What is the Best Public Land Muley Hunting Areas in Our State?

[djnoodle]

Where is the best area to hunt unguided for mule deer? This would be in Modern Rifle Season.

I have hunted mule deer in Idaho for a few years. Time away from my family and cost have made me decide to give WA deer hunting another try. I have hunted blacktail on the wet side most of my life. Taken many 2-3 year old bucks, no trophies.

Never hunted in Eastern WA before. I am not familiar with any hunting areas east of the Pacific Crest Trail. I do not know if there are any areas open to the public that are productive enough to make the trip.

Are all of these big mule deer bucks on this site taken from private ranches, or can someone point me to a GMU that I could hunt that would be worth my while?

[buglebuster]

LT Murry north of Selah. GMU 342.

[scout/sniper]

Best muley hunting I ever had was out of Wenatchee.
Go up #2 Canyon Road until it ends and turns into dirt road.
Lots of nice deer up there.

[huntnphool]

Welcome to the site.

[6x6in6]

Welcome to the site.

 

[BigCutty3]

C-Post???

[djnoodle]

Welcome to the site.

Thanks

C-Post???

You lost me 

[snowpack]

The Nile

[RB]

Welcome to the site.

Thanks

C-Post???

You lost me 

dj,

Welcome to the site there are quite a few smarta$$e$$ on this site and loads of great information and great people. The best thing to do is hang out for awhile post some pictures of past hunts, look through the harvest reports on the WDFW site and see where the habitat is for good Mule Deer.

C-post is a bad running joke kinda like no-tellum ridge, going on a snipe hunt, or whatever fictitious place you can come up with. Also check out the special permit areas for Mule Deer never know you might get lucky next year and draw a once in a lifetime Mule Deer hunt!

[Kc_Kracker]

wow impressive usually newbs get told "in the woods"  good luck and welcome noodle

[coachcw]

the best mule deer hunting is mid dec. just ask the Mucks

[BKMFR]

Definitely agree with a bunch of smart as*&s on here, but there is some great guys here also that use the site for what I think it was intended for, to help hunters helping hunters....
Good Luck. East Okanogan late season if you can get drawn is a great hunt. Regular season good luck, probably hit the Okanogan and get above some of the orchards.....

[bobcat]

It used to be Okanogan and Chelan counties. But I don't think so much anymore. The units around Ellensburg and Yakima are terrible. Just look at the harvest reports. A 5% success rate is about as good as it gets.

The best areas might be isolated sections of public land that's mixed in with private land, near farm country and away from concentrations of cougars and wolves.

[jdb]

 

LT Murry north of Selah. GMU 342.

i would have to disagree, all the yakima units are abismal(sp)

[bobcat]

LT Murry north of Selah. GMU 342.

no it ain't!

   I can't think of a worse place to hunt mule deer, except western Washington!

Like I said, look at the success rates. Umtanum has got to be one of the lowest in the state.

[ghosthunter]

LT Murry north of Selah. GMU 342.

 

Really
I hunt that for elk every year and I have seen 5 deer.

[bobcat]

LT Murry north of Selah. GMU 342.

no it ain't!

   I can't think of a worse place to hunt mule deer, except western Washington! Like I said, look at the success rates. Umtanum has got to be one of the lowest in the state.

342 sucks . I helped the harvest rate go up in 2010 and 11 though .

I hear the Yakamas do okay on the deer in that unit in late November and December. 

[huntnphool]

LT Murry north of Selah. GMU 342.

no it ain't!

   I can't think of a worse place to hunt mule deer, except western Washington!

Like I said, look at the success rates. Umtanum has got to be one of the lowest in the state.

LT Murry north of Selah. GMU 342.

i would have to disagree, all the yakima units are abismal(sp)

 

[ghosthunter]

Noodle no one is going to give you the answer you want. Got to do your own research.

Welcome

[jdb]

the best mule deer hunting is mid dec. just ask the Mucks

 . I think the best hunting is on rez land as the indians kill off of our land instead of theirs .

actually the yak res is almost void of deer

[huntnphool]

the best mule deer hunting is mid dec. just ask the Mucks

 . I think the best hunting is on rez land as the indians kill off of our land instead of theirs .

actually the yak res is almost void of deer

The Colville Res is loaded though.

[djnoodle]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll start scouting these areas a bit over the next summer. I'm not expecting you all to tell me where your honey holes are. Just areas that I can hunt without knowing the land owner personally. I was told by some people when I was a kid that most deer hunting in eastern wa is on private land. I knew better, but I never investigated until now. I'll try to keep up with the smarta$$e$. I can be quite a bit of one myself, once I settle in.

To answer the questions, I am looking for a place to hunt modern rifle, not this season, too late for that. Not necessarily the GMU with the most area of public land, but I don't want to spend all day in the truck, looking for an area that I am allowed to carry a rifle in. Of course, I want to fill my tag, but I realize that the success rates are around 5% in most GMUs. I'm looking for a chance to get a shot at a trophy of course, who isn't. My main reason for looking over that side of the fence, is that I have not hunted deer in Western WA in 10 years, and my scouting this year has taught me two things, many of my favorite hunting spots are now unaccessible, and many of the ones that are not, are now overgrown with brush.

And here is a pic of my most recent buck. It's a 2x3 and I got him on Old Baldy Mountain, near Lava Hot Springs, ID. Smaller than I was hoping for, but it was the last day of the hunt...

