Bow Hunting Tips For a Whatcom Newbie

[Heetor]

I have never posted on a online forum before so forgive me if I get this wrong.   

My company recently relocated from Williamson County TN to Bellingham Washington, and I am trying to get the lay of the hunting land in this corner of the world   The first difference I am trying to get my head around is the concept of public land hunting.  In TN there was only a couple of small public hunting lands, and they were so full of hunters you were as likely to get shot as shoot a deer, serious hunters took deer leases off of farmers for the hunting season and hunted it as private property.

I haven't been able to find any leased land information since we moved up here this summer, and with bow season knocking on the door we are looking at hunting public land.  I have a 1/2 acre on Lake Whatcom and we have so many deer on our property that I have to be a little careful going up and down the driveway, so I know they are around, (wish I could hunt them off of my deck).

I prefer to use my backpack tree stand instead of a blind or stalking, and I was planning on heading out this weekend to do some public land scouting, but I hate to just show up in the bush and hope to get lucky and find a spot to hang my stand.  We are looking in the 407 as it is close to the house, but I was hoping someone could give me some pointers about the public areas up here, (I don't mind travelling an hour or two on the weekend, but I like to sneak out before work in the morning if I can find somewhere close).

I was looking at:

  Lake Terrell
  Intalco
  British Petroleum
  Tennant Lake

Any tidbits or pointers would be really appreciated.  Also I am a little worried about running into other people and having my spot get ruined, I noticed the public areas were pretty small, what are the chances of having a hiker or another hunter stumble upon me?

Anyway it seems like there is a lot of knowledge on this site, if anybody has some pointers for my first season up here I would love to hear them, thanks...

[jechicdr]

Might consider taking a ferry ride across the sound to the peninsula, lots of public and private timber company land.  Also some national forest to the east.  A better bet for finding the public land is to go on WDFW website and run the GoHunt link.  You can zoom in on an area of interest and view the public land boundaries.  You are also a short jaunt over the mountains to some nice mule deer country.  I've hunted waterfowl and seen pheasants around lake Terrell but don't know where I would start hunting that area for deer and it is a little small so might be likely to lose your spot to another hunter who knows the area.  On the WDFW website, you can also look at harvest statistics for various GMU's for deer (and elk).  If you see relatively nice deer harvest in a GMU that is predominantly public land, that is where I would look to go.  Then find the habitat and hunt it.

From GoHunt, you can also follow links to harvest data.

[Huckleberry]

I'd skip all those areas and look to the public (state) and private timber co. Land. Most of it is huntable and there are plenty of deer in the area. Look on google earth at the mountains and spend half a day driving around the area's that look of interest to you. Washington has vast stretches of land open to the public. Crowding is only an issue if you hunt crowded areas.

[Kola16]

There is tons of public land around. Get a Delorme map book of washington. They are awsome. There is more public land then you think 

[MP123]

The areas you mention are pretty good for waterfowl but I wouldn't bother hunting them for deer.  My advice would be go (a little bit) east young man!

[6x6in6]

Others in the County can surely correct me but I do not believe that Intalco or BP allow hunting on their land???

[MP123]

Others in the County can surely correct me but I do not believe that Intalco or BP allow hunting on their land???

Intalco and BP have leased some portions of their land to WDFW for hunting.  But yeah, I don't think they like you hunting right at the refinery 

[shanevg]

Tons of logging roads on the north east side of Lake Whatcom. Get a little ways behind the gates and you can find some deer.  If you want a real challenge (and want to have more fun) go up the Mount Baker Hwy and hunt the blacktails in the alpine. Any trail that is not in the National Park is open to hunting.

[6x6in6]

Others in the County can surely correct me but I do not believe that Intalco or BP allow hunting on their land???

Intalco and BP have leased some portions of their land to WDFW for hunting.  But yeah, I don't think they like you hunting right at the refinery 

Makes for a good scent killer. 

[twistiron]

Tons of logging roads on the north east side of Lake Whatcom. Get a little ways behind the gates and you can find some deer.  If you want a real challenge (and want to have more fun) go up the Mount Baker Hwy and hunt the blacktails in the alpine. Any trail that is not in the National Park is open to hunting.

he hit it on the head!!!! sending pm!!!

[alecvg]

You ave a TON of country to hunt close by, lots of awesome country and hundreds of miles of logging roads, dont bother with all the places down in the flat lands, get up in the mountains!

[pips4bucks]

The Intalco property is managed by the State for public use.  It's open for hunting Sept 1-Mar 15.  Consequently, the archery range that is on the property is open Mar 16-Last Sunday in August.  Being the outgoing archery rangemaster I can tell you it's open for deer Sept 1.  There's a few deer around there but there's a few guys who hunt it too.  You can also hunt around Lake Terrell, there's a few critters running around there too.  Early season would be your best bet before the bird hunters start pounding the brush.  I know a couple guys who've killed deer around there in the late season though.
You may want to grab your Mt. bike and head up Y road to hunt behind the timber company gates since they've closed the gates I'm sure there's deer dying of old age up there as it's a brutal bike ride just to get in there.  But ya never know, you may run into a slick head low down on the road that wants to die. 
PM me and I might have more info... 

[BOWHUNTER45]

H@ll as long as you like getting wet and eating spiders your do fine 

[Heetor]

Hey thanks guys, some good info here, twistiron has almost gotten me straightened out.  I now understand that there is a little more to Washington hunting than just the WDFW public lands.  I have spent the last 4 days scouting DNR and Federal forrest, and you're right it is both vast and beautiful.

I was out east of Lake Whatcom on the DNR land this morning at sun rise, and watched a shooter buck kind of just hang around and sniff at about 70 yards, before deciding he needed a little exercise and climb up a sheer hill.  I hope I am lucky enough to see him opening morning   i guess these Blacktails are not afraid of a little exercise!

Anyway I appreciate the responses, after non-returned calls from the the Whatcom and Skagit County wildlife biologists as well as the listed DNR contact, I was starting to get a little worried I would be hunting my driveway on opening morning.

Gonna be a little work trying to get an old one in bow range this year, (with about 100 miles of bush in every direction to walk through), but at least I'll stand a fighting chance by being in the right country.   
 



 

[BGhunter]

Welcome to washington. I live someware down the road from you in Sudden valley and agree that it would be nice to be able to hunt off my back porch. I have seen some of the biggest buck I have ever laid eyes on in my back yard but if I wanted to I could also hand feed them. If you are still looking for some spots to hunt, you might want to look toward the east side of the lake, on the other side of highway 9. There are a few logging road that are open to cars but as I've found out every hunter in the area knows about them. I personally prefer jumping on a bike and going behind closed gates, you can have an area all to your self for the most part. Its funny how people around here don't like walking more than 100 yards away from their car. By the way, if you have not already purchased a bear or cougar tag you might want to think about it. I can't tell you how many times I have been out in the woods deer hunting and ran into a bear/cougar. There is a lot of them around here. Any ways good luck, your not in a bad place to start.