Youth hunt draw help..please

[jnordwell]

Hello I am looking ahead and am going to put my son in for some youth deer and elk hunts. He will be 12 during hunting season.  We live west side.  Thinking both hunts for mudflow elk and some antlerless hunts up around my moms in klickitat co. Any thoughts should I try others ? How many can you put in for? I’ve never put in for any hunts. Thanks for the help

[bobcat]

There aren’t really a lot of good choices for elk but for deer he can apply for the youth hunts, antlerless, and 2nd deer, plus of course the quality and buck categories. Depending on the permits you choose to apply for, you may want to apply for only the point option, as you probably don’t really want him to draw multiple permits. My daughter is also 12 and I’ve been going over all the possibilities, and I decided to only put her in for a youth doe permit, and I’ll do the point option for all the others.

[Bob33]

Attached is an Excel spreadsheet of the 2016 youth elk permit hunts. It includes draw odds and harvest.

I'd have him apply for both deer and elk. The hunts with higher success are generally harder to draw. The mudflow hunts are highly successful but difficult to draw. Another consideration is access. Some of the hunts like Skagit are in areas with very little or no public access. That means you'll need to probably need to know someone or knock on doors. However, youth have a greater chance of getting access.

He only has a few years to apply, so going for the hunts with low odds like Mudflow will probably mean he won't draw as a youth.

You can apply for up to four hunt choices.

Good luck.

[Magnum_Willys]

pine mtn, mudflow, cow moose all good.   Start as soon as they get license or earler.