gmu 653, white river

[young11guns22]

me and my friend where thinking about hunting here. i'm new to the area cause dad is military. I was thinking of getting the deer, bear, and cougar tag. has anybody hunted here before? if so, will I see a lot?

[danceswitharrows]

Yea...alot of indians

[young11guns22]

really? are there any other good places around puyallup area. nothing too far, but we still want to get way out in the bush

[haugenna]

Yea...alot of indians

[bigtex]

Well here is the story with the White River unit. The majority of the land is huntable, which is great, it is either US Forest Service land or land owned by Hancock Timber. Hancock sells the White River Tree Farm permit every year and it is required to drive on their lands. However the permit is already sold out for this year. So while there is a TON of land to hunt, the area is hunted HEAVILY by the Muckleshoot tribe, in fact their deer season opened up August 1. There are about 6 other tribes that can hunt the area but the Mucks really hit it hard all year long. So if you want to hunt the unit you can hunt the USFS land but just be forwarned.

The deal with the Puyallup unit is similar. The big landhold in the unit is owned by Hancock Timber however this area is known as the Kapowsin Tree Farm and once again their permit is sold out for the year. The difference between the White River Farm and Kapowsin Farm is that you can walk/bike in on the White River Farm without a permit, but you need a permit to just enter the Kapowsin Farm. Your only other public forested land will be USFS land outside of Wilkeson or USFS land between Carbonado and Mt Rainier Park. The issue is that these two areas really get hit hard throughout the season. I talked to a WDFW Officer a couple years ago and they did a check station in the Wilkeson area and it was non stop traffic all day. There are a lot of people hunting the area because it is public land so no fee.

[hunter12]

Hunt Fort lewis .... Area 21 I hunt birds but every year I see decent bucks down there. You need to get the Fort lewis permit which only takes a few minutes but opens the door to decent hunting and is open on select days. its is a great place to hunt if you put the time in... The area just south of area 15 is also good... and along the railroad tracks then North... Just make sure these areas are open .... also pretty close to Puyallup.. Decent duck hunting out there too..

[trophyhunt]

I would agree with trying Ft. Lewis, I hunted elk in white river for years until they made it permit only. Now the mucks have free range of the area without anybody watching them, I never did see too many deer in all those years not worth my time to hunt deer their when there is better places. If you want a bear, the backcountry is nice in the white river but then again I've been up their plently of times and only seen a few in many years.

[danceswitharrows]

Yea...alot of indians

I am not trying to discourge you from hunting there just letting you know it gets alot of pressure.  If you are willing to do a bit of scouting behind the locked gates you could find a legal deer.  My two legged doe got a spike out of there last year

[link]

There are some nice bucks within walking distance of 4-10. You can get into some good clearcuts and some good timber patches. Try some of the gated roads down low, just out of enumclaw. One of the biggest blacktails I've ever seen was within three miles of downtown enumclaw. Don't know how many points he was, but he was probably 22" wide, and about as massive as any blacktail I've seen, alive or in pictures.

[S.O.B]

bigtex you might want to check the your map kapowsin tree farm is in the mashel unit.

[bigtex]

bigtex you might want to check the your map kapowsin tree farm is in the mashel unit.

S.O.B.
You might want to check your map as well, the Buckley portion of the Kapowsin Tree Farm is in the Puyallup unit as well as the White River unit.. 

[G.R.K]

Keep checking your maps BigTex  White River is the Buckley portion/ not puyallup. 

[bigtex]

Keep checking your maps BigTex  White River is the Buckley portion/ not puyallup. 

There is a very small portion (might just be the gate, IDK) in Puyallup, this came from two WDFW Officers I talked to last year.