New To Washington

[Transplant77]

I moved to Washington last week and was wondering if someone can help me out a little.  I have a lot of free time and would like to start scouting for areas to hunt Pheasant, Quail, Duck, and Geese.  I was told to center around the Hayden and Moses Lake area, but am very unfamiliar with both places. I plan on ordering some Quadrangle Maps of the State tomorrow morning from D.N.R. and believe this will help me get a better idea of the Public land that can be hunted. Any advice is greatly appreciated and much needed

[vandeman17]

There are many options to hunt hunt birds in the Columbia basin. I see you moved to Ballard so you can also check out some areas up north of you. The Skagit area can be some good hunting. It would help to know more about you though as far as experience, what gear you have etc. Welcome to the forum, you came to the right place. 

[BiggLuke]

Go check out the WDFW's website "GOHUNT"
It's a great basic resource for new guys... so to speak.

That is to say that it'll get you close, and will tell you loads of info on where release sites and general hunting spots can be found.
You can even search the database by species.

Check it out:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/mapping/gohunt/index.html


Good luck man, just remember the best spots in eastern wa are on private land. Never hurts to ask.

[Andrew]

Dude feel your pain!  I moved out here in '99 and it took four years to finally get back into the amount of hunting that I did in Michigan.  I got lucky that a contrator buddy of mine decided to show me around after I asked him one to many questions!

My two cents:

- Read the regs carefully
- If you can hunt the public areas on the weekdays...weekends are crazy!
- Get yourself maps of areas you are going to hunt, a compass, if you can a GPS and get off the roads and into the boonies.  Gist of it be willing to put some miles on your boots.
- Make friends, and keep spots that they have shared with you theirs.  No matter how good the hunting is! 

[T-Bone]

I suggest visiting the WDFW Region 4 Office in Mill Creek and the GO HUNT feature on the main WDFW website. The website is a tremendous resourse with a lot of info. To be honest, I wouldn't waste a lot of time with the DNR. It is not a "hunter friendly" state agency. A better map resourse is to buy the WA Atlas & Gazeeter and purchasing a map of the Snoqualmie National Forest.