Hello everyone! This is my first post on here. My name is Jake and I am 31 years old. I am from Pennsylvania and I am pretty new to hunting out west. I've been on quite a few hunts, just tagging along with my buddy. Last year was my first time I ever got to hunt with a tag in my pocket. I ended up harvesting a pretty decent half rack mule deer during Idaho's general season. This year will be my first solo hunt, and I would like to hunt Washington's unit 186 during modern firearms. We do a lot of back pack hunting so I am not afraid to hike. I have been doing some serious research and have picked a few spots out. My question is, does anyone know if that four wheeler trail is open at the chief joseph wildlife rec area? I am more looking to hunt the west side of the unit but east of the rec area looks good, as long as there aren't four wheelers buzzing up and down all day. Thank you in advance for your time.
Washington State Mule deer
- Thread starter Jake0588
- Start date
Fire_9
Well-known member
I would probably give WA a hard pass on a general mule deer hunt....
mdeerjunkie
Well-known member
Welcome aboard!
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Welcome to HT!
Irrelevant
Well-known member
Green gulch road is open during Oct and Nov for motor vehicles 48" in width and under.
Not sure why, of all the places you hunt mule deer that one strikes your fancy, but good luck.
Not sure why, of all the places you hunt mule deer that one strikes your fancy, but good luck.
Just looking for more otc places. Not looking to shoot a booner. Just an experience. I have a few draw hunts this year that I have good odds in.
Ha, that seems to be a trend. Just looking for something different, an experience. On technical terms they have higher success rates than most otc states. Just checking it out. I have a few draw hunts I should get this year too.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
I would look elsewhere, both in terms of states and, if you dead set on WA, in this state. Both the Blues proper or the Cascade offer some great experiences in terms of wild places.
LopeHunter
Well-known member
You will be driving by or flying over a lot of huntable deer to get from PA to WA. Get a tag in WY, for example, and free up 3 days of your roundtrip drive. Are deer tags you can likely draw even if no deer preference points in WY. Check out GoHunt and I predict improved draw odds for lesser demand tags in the 2020 deer NR draw vs 2019. People are sitting on their wallets and the WY deer draw is open through end of May. CO will have some leftovers for deer when people do not pay for the tag. Can hunt Coues whitetail in AZ on tags you can get even if have no AZ deer points. So, WA looks like an option. As does a handful of other states.
I fly. I am putting in for WY as well, and Montana and SD. Like I said before, just trying something new and challenging.
teej89
Well-known member
From PA as well, moved to WA. I wouldn't go past the WA/ID border looking for deer. That being said... I'm also trying to figure out a unit for my first deer season this fall and I created a spreadsheet and there's 20 units on my list with much better harvest numbers and success rates. I'd keep looking.
28 bucks killed in that unit last year with a 20 hunting days/kill.
28 bucks killed in that unit last year with a 20 hunting days/kill.
I was looking at gohunt. They didn’t have 2019 but before that 186 was one of the better units. 30 to 40% success rates years prior.
teej89
Well-known member
7 bucks killed in 2018, 5 of which were spikes. Unfortunately gohunt makes washington a bit deceiving, gotta go old school with WA.
wdfw.wa.gov
2018 Elk general season game harvest reports
wdfw.wa.gov
Oh on their website it said 31% success rate out of 104 hunters in modern firearms. Even Washington’s website said 2018 there were 32 bucks harvested during modern firearm season alone, and that unit is a 3 point to a side or better, so I don’t know where you’re getting your facts but....... they’re wrong
Irrelevant
Well-known member
Total sleeper unit. Hunt the sh!t out of it.
kwyeewyk
Well-known member
Teej89 is mistakenly quoting the elk harvest stats. Can't shoot spike mule deer in WA.
teej89
Well-known member
shit how'd I do that... my bad, thanks for that. I was wondering why it said spikes...
I’m obviously talking to road hunters here......
teej89
Well-known member
haha whoa now with the tone, I messed up. Still though, 32 bucks were harvested w/ an average of 14 days/harvest. There's plenty of units in WA with over 200 antlered harvest.
kwyeewyk
Well-known member
If you're looking for a backpack hunt, there's a lot of options where you'd never have to worry about 4 wheelers. Road hunters! Ha, I'll take that as a joke.
