer of each species. A few guys may kill some big Washington mule deer bucks, but your time is probably better spent hunting big mule deer in another state. If it’s just any mule deer you want, have at it.

 

[Wrench]

Hunted Washington for 35 years, spent time on the F&W advisory board and more time in the field than average.

To put it simply, you're about 3 years too late to sample what most of what you will read reflects. We had two huge die offs and our predator management is to protect predators, not ungulates.

The success rate of the high hunts is very low on good years, but it's a great trip. I would do it but not expecting to see a lot of deer.

 

[Bryanb0224]

I would focus on whitetails or blacktails personally. You can hunt hard and have a chance at a big deer of each species. A few guys may kill some big Washington mule deer bucks, but your time is probably better spent hunting big mule deer in another state. If it’s just any mule deer you want, have at it.

No opposed to hunting either, I didn’t get to hunt this year so trigger finger is getting itchy! Is there whitetail close by? Again I’m in the tricities… down in Texas I hunted out of a saddle so I would imagine whitetails in Washington are double the size but are hunt the same way?


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[willfrye027]

No opposed to hunting either, I didn’t get to hunt this year so trigger finger is getting itchy! Is there whitetail close by? Again I’m in the tricities… down in Texas I hunted out of a saddle so I would imagine whitetails in Washington are double the size but are hunt the same way?


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I am far from an expert but my in laws are in Spokane so we will hunt Washington or Idaho for whiteys every few years. Plenty of public land, it’s more mountainous/timber with big deer also in the agricultural/palouse type stuff. We usually fly in and just hunt from the ground, still hunting and sitting against a tree in a good spot. Friends up there have killed some huge bucks over the years (150”+). EHD was bad last year but they should bounce back..didn’t seem to affect the mountainous stuff in Idaho where we hunted last fall.

 

[The10%]

We have really good Bear hunting, and some great waterfowl if you're into that

 

[Bsa270]

I am from British Columbia and hunt some nice country right above the border. Pasayton river and Manning park is where I hunted fairly frequently and myself or hunting partner would always get a decent buck. I would assume it to be similar in Washington state, always looked into Washington state and wanted to go in those mountains.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

Thanks for the replies… and I was actually looking at that high buck hunt and read that they basically spell it out for you on the locations.. I haven’t picked up a rifle in years mostly bow hunt ! I would imagine the terrain would make it a little harder on the bow hunting side of the house but does sound fun!


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You can bow hunt all of the high buck areas starting September 1st because the units they are in are open to general archery season(assuming you buy an archery tag)


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[dirtytough]

You can bow hunt all of the high buck areas starting September 1st because the units they are in are open to general archery season(assuming you buy an archery tag)


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I haven’t looked at the regs lately. But isn’t the Pasayten closed to archery? I think it’s 203 going off memory.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

I haven’t looked at the regs lately. But isn’t the Pasayten closed to archery? I think it’s 203 going off memory.

Yea I guess it is, I guess I should’ve said most. Wonder why that particular unit doesn’t have a general archery season?


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[dirtytough]

Yea I guess it is, I guess I should’ve said most. Wonder why that particular unit doesn’t have a general archery season?


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Idk? It never made sense to me.

I ran into an area loaded with elk once. Only place I had seen that type of sign was in the blues when the blues were good. I mewed with my mouth and called a 6 point bull in.

It wasn’t open for archery at the time. I asked the bio why not and the bio had zero clue why it wasn’t open. It was open for late rifle and late muzzy.

Gotta love WA.

 

[The Ri Guy]

I disagree with @Wrench in that I'd argue you're 20+ years late to the Muley game in WA.

Those who find consistent success on WA Muley are often fortunate to have generations of friends, family, or otherwise that have already put in the work to identify and master areas when the roads were open and the land still public, back in the 80's, and to a lesser extent the 90's. Most of the prime dry side general season Muley grounds are owned by a few prominent Ag families these days.

I would definitely be focusing on NE/SE Whitetail or Wetside Blacktail if I was a new WA hunter without connections. Never hurts to try to make connections with one of the ranch owners in the 100's units, plenty of hunting clubs out there as well you may or may not be able to buy into.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I lived in ne wash between 1979 and 1988. Most of the game was in the summer because the snow was deep and long. A highlite of my life was moving back to Montana.

Lots of luck but don't get your hopes too high.

 

[Bryanb0224]

You can bow hunt all of the high buck areas starting September 1st because the units they are in are open to general archery season(assuming you buy an archery tag)


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Are you able to bear hunt during archery season as well? I have never bear hunted but looking forward to it very much!

 

[jimh406]

Are you able to bear hunt during archery season as well? I have never bear hunted but looking forward to it very much!

Used to be able to. My guess is it hasn't changed with bear numbers increasing.