Deer/Birds in WA state.

J

Juhosaphat

New member
I've been wanting to get into hunting for a few years now. I was just wondering, what's all involved with it? I wouldn't want to hunt much more than the occasional deer and some bird hunting. So a big game license and bird license would be needed obviously. Do you have to take a hunters safety course before you can get your license? If so, what's all entailed in that course?

Also, what calibers would you recommend for deer? Just normal size whitetail? I'm thinking my 45-70 would be a bit much :p For birds, I'm thinking a 20 gauge pump is going to be my gun of choice. Either that or a SxS 12 gauge. I'm not too worried about the gauge seeing as how I can shoot pop cans in mid air with a mod 60 lol I know that's a little different than chasing a bird down, but it's a start :)

Any information would be greatly appreciated as I'd like to get in this season but would like to know as much as possible before I do get into it. I'm going to be picking up a WA state regs in the next couple of days as well. In advance, thanks for any and all information :)

-Chad
 
Chad,

Hunter Safety requirements vary from state to state, and I don't recall WA's off the top. Oregon it is only required if you are under 18, which I personally think is a mistake, but I don't make the rules. And many states require them no matter what age, so if you go out of state and don't have one, you will have to get one

Even if it is not required, I would recommend taking one. Lots of good info, both safety and hunting wise. Of course, I am biased, since I am a hunter ed instruction in OR.

45-70, while maybe a bit over the top, will work. If you are just looking for a good reason to buy a new rifle, honestly just about anything above whatever your legal minimum caliber would be fine: .243, 25-06, .270, 30-06 (.308) or the metric equivilents and then there are about 900 choices in between what I listed.

You also might add elk to your hunting as the addiction takes hold, so I would reccomend something like a .270, 30-06, or 7 mm that will do both deer and elk easily. I freely admit I am an -06 fan, but that is neither here nor there.

What part of WA are you thinking of chasing whitetails? Blacktails are the species in your area, and there are mule deer in eastern WA. Probably whitetails as well, but I never hunted that part of WA. Lots of NW guys on the forum, so I am sure you will get some more accurate info than I can provide.

Good luck, be safe, and have fun!

Dave
 
Going to be over in Eastern Washington for sure for deer. Just listed whitetail off top of my head. For birds I'm not sure where I'll head to. Another thing I would like to do is learn of places to go to hunt legally for birds and deer. I don't want to be out and end up on somebody's private property. Not for the hassle, but just because I wouldn't want somebody on my land in the same situation.

Once I pick up the WA state regs I'll get a wealth of information from that. But I definitely appreciate any information that can be offered up from fellow members here.
 
In WA, once you are over 18 you don't have to have hunter safety, but I would recommend it anyway if you've never hunted or it has been a long time. Just to remind you.

45-70 will do fine for deer, but the challenge with that is getting within your comfortable range. Mulies are open spaces animals, whitetails less so, so it should work fine if you can place your shots to 150 yds. Eastern WA has both mulies and whitetails, with the mulies living high and dry and the whitetails taking over the creeks and agricultural lands. Whitetails are "any buck", so a lot of folks hunt for mulies the first few days of a hunt, then go look for a whitetail if they haven't filled their tag yet.

Mt Spokane, 49 Degrees North, and Huckleberry are the most popular units, but there are lots more areas to hunt than those. Kittitas County (down by the Columbia River) has good populations, as do Grant County and Moses Lake areas.

For birds, you can get into pheasant pretty easy around Ellensburg and Yakima, or travel farther afield. The WDFW Pheasant Release Progeam has release sites, but they get hunted pretty heavily. There are "Feel Free To Hunt" lands, and lots of public lands on the east side. I typically hunt with a 12 gauge, but the 20 gets out accasionally too, and it works just fine.
 
In WA, once you are over 18 you don't have to have hunter safety, but I would recommend it anyway if you've never hunted or it has been a long time. Just to remind you.
Click to expand...

That is not true, see below straight out of the Washington Hunting Regs:

Washington State law requires all individuals born after 1 January 1972 to show proof of basic hunter education training before purchasing a hunting license. There are no exceptions to the law. Classes are offered year-round and interested individuals are encouraged to enroll in classes as early as possible. Summer and fall classes fill up rapidly and there may not be available spaces for late season classes.

You can find most all the info you need here: http://wdfw.wa.gov/
including regs.


Toby
 
Getting started in Washington state can be pretty confusing. Read your hunting regs thouroghly, and do yourself a favor and follow all the rules or they will hang you out to dry. Since 2002 or 2003 Washington has a 2000 dollar fee they tack on top of hunting violations. As well as confiscating your gun, etc. Rules change from one game management unit to the next. Game management units are not marked and you have to figure it out using their confusing maps and boundry illustrations in the hunting regs. Since game management units contain cities, towns, and private property as well you need to be careful. Also finding a good hunting area that is not crowded can be difficult here. A general rule of thumb is that national forest and most state forest land will be okay to hunt on but might be swarming with other hunters. Like stated above you will have to take hunters safety. You can also goto wsdfw.com and take the course online. Start searching for a good place to hunt now. Or put up a message on the bulletin board at your local gun range looking for hunting partner. Chances are some one who is experienced in your area will give you hand.
 
The previous poster is VERY correct. In Washington it is very difficult to find land to hunt that is not at least semi crowded, unless you find somebody with private land. Most of the major forestry companies have tightened up on letting people on their land to hunt, although some will let you walk in. There are some Weyerhauser areas where you can pay to hunt on their land. But like previously mentioned you will want to look for NFS land, or state land. I would go to your local "hunting store" where ever the true local hunters go, and ask around there. Also if you are going to hunt NFS land, get yourself some greentrail maps.

Toby
 
I may have to do that note board thing at the gun shop I go to. Hell, could probably get one of my friends that works there to take me lol

Thank you all for the information, it's much appreciated :D The fact that I can take the course online is awesome!
 
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