GMU 663 Capitol Forest

[suttonmoore]

This year my hunting options are very very limited due to work and kid schedules. About the only options I am going to have are some day trips into Capitol State Forest and Capitol Peak. I have very limited knowledge/experience in there. I know that no one wants to give away the sweet spots but a few tips from folks who are more experienced with the area would be appreciated.

No, I am not afraid to get out of my truck and walk.

[suttonmoore]

If anyone has any other suggestions for day trip hunting within 1.5-2 hours of Tacoma I am all ears. Just nothing that requires some outrageous land use fee.

[Eli346]

Almost anywhere you go in Cap Forest you'll find deer. They tend to stay away from the roads and trails though. They're there but are used to human traffic and shy away from it. One thing I don't like about it is that there is a lot of salal and you can't get through that without making noise unless the rain or wind is happening for cover noise. I love to still hunt in the timber but the conditions have to be right up there.

[Damnimissed]

Believe it or not, Capitol forest holds some monsters, but they're rarely seen due to reasons stated above.

[suttonmoore]

I talked to a couple of fellows and all they would tell me was check off the E line in the clear cuts.

[Stump]

4 to 5 miles up the D 1000 line near the top rd to right stay to right until y then turn left.clear cut to the right. Or back on D1000 next rd to .left. Good luck.

[JeffRaines]

Capitol Forest gets a bad rap, but IMO there is some good hunting to do there. People say there are no deer, but thats a lie the place is crawling with them. People say there are no bucks, but thats a lie too. There aren't very many stupid deer in there is all.

Case in point - during archery season(and even now) I can drive around Vail and more than easily get a shot on a doe road hunting. Driving Capitol Forest nets you nothing. You'll see deer, but you just see their tails as they're running away. If you're willing to get out and walk the timber and edges of clearcuts you will see deer, and I'd be willing to bet you'd probably even get a shot on a few of them. I know a few people gave out some areas of the forest but to be honest go walk any of the clearcuts - you'll see massive amounts of sign in them all. The deer are there, and they're pressured to *censored*. Just go hunt something no one else does.  :two cents:

edit - the one thing I actually like about Capitol Forest over Vail is the amount of closed gates. There are some mostly un-drivable areas in CF, whereas Vail - while its nice having kinda 'exclusive' access - it sucks that there are only a small handful of areas that are off limits to motor vehicles.

[Eric M]

In my experience the bucks there are mostly nocturnal.Might be okay now with almost no moon.

[PNWheckle]

They're up there, just gotta get out of the truck lol. Saw this guy last late buck up there. Was too far for my rifle as it wasn't dead on, went back to camp and got back up 30 minutes later with a friends gun. Had to find him again since he moved but managed to get a shot off right before he got into the timber.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

I grew up hunting Capitol Forest off the Mox Chehalis road. There are plenty of deer there and some bruisers, but you have to learn to hunt the brush, especially once the road hunters push them back from the open areas.  In those days, there were a lot less clearcuts up there than there are now. We had a large extended family and friends group that hunted together and we did a lot of deer drives with anywhere from 2 to six drivers and 1 to three standers.  That was a common way of hunting with all the families that lived in the area in those days. If you were down at my uncle's ranch house, you'd hear shots going off all day as different groups pushed deer to their standers. We also still hunted a lot and had decent success with that. My great uncle or my dad were probably the best at that. Those guys could find deer, but they grew up there and spent their whole lives hunting those woods.

[metlhead]

I have spent my life around the base of the Black Hills. Plenty of deer. Stay out of the east(waddell) and north (Rock Candy) entrances. Bordeaux, Porter and Malone will be better bets. Get to a spot that overlooks a roadless drainage and dive in. I see some very nice bucks while rooting out grouse. Seldom see much trash=few people.

[suttonmoore]

Thanks for all the great info. Very helpful and friendly.