Battleground unit

[kitw]

 I am new to the Vancouver area and looking for a good place to go muzzleloader hunting in the battleground unit. Does anyone know of any public land areas to hunt deer??

[jbeaumont21]

I'm not the best person to ask because I have never hunted the area but have been up to Larch Mountain a few times to shoot and site in my muzzleloader and have seen people elk hunting. Its a big area and there are a ton of logging roads going every which way so be sure to take a GPS or get some good maps so that you don't get lost.

I'm sure if you do some scouting that you can find some deer in the clear cuts. Welcome to Vancouver and to the site. If you don't have much luck in the Battleground Unit then you may want to try the Coweeman unit during the late season, I have hunted it a lot and always see tons of deer while elk hunting. Shoot me a PM if you decide to hunt the Coweeman and I'll share what I know. Otherwise I'm sure someone on here who knows more about the BG unit will help you out.   

By the way where did you move from?  I moved to the couv about 12 years ago from the midwest and love it here.

Good luck with your hunt!

[brokehunter]

  Your best bet? Stay clear of the Battle Ground unit. Mostly all private lands, unless you know someone who has some land and will let you hunt on it. Even then can be hit or miss. And contrary to what the previous poster said, it's not a big unit because again most of it is private. Unless you are sighting in your gun or like to ride quads or bikes, Larch Mountain is a waste of your time as well. And you have to watch your forest roads up there too, because it intersects with the washougal unit.

Do some scouting. The further you drive from Vancouver and surroundings the better you'll be. Coweeman is ok, Ryderwood is good, or east end of Washougal unit or Wind River unit will produce better results. Good luck to you!

[RadSav]

Your best bet? Stay clear of the Battle Ground unit. Mostly all private lands, unless you know someone who has some land and will let you hunt on it. Even then can be hit or miss. And contrary to what the previous poster said, it's not a big unit because again most of it is private. Unless you are sighting in your gun or like to ride quads or bikes, Larch Mountain is a waste of your time as well. And you have to watch your forest roads up there too, because it intersects with the washougal unit.

Do some scouting. The further you drive from Vancouver and surroundings the better you'll be. Coweeman is ok, Ryderwood is good, or east end of Washougal unit or Wind River unit will produce better results. Good luck to you!

I agree with this.  The area used to be a fine place for deer hunting with a muzzleloader.  Then they changed the unit boundaries and took most of the best deer hunting spots away.  Mostly in the Yale unit expansion.  You do have a change to tag a doe in the unit, but often times it is easier to find a buck on public land elsewhere than it is to find public land with a doe on it in Battleground.  There are some fine areas if you can get permission to hunt private land.  I know of two big B&C quality bucks in the unit.  I've begged, pleaded and even tried to bribe my way onto the private land to tag one.  Every time I get the same thing...Oh, no we couldn't let you shoot him.  He's our pet!  And so is life in the city.

[Bookworm007]

If you are just trying to hunt the BG unit because it is any deer, its not worth it. Like previous posts said it is almost all private. First year I tried to hunt it and found a few slivers of public land. You literally end up hunting the borders and feel like you are going to walk into some ones back yard by accident. My advice check out the washougal unit. Its pretty much the same distance and if you put in some leg work can be a good area.

[kitw]

 Thanks for all of the information. I will have to check out some of the other units near by. I moved to Vancouver from the gorge area. I use to hunt the west Klickitat unit for ML.

[pianoman9701]

Get the GPS Maps chip for your GPS and hunt the Washougal unit. Lots of DNR land to hunt holding blackies.

[kitw]

I have done a lot of map recon of the areas around BG unit. Hard to tell from satellite pics to tell if the area is clear cut or forest. From my map recon I am thinking I want to go down 41...

[Bookworm007]

Best bet is get some dirt on your boots, most of the timberland in the BG and Washougal units is very active and changes a lot. So lace them boot up and don't forget to tell us what you find 

[jbeaumont21]

contrary to what the previous poster said, it's not a big unit because again most of it is private. Unless you are sighting in your gun or like to ride quads or bikes, Larch Mountain is a waste of your time as well. And you have to watch your forest roads up there too, because it intersects with the washougal unit.

My bad, like I said I wasn't the best person to comment. Looks like Larch Mountain is actually in the Washougal Unit. 

[Steef]

If you don't want to hunt alone, I'm in Battle Ground (but willing to drive out to Washougal or wherever).  I'm still pretty wet behind the ears, but I'm learning and willing to be a set of hands and strong back for someone who's willing to be patient with a newer hunter.  I've done some hunting in Texas, but still don't feel comfortable hunting solo in Washington (afraid I'm gonna inadvertently break one of the millions of regs here!)

S