San Juans

[shanevg]

Anyone have any information on hunting deerin the San Juans.  I've been looking at the harvest statistics which are relatively good, especially the harvest statistics on the second deer permits over there which are exceptional.  What islands have public land to hunt on?  Do you have to get there by ferry, or can you take your own boat?  Are there any rules about using firearms?  Thanks for the info!

[TeacherMan]

I went out to Orcas a few years back, expensive because of the ferry ride and a waist of time. I would love someone to come on here and tell me I'm wrong. I could find ZERO public land that I could hunt on. Deer everywhere and some nice little bucks, but no where to shoot them. I was bow hunting.

[bullchaser]

Thats how I feel about curlew big deer private land. if i am wrong dont say it here

[popeshawnpaul]

They are all over on south Lopez and a few of the tiny islands.  Not sure, but if you could shoot them with a gun it would be cake from a boat.

[Bean Counter]

Lopez Island has some DNR land. You must use a shotgun--better yet use archery equipment if you have it. Just no modern firearms.  There's a very, very tiny amount of DNR on San Juan--but really small. 

Guemes has a small DNR patch on the northern tip,and the ferry to get there is a bit cheaper.  Different from the main SJ ferry system.

I went whale watching with my church group on SJ a few months ago.  One of the best/happiest days of my life.  Seriously.  Nothing spectacular, just an all around pleasant day with good company.  I fished and pulled up some rock cod--they were biting like freaking crazy.  We saw some whales--several decent bucks in velvet, I think I saw a fox, too.  Oh yeah, the bald eagles.  And we ate raw oysters. 

Fair warning: SJIs have a lot of artsy, pinko libs so I would do the best you can to not advertise your hunting business.  I would wear plain clothes.  Go in, get your deer as discretely as possible, and get the heck out. 

I don't know if you know this but the deer there are all blacktails and they're even small for what you'd expect from a blacktail. Best luck.

[shanevg]

Lopez Island has some DNR land. You must use a shotgun--better yet use archery equipment if you have it. Just no modern firearms.  There's a very, very tiny amount of DNR on San Juan--but really small. 

Guemes has a small DNR patch on the northern tip,and the ferry to get there is a bit cheaper.  Different from the main SJ ferry system.

I went whale watching with my church group on SJ a few months ago.  One of the best/happiest days of my life.  Seriously.  Nothing spectacular, just an all around pleasant day with good company.  I fished and pulled up some rock cod--they were biting like freaking crazy.  We saw some whales--several decent bucks in velvet, I think I saw a fox, too.  Oh yeah, the bald eagles.  And we ate raw oysters. 

Fair warning: SJIs have a lot of artsy, pinko libs so I would do the best you can to not advertise your hunting business.  I would wear plain clothes.  Go in, get your deer as discretely as possible, and get the heck out. 

I don't know if you know this but the deer there are all blacktails and they're even small for what you'd expect from a blacktail. Best luck.

Thanks!

[TeacherMan]

Thanks for the info about the islands. Makes me almost feel like trying it again. We saw lots of deer when we where there. As for Curlew and private land, you are correct, there is lots of it if you hunt the valley, infact the entire valley floor. 

[Bean Counter]

You're welcome. Some peeps will go there for late season if they don't fill a tag in an early area.

[hunterbuilder]

I've hunted Orcas, Lopez, Guemes, and Cypress. On Orcas we hunted a 20 acre piece of private land and shot a lot of deer on that.  There is also a decent sized chunk of DNR land on Orcas that is good to hunt. But a few years ago the access was blocked by another property owner so you couldn't get there. As for the other islands, I have limited experience with some success (in our group) of each island. Each of these islands has some public land that is huntable but it took some research to figure out where and how best to access. There can be some competition with other hunters due to the limited public property. There is a lot of deer out there but by far and away the best hunting for them is on private land.

[GOcougsHunter]

Try Speiden Island...  Here's a picture of some animals we saw when sailing a couple of weeks ago.  Should be pretty easy to hunt them from a boat...   (just kidding, the african animals on the island are VERY off limits) but really cool to watch... there are hundreds

[girlwithbow]

I have lived on Orcas Island for over three years and have never seen deer so small and I think the inbreeding is getting bad because the white blotches on them get bigger every year.   The bucks may be little but the antlers can get big for there size. Again thats this island

[hunterbuilder]

I've noticed that there seems to be 2 different types of deer on Orcas. Some are really small and scruffy looking that we would call the dog deer. Others are just a bit smaller than mainland blacktails with shorter legs and slighty smaller bodies. We never shot any of the "dog" deer. The bucks had decent racks that were usually thick and dark.

[robb92]

The last pic is of the fallow deer, they have those over here in Maryland.

[oneshotkill]

pm sent.

[Bscman]

Man oh man, I've always wanted to archery hunt Orcas Island.
The chances of getting into some private land is near ZERO, though, unless you're family or good friends.

I went on a boy-scout trip on Orcas several years back and almost HIT one of the biggest BT Racks i've ever seen--on me BICYCLE! Small bodies, but they can grow some pretty decent head gear.

[Little Fish]

I knew I had read about this somewhere...this is straight out of the Washington-Oregon Game & Fish mag.


Cypress Island is the wildest of the San Juans, reminiscent of islands in southeast Alaska. Cypress contains mostly undeveloped forest owned by the DNR. There is no ferry service, but this is an awesome back-up hunt if you have a boat able to make the trip from Anacortes.

A dozen or so DNR mooring buoys are located in Eagle Harbor, on the east shore of the island. A circuit of trails provides access to some deep woods. During daylight hours, it's best to hunt the timbered areas. The deer tend to be on the small side, but each year, some real stocky bucks with surprising racks are taken. Salal, sword fern, and oceanspray provide deep cover for the blacktails, whose travel patterns seem to be on a tight radius. Once you find tracks, rubs and scrapes, hunt the surrounding area. These island deer are homebodies.

[edmondshunter]

cypress island.  Lots of funky non typical racks on that island. Plus lots of DNR land open to foot traffic.

2 yrs ago a friend of mine shot a hermaphrodite doe w/antlers on that island