Needs tips/mentor for blacktail in the North Olympic Peninsula

[Pack and Boots]

Of the units you listed only one has alpine hunting, the others have midland to lowland hunting. You should decide if you want to hunt alpine bucks that will migrate to lower elevations when the snow/weather pushes them down or if you want to hunt midland/lowland bucks that tend to be residential deer (generally don't travel more then a square mile). These are two drastically different hunting styles and require different gear to accomplish them. Ask yourself if you have the gear needed to complete an alpine hunt or if you need to stay in lower elevations. Anything midland/lowland I'd focus on finding areas that have the following features: clear cut 2-5 years old, bordered by standing timber and a creek bottom with alders. Scout the fringes of the clear cut for sign and the immediate area in the timber for access trails and beds. Then look in the creek bottom for rubs on the alders and any other trails that access the cut. There are elk in all those areas which may confuse the sign. I personally wouldn't consider most of those units to be excellent deer hunting but there is always a monster in every unit- the density of those mature bucks is what separates one unit from the next.

For this season, I will probably try the midland/lowland approach. But a follow-up question - what is the gear difference between alpine hunting versus midland/lowland hunting?

[Pack and Boots]

Thanks for all the replies. You have provided very useful guidance. Best wishes to you all for a successful hunt this year.

[Aginor]

The biggest difference between the two is accessibility. You can get into lowland areas easily enough and be closer to roads, which means you can ditch a lot of gear. If you’re hunting an alpine area, you’ll most likely need to carry camp on your back.


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[Alchase]

Be careful allot of that country out there is Rayonier land and they require an access permit. 

And Merrill & Ring which doesn't allow any access at all.

Did they discontinue the Physt tree farm permits?  That area had pretty good numbers of deer, including some bigger bucks.  I think the harvest % for 603 will likely increase over the next few years (if kills get reported).  Lots of new people moving out to/building in Joyce.  The deer population seems to go up as the area gets developed.  Probably skew the stats like 621 where so many animals are actually backyard animals, then people look at harvest prospects/reports and think it was spread all across the unit.

M&L went to a draw permit only for elk. No more general access for deer/bear/cat with a permit is my understanding. I think there are a few elk and deer that go unreported on that section of the peninsula. Call it "subsistence hunting" and not by tribal members.

That would be the understatement of the decade !