Snake River breaks

[the1rod]

so my dad and i made a last min decision to try for a mule deer opening weekend, so ive been looking around and decided to take a look at the snake river breaks. i was looking on go hunt, and it doesn't look like a whole lot of open land, so my question is, is there more land open than what is shown, or am i just under-estimating it? also who owns the open land, it isn't identified on the map. i plan on going out tomorrow to do a little scouting and at least find an entry point, but was just hoping to get a little information about the land first. any info helps, i just want to make sure i know my boundaries when i get out there, how well is it signed there?

[bobcat]

There are a few sections of state DNR land. It is not posted as such. You need to be good with map, compass, and GPS if you're going to try hunting it. Certain landowners will lie and tell you it's private and try to kick you off. (it's happened to me)

[Ridgerunner]

bring your running shoes to claim your trophy too.  Heard some spots are a real war zone down there.

[Three_Oh_Eight]

I think the best hunting is on the south side of the river and accessible by boat.

[jjhunter]

Just be careful and make sure you know where you are at all times.   The river gets hit pretty hard by road hunters and fence jumpers and the landowners have pretty short fuses.  

[huntinluva]

I (we, including hunting party) have hunted the breaks since I went to school at WSU for early muzzy.  Talk to the land owners for sure.  They greet trespassers with rifles, no joke.  Be courteous and know where you are at all times.  As stated earlier lots of road hunters.  Good luck.

[agchawk]

There's a good chunk of DNR land out by Nisqualle John off of Wawawai Rd. It's pretty well marked so you really can't miss it (Green signs).

HOWEVER, there are a LOT of hunters out there too. The boat launch there is always packed with hunters as are a lot of the pull-off camp/picnic areas. (This is the case most years. Of course, I couldn't tell ya what kind of showing will occur this year but I doubt it's much different than past years)

[the1rod]

thanks for the advice guys, i guess the first thing ill do is go get a good map. sounds like its quite competitive out there, are there enough deer to be worth it?

[bobcat]

Used to be quite a few deer but I don't know anymore. The numbers dropped drastically somewhere around 10 years ago and I haven't been back, other than for pheasants. We were there last year in mid-November pheasant hunting and I sure didn't see the numbers of deer that I used to see over there in the mid to late 90's. To be fair I wasn't specifically looking for deer so that could be part of it. But I definitely don't think the deer population is anywhere near what it was just 10 to 15 years ago.

[buckreaper]

I (we, including hunting party) have hunted the breaks since I went to school at WSU for early muzzy.  Talk to the land owners for sure.  They greet trespassers with rifles, no joke.  Be courteous and know where you are at all times.  As stated earlier lots of road hunters.  Good luck.

It has happened to me over there by a man with a shotgun.  Actually raised it to his shoulder, pointed it at me, and was yelling when he didn't think I was leaving quickly enough.  Silly man....I was out of his range but not mine with my rifle.  Didn't point it at him but definitely would have if he had squeezed his trigger.  I think I was right but not sure enough to argue the point.  Just dropped down the hill out of sight and circled around to where I was headed in the first place.  Heard plenty other similar stories.  Used to be tons of deer.  Quit hunting there because of the decline in deer and amazing increase in pumpkins.

[focht22]

The deer are still there, just need to spend sometime scouting. Door knocking is going to be your best bet. When hunting season starts it seems like they all go to private property.

[Little Fish]

Haven't hunted there since my Wazzu days, but back then (20 years ago) there were lots of deer. I agree with focht22. Get to know some farmers/land owners and you should be golden.