[Fowlweather25]

Nice buck! Welcome

[Buzz2401]

There is a ton of public land in eastern washington.  I would just do some research on the wdfw website to see success rates for different units then see if those units with good numbers have much National forest land. There is a lot of DNR land to, but often times DNR land can be land locked by private land.  I would start my search in the north central part of the state.

[jdb]

the best mule deer hunting is mid dec. just ask the Mucks

 . I think the best hunting is on rez land as the indians kill off of our land instead of theirs .

actually the yak res is almost void of deer

The Colville Res is loaded though.

for sure

[predatorpro]

definitely the west side.....

[yakimarcher]

There's lost of deer around Yakima, you have to know where to look and hope that you can avoid all the numb nuts from the west side who invade and push all the game back into the wilderness

[Nilehunter]

Noodle no one is going to give you the answer you want. Got to do your own research.

Welcome

Welcome!

[Nilehunter]

There's lost of deer around Yakima, you have to know where to look and hope that you can avoid all the numb nuts from the west side who invade and push all the game back into the wilderness

Fuzzy nuts thank you!

Hope were not getting back to the "hunt your own zip code" discussion. 

[fastdam]

There's lost of deer around Yakima, you have to know where to look and hope that you can avoid all the numb nuts from the west side who invade and push all the game back into the wilderness

True story.

[Skyvalhunter]

There's lost of deer around Yakima, you have to know where to look and hope that you can avoid all the numb nuts from the west side who invade and push all the game back into the wilderness

 

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Welcome to the site! The deer are in the woods! Do a search about THE TRIPOD BURN! That will put you into a mega buck area!

[scout/sniper]

There's lost of deer around Yakima, you have to know where to look and hope that you can avoid all the numb nuts from the west side who invade and push all the game back into the wilderness

The best hunting for everything is in Yakima.
I can't wait for my friends and I to hook up the campers and head over.
Oh look, a deer in my field, and another. 

[djnoodle]

The best hunting for everything is in Yakima.
I can't wait for my friends and I to hook up the campers and head over.
Oh look, a deer in my field, and another. 

Around here, Yakima has the same folklore status as Las Vegas or Bangcock, Thailand. I'm quite sure that due to budget cuts, the next installment of 'The Hangover' will be filmed there.

"What happens in Yaki-vegas, stays in Yaki-vegas!"

[RB]

Nice Buck! 

[KimberRich]

There's lost of deer around Yakima, you have to know where to look and hope that you can avoid all the numb nuts from the west side who invade and push all the game back into the wilderness

 

[bullcanyon]

Look at that mug.  Wondered who the new guy from Morton was. Ring me up or we can bs next time the girls hang out and i can give you some ideas.
Welcome aboard dj.

[boneaddict]

What is the Best Public Land Muley Hunting Areas in Our State?

Whichever ones don't show up on here for 20,000 plus people to see.

[Skyvalhunter]

 

[Rainier10]

What is the Best Public Land Muley Hunting Areas in Our State?

Whichever ones don't show up on here for 20,000 plus people to see.

Nailed it 

Next best unit is the one that you spend the most time in.  Pick one and get out there and hunt, they all get better the more time you spend in an area learning it and how the animals live in it.

[djnoodle]

Look at that mug.  Wondered who the new guy from Morton was. Ring me up or we can bs next time the girls hang out and i can give you some ideas.
Welcome aboard dj.

I seen your bull on that Margaret thread too.

We'll get together soon.

[Crunch14]

It used to be Okanogan and Chelan counties. But I don't think so much anymore. The units around Ellensburg and Yakima are terrible. Just look at the harvest reports. A 5% success rate is about as good as it gets.

The best areas might be isolated sections of public land that's mixed in with private land, near farm country and away from concentrations of cougars and wolves.

I can vouch for the Oakonagan going down hill.  We've hunted the Conconully/Loomis area for 40 years... The past 5 or so have sucked!  So for the first time in my life we're heading somewhere new.  Not sure how it's gonna be, but can't be worse.  Last year we saw 2 does in 10 days in the woods.

[MtnMuley]

It used to be Okanogan and Chelan counties. But I don't think so much anymore. The units around Ellensburg and Yakima are terrible. Just look at the harvest reports. A 5% success rate is about as good as it gets.

The best areas might be isolated sections of public land that's mixed in with private land, near farm country and away from concentrations of cougars and wolves.

I can vouch for the Oakonagan going down hill.  We've hunted the Conconully/Loomis area for 40 years... The past 5 or so have sucked!  So for the first time in my life we're heading somewhere new.  Not sure how it's gonna be, but can't be worse.  Last year we saw 2 does in 10 days in the woods.

Nice to see some people are finally realizing the things I say about the muley populations around the Okanogan Country aren't untrue just to keep people away.  Sad to say, this year WILL be the worst year in a long time for success rates here.  It flat out is looking bad.

[saylean]

c-post obviously....

[antlerking]

Definitely somewere on the COAST the big muleys are all over out there just go west and you will find em.

[jdb]

There's lost of deer around Yakima, you have to know where to look and hope that you can avoid all the numb nuts from the west side who invade and push all the game back into the wilderness

agreed but the op asked for the best area yakima isn't even in the top 5

[buglebuster]

Ya huh

[muleracks]

September: GMU 244
October: GMU 244, 245 or 246
November: Permits GMU 247, 245 or 250