Buddy drew a Palouse any buck tag, advice?

[BullMagnet76]

Just looking for any tips or advice for a buddy of mine for the Palouse any buck tag?  Is it mostly private?  Any help would be greatly appreciated

[KP-Skagit]

Definitely a lot of private, some FFTH or hunt by reservation. Door knocking is probably the best bet.

Blue tongue didn't do them any favors. That said, a buddy's dad got a buck with this tag last year.

[elkboy]

Herds are way down.  I am seeing about 20-30% of the deer I normally do (I live on edge of 139 and 142).  That said, if you hunt during the rut period, you may catch a buck cruising.  Just get close to either hawthorn or pine timber.  The closer you hunt to the major creeks and rivers, the better. 

I'd advise your buddy to come out well ahead of season and knock on doors. 

[pianoman9701]

When you go knocking, bring work gloves, pliers, and wire cutters with you. They may come in handy to help nail down a nice spot. Or ask when the next hay harvest is and throw some bales. Just offering can sometimes be enough.

[elkboy]

When you go knocking, bring work gloves, pliers, and wire cutters with you. They may come in handy to help nail down a nice spot. Or ask when the next hay harvest is and throw some bales. Just offering can sometimes be enough.

Great advice, Piano! 

If you have a good source for salmon fillets or other coastal goods, you may wish to let that fact slip into the conversation at some point!  (We're a bit isolated from good seafood out here...)

[elkboy]

Another reason to cruise over this time of year is to find where the fields are planted to garbanzo beans (chickpeas).  Those will be deer magnets in the fall, even after harvest and plowing.  Does will head there to feed, and the bucks will follow.  Find timbered or brushy draws leading up to garb fields and set up in cover on the downwind side.  If using a modern firearm, 50-150 yards is a good setup distance from expected deer travel routes, in my experience. 

[huntnnw]

I’ll never understand people who put in for this permit if they don’t have places to hunt when you can hunt lots of national forest and just overall places to hunt north of Spokane without drawing a permit. Frankly bigger bucks live in NE WA

[andersonjk4]

I’ll never understand people who put in for this permit if they don’t have places to hunt when you can hunt lots of national forest and just overall places to hunt north of Spokane without drawing a permit. Frankly bigger bucks live in NE WA

   This permit is great for those who have permissions and places to hunt, but I would imagine it is a very hard hunt for those without permission or good knowledge of the area.  Especially when there are general seasons during the same time in areas dominated by public/accessible land.   

Also, this isn't an "Any Buck" permit. There is a 3-point antler restriction and its whitetail only.  All that being said, I wish him good luck and I hope he finds himself a buck.   

[Farmer72]

The hard part about that tag is whether or not the deer numbers are at a level to see much. There is public land available in at least one of those units that when the Whitetails haven't been decimated by blue tongue is not a bad hunt. I hunt one of the areas with muzzleloader and on public land. I haven't hunted the late season in a couple years since the Whitetails have not bounced back from a couple bouts of blue tongue and I have had good luck during the early season on mule deer.

[pianoman9701]

I’ll never understand people who put in for this permit if they don’t have places to hunt when you can hunt lots of national forest and just overall places to hunt north of Spokane without drawing a permit. Frankly bigger bucks live in NE WA

So what? It's his draw. That's one less you'll compete with next year.

[MR5x5]

A couple bouts of blue tongue in the last 10 yrs have really knocked the White Tails back.  Listen to Elkboy regarding the garbanzos, he spot on.  Knock on doors.  I have had excellent luck meeting really cool farmers in the Palouse over the past 30 yrs.  Smoked salmon is right next to gold in the wheat country.  Don't wait till September to ask.  Along the Palouse River and the break of the Snake are good places to start.  Leave any husky paraphernalia in the garbage (where it belongs)!

[heavishot]

Blue tongue has really put the hurt to the white tail numbers. Fields that we would see 30 to 40 deer a year in for the last 30 years (unit 139 grew up farming there so have had access to a lot of land it was the worst we have ever seen) we saw maybe 3 in last year. The numbers were lower on this round of Blue Tongue as compared to 4-5 years ago when it hit. As stated before there are farmers that will let ya hunt just few and far between as they have had up to their eyeballs with trespassers. Not sure how much open ground is available  anymore on the River anymore has most of it where I hunt has been leased. There are feel free to hunt and reserve spots that you can apply for but it seems that alot of the reserve spots are not open during season.  Lot more mule deer moving in.  You guys must have had better billy beans fields as we hardly ever saw deer in there, usually eyebrows in the wheat and barely stubble.

[johnbmyersii]

My uncle and i had that tag last year. I got a muley opening day of general and didn't hunt but my uncle got a buck. We have private land to hunt but the deer numbers were way down from 2020. Good luck and knock on some doors!

[jjhunter]

No better food source than billy beans for whitetail in that country.  Especially big whitetail. 

[huntnnw]

I’ll never understand people who put in for this permit if they don’t have places to hunt when you can hunt lots of national forest and just overall places to hunt north of Spokane without drawing a permit. Frankly bigger bucks live in NE WA

So what? It's his draw. That's one less you'll compete with next year.

What I’m saying is if you don’t have property to hunt on this tag it makes no sense to apply as you can hunt the same dates on a general tag north, with far better country to hunt in regards to public land

[WildcatRanger]

What everyone is saying about the difficulty of obtaining permission on private land here is true. But you could get lucky.
Your best bet is probably to get a boat and hunt the Snake River breaks. Most of that land is Corps of Engineers- public land. Look for white 1’x1’ placard signs with the Corps castle logo. They’re spaced a few hundred yards apart on 3 strand barbed wire and you can easily spot from afar. That will be the Corps boundary. Stray too far beyond the boundary and you will draw some unwanted attention! I think the small game regs book has a page about the Corps lands and there are lead restrictions in a lot of the locations where pheasant are released, also some weapon type restrictions.
Have fun and good luck 🍀