Hunting GMU 550

[IanSkala]

Hey everyone, new to the forum here. Ive been hunting my whole life in the willipa hills area mainly because thats where my family has always hunted. Ive recently done work in Ariel on the lewis river and had a chance to explore the coweeman unit. I was wondering if anyone has any info on hunting this unit. Im young and in good shape so im willing to put in the miles. Are there gates that i can get behind and leave the roads or is everything accessible  by road? Im trying to get away from all the pressure of road hunters. Any help would be great.

[bobcat]

The majority of that unit is owned by Weyerhaeuser and requires the St Helens access permit, which is $160. They are limiting sales to 5,000 permits. I think there about 3,000 left right now, but I haven't checked in a couple days so I could be off.

[IanSkala]

Thanks for the quick response. Thats kind of what i was afraid of. Weyerhaeuser is really killing it for us young broke guys. Guess its back to the maps. If anyone knows of decent public grounds near longview area that would be sweet. Mill creek seems to be pretty crowded these days.

[bobcat]

I think there might be a few sections of state land in the Coweeman that you could hunt. The other side of the freeway there's some bigger blocks of state land in the Ryderwood unit that you might want to check out.

[IanSkala]

Awesome, I apperciate the info. I hunted the Ryderwood unit years ago with my dad, i will definitely do some scouting up there this summer.  Thanks again for help.

[Bullkllr]

FWIW, when the gates were up there was some good hunting in 550- so you at least had a good idea in mind.