I just moved out to western Washignton in the Silverdale area, and just wanted to see if anyone could give me some insight on the hunting in this area. What are the typical season dates? What are the best areas to hunt? I from everything I have read about washington it seems like this is a Mecca of sorts...can't wait to find out. Thanks
Best advice I could give you would to go to the local Wildlife Department and ask, or research online. When we were looking at moving to Oregon last year, that's how I figured it out.
lets see.... along the coastal areas... bear, blacktail, elk... bear is good... blacktail is low, elk are big but low numbers... west side of the cascades... bear, blacktail, elk... bear is fair (northern part), blacktail is fair to good, elk I'm not too sure about.... east side of the cascades, bear, mule deer, elk... bear dont know, mule deer, pretty good, elk are smaller but larger numbers (most areas are spike only tho so no trophys)... east side of the state (Spokane)... bear, whitetail deer, elk, moose... bear is ok, white tail is good, elk are ok... moose is special draw... Turkey... west side has some down along the columbia river only... east side has some on north half of the cascades, south of Yakama, south east corner, and north of Spokane... largest number is north of Spokane up around Kettle Falls, Colville area... Seasons... bear opens Aug 15... Deer around Sept 1, Elk around Sept 15, Turkey is open now... there is late archery for deer in December... all dates are aprox as different hunt areas open and close on different days
oh... forgot to add... Elk you have to pick your side to hunt (east of west of the Cascades)... only allowed to hunt one method (archery, muzzy, or modern) for deer and elk, unless you apply and draw a multi tag... odds are about 50% to draw for deer, 20% to draw for elk... the draw is over for this year tho so you can only hunt the one weapon you choose to get the tag for... the above dates are all archery dates hope that helps ya... I'm doing all archery mostly west side this year (did draw the multi deer tag tho so I can go out muzzy with my grandson if I don't have one down yet) if you want to come along yer more then welcome... I live in the Tacoma area...
Smoke pretty much covered it but I will add, a lot of the private timber company's like Weyerhauser, Green Diamond, Hancock etc, charge an access fee to hunt their land. The fees range anywhere from $150- 350, some will let you camp, some won`t. You will need to check each company`s website for purchasing info because some of them only allow purchasing access permits at certain times and some sell out in a matter of minutes. Also, if you are hunting elk on the west side, do some google searching on hoof rot... I hope this helps.
Thanks for all the info guys. I have been on the WA Wildlife Websites and I can safely say its quite overwhelming compared to the MD,FL and NC Sites. There is SO much more to hunt and fish here.
just noticed your sig line.... I was a TM back in the day on boomers... welcome to Washington and this site
Sean Go to www.hunting-washington.com/ Forums. This is a excellent web site for hunting in Washington. Lots of information on almost any hunting topic, plus photography and Classifieds. Broken down well to find specific information on specific game hunts. There are early and late hunts for deer & elk, bow and rifle. The units around Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier hold the largest elk herds, and the most hunters. The Gifford Pinchot NF holds thousand of acres of public hunting grounds. Google the Dark Divide Roadless area, 83,000 acres in the GP NF south of Randle. See FR 23 and FR 25 in the GP NF.
Smoke, I would love to tag along with you one weekend if you are going out. I was on the USS Georgia before moving here. Hungry Horse, thanks for the website and info. Hopefully I can meet some people out here and get in some good hunts and fishing trips.
Sean, turkey is open now... yer more then welcome to tag along ... I'll be able to hunt for the next two weeks, then I'm off on the bike for rolling thunder (ride to the wall in DC)... I'm retired, so can go during the week or weekends.. don't mater... fishing... thats good too... have a canoe, so small lakes for trout.. or rivers and streams (need to get me a new fly rod before I do the rivers tho) big water is out... season just opened for trout Saturday, so lots of stock trout in many of the lakes aint been fished out yet
Awesome thing you're doing Smoke!!! If you come through Iowa on your ride east and need a place to crash for the night let me know. You'll probably stay north of me if you take 80 though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Soccerdan... thanks for the offer, but yer right.. be on 80, and have family just south of Chicago, so Iowa is not a stop.... be doing 7-800 miles a day, be flying right thru Iowa
