Scouting/Hunting 667

[Beginnersmind]

Hello everyone;

So I grew up hunting. Spent my yearly teens chasing deer, coyote, pheasant, quail, gophers, and everything else you can think of. When I was about five years old my grandma would pack me a lunch, hand me a .22 rifle, put me on the back of the shetland pony (named Danny Boy, of course), and send me off to spend the day shooting things around the ranch. Remind me to tell you the story of when a goose kicked my little ass, much to her amusement.

In any case by about 14 years old I lost my taste for it and stopped hunting. Lots of other adventures did follow, but most of them in a more urban setting. My allergies got bad enough that I couldn't really be outside and i developed other interests (gaming, biology, primates, travel, you name it) and I forgot about hunting. Skip forward about 25 year years and I start having repeating dreams of boar hunting. Every months or so for about 8 years I'd dream of being back in the field. Add to it, modern allergy treatment has made a huge difference in my life, reducing my symptoms dramatically. And so, these past few months, I've decided the dreams must mean something and am heading back to the field to see about hunting.

This spring I'm putting together a boar hunting trip to Texas if anyone wants to talk to me about it. Right now it's friends and family and I'm always looking for more of each of those categories. But in the short term I want to head out and hunt for rabbit and deer in GMU 667. Or at least that is the plan. What I really want is to find some better wisdom than my own, and a buddy or three to hunt and shoot with.

I live in Seattle proper (Fremont) and have been to Burningman many times, worked my way through my undergraduate degrees as a cashier/janitor/doorman at the dearly departed Lusty Lady, and can tell you stories of the early days of Wizards of the Coast and producing feminist adult video. Your evenings around the campfire will never be boring with me around.

I'll be headed down to the Skookumchuck Reservoir area for my first scouting trip in a weekend or two and am hoping to find both bunny and bambi signs. Anyone up for sharing some wisdom? I'd be happy to buy  you a beer/beverage of your choice close to The Center of the Universe in return for some pointers on where, when, and why...

[Eli346]

Welcome to the site. I would do some research on this site and others until you get an idea of where you want to go. Most of 667 is all Weyerhauser 'pay to play' and the permits for the Vail area in 667 which is Weyerhauser sold out in June!

[Eric M]

Welcome to the site. You probably own the only rifle in Fremont. haha. Honestly with 667 being mostly permit access you might have more luck from where you are heading east on 90 and checking out some areas before the pass. Lots of National Forest land.

[Beginnersmind]

Thank you both for the welcome and input. As I understand it the Skookumchuck Wildlife Habitat area is public hunting land, down in 667. Of course if I'm right about that it'll be overheated to hell, but am I wrong?

[dreamunelk]

There are better areas reasonably close to you.  Check out DNR and USFS lands.  More critters than many think.  Just harder to hunt them.

[bobcat]

The Skookumchuck wildlife area is pretty much just a flat, grass field. Not the best place to hunt deer.

[Fl0und3rz]

There is some 667 public access NF land, NW out of Morton, but the camping options seemed slim, IIRC.

[LastLookTaxidermy]

I have spent a lot of time in that area. It gets hunted pretty heavily and a lot of poaching going on. But I have seen a few deer in there on the public land. Mostly on the north side of the road.

[Beginnersmind]

Thank you all for the info. I have also been taking a look at some of the Weyhauser permits still available and considering a walking in one. For that matter it looks like the Tahoma State forest is open for non-disabled walk-in hunting and so I may hike around there a bit. Any thoughts on either of those topics?