Hunting Washington Forum

Congrats on a cool buck. The ATL pic really shows his size.

Just an inside joke, the old timers in camp don’t believe in sharing. 

I had a rifle tag, killed my buck on the 18th. How’d the archery season go?

What an awesome experience, getting to hunt units during times when there are no other hunters with a rifle is neat, but getting to be in there when no other humans have tags and being able to come up with a plan and try to execute it is very fun.

When I bought the tag, like most, I had dreams of finding a 200" buck (they exist but are hard to find), and hopefully find a buck that I was at least sure went 190".  I knew I was going to focus on the 200 GMU's.  Unfortunately for me, I hadn't spent much time in any of those units.  It was truly awesome to see how many people reached out to offer suggestions.  What a great community of people.

I hunted at least one day every weekend other than a couple (and both days most), for the entire season, focusing on different areas at different times.  It truly was just a fantastic experience.

As most of you are aware the weather wasn't ideal this year, and that had me panicking a couple times.  I knew to the extent possible, I wanted to find a buck from a distance and get as many photos and video as possible, really study them and make sure that I was going to be happy ending this unique experience.

Luckily, I only found 2 bucks that would have been for sure shooters had I just had the late tag for that individual unit and this tag.  The first, was just a nice heavy 4x4 but with nothing really special, a younger deer and I have taken bigger typical bucks, so he was a pretty easy pass.  The second was the day I finally killed my buck and will be part of the write up later.

My property boarders Hancock (Manulife) in Stevens County. I had heard this was coming when I was up muzzy hunting and when I got back I emailed them to get more details. Were they leaving anything open, what ones specifically were getting leased, etc.

Response:
"It looks like you are in Stevens County. All MFM lands in Stevens, Spokane, and Pend Oreille counties are closed and are in our fee access recreation license program now. You can check out these private leases on hancockrecreation.com.

Properties in Ferry county and the Colville reservations are still open for non-motorized access only."

I asked a few more questions...

Response:
"Essentially, all Manulife lands are closed to recreational access, including both vehicle and walk-in entry. This change reflects our transition to a private license model rather than open public access.

Key Details:
- Parcels are being reviewed individually before they are posted for license opportunities.
- The process is time-consuming, so tracts are listed gradually as reviews are completed.
- If someone expresses interest in a specific tract, that parcel is moved to the top of the queue for review.
- Lands within the Colville Reservation and in Ferry County remain open for non-motorized access only.

To clarify: lands do not remain open until lease conversion—closure occurs before marketing begins.

Please let me know if you need additional details or have specific tracts in mind."

If its not posted and its in one of those counties.... I still wouldnt go on it is all I am trying to say.