As far as I can tell, range allocation only has three areas open for modern rifle on opening day (10/17/15). They are 3N, 15 and 17. I used to hit JBLM pretty hard, but haven't for a while -- was out of the country last year. They used to have a lot more areas open. Another puzzling thing -- the range allocation list used to use the designation "R/W" for areas that were open for rifle deer, now it just says "H". I don't know why that is. I'm a little surprised that so few areas are open for the rifle season. Some of the guys on the forum say they suspect the post commander is, shall we say, unsympathetic toward hunting, but I have no firsthand knowledge of that. That said, there are deer in all three of these areas (3N, 15 and 17). My impression from lots of time humping around, though, is that there are not MANY deer. Once, the morning after a rain, I walked three miles of muddy trail in area 23 (off limits now) and never saw a single deer track, which has to you something. Some of the more experienced guys here say that the deer are in there, they just sit tight and won't move until you practically step on them. 3N is a tiny area across I-5 from Dupont. They used to only let 20 guys in there per day; don't know what they'll do this year. 17 is a small area on the north side of Yelm, bounded by the Nisqually river. Area 15 may be your best bet. It's a huge area shaped like an upside-down "L", off the east end of Eastgate Road. It has some wide open prairie country, as well as lots of dense woodland, and an interesting pipleline trail that runs SW-to-NE through the upper part of the area. If you're active duty you can use the Hunt-Trak check-in system starting at 8:00 a.m. the day before you hunt; civilians have to wait until 9. Hope this helps, and good luck.
