legal caliber to hunt

.24 caliber is the minimum for deer or larger. So you're looking at a .243 or bigger cartridge.
Go to the Washington State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife for more info
 
Yep it's gotta be .24 cal and up for deer and larger game. You can hunt cougar with it though. The minimum for cougar last I checked was .22 cal centerfire and up. Emphesis on the word "centerfire" no rimfires. I would give the Washington department of fish and wildlife a call on their enforcement information line 360 902-2936. I have used it when I couldnt find the info I was after in the free hunting regulations pamphlet. Any sporting goods store that sells hunting gear and guns will have copies of the free hunting regulations and that is a must to have.
 
Most palces are .24 Caliber and up.

Buzzcook, not meaning to get off topic much here, but I am planing a vacation trip to your area next summer. Any great places to see in the state of Washington that you would suggest. Oh, yea you don't don't have to worry about me relocating to your area, so don't worry about that. I just want to see the great scenery there and not invade.
 
BIGR: Washington state has all sorts of places to see.
If you're going to the Southern part of the state, the Columbia river gorge is spectacularly beautiful.
The Long Beach peninsula in the South East corner is great either for winter storm watching or the International kite festival at the end of August. There is also great salmon fishing over the Columbia river bar (take your Dramamine ;)

The Cascades from Mt. St Helens on up to Baker are spectacular. We love taking the North Cascades Hwy from I5 out to Winthrop.
Everything in between those two mountains is worth visiting for winter sports, hiking or mountain climbing.

If you're into urban vacations, Seattle has everything you need from a visit to the Pike Place Market to world class performance arts. It's more than just Lattes.

The Olympic peninsula has great camping and once again salmon fishing. Tends to be wet even in the summer except in the very North around Sequim. There's a wild animal farm there were you drive around and look at the different wild animals.

East of the mountains is high plains, deserts and scrub with some light forests. At the furthest Northeast is the Okaganogan. That's wild country with some of the finest trout fishing in the world. Lake Chelan is a bit further West and it's a great place to camp.

The Central area has the Ellensburg rodeo and a petrified forest. Moses Lake is another popular recreational area.

Southeastern Washington is dry as dust. I'm not real familiar with it except driving through.
 
Thanks for the info. I have been getting some info in the mail from Washington and have looked some of it over. It looks like the Cascades is an interesting area. I am probably going out your way in August of 2009. I am going to start planning the trip this fall and winter.

Now back on topic, what do you guys hunt big game with out there. .24 caliber and up? Do you have any grizzilies out there or just black bears? If I am coming out there on vacation I want to know how much I need to be on bear alert. I have been to Yellowstone and the Rockies before, but never did see any grizzilies.
 
bear

BIGR I grew up in north east Washington around the Coleville and Kettle Falls area. There are a few griz but mostly big black bear, not like the little ones they have here in West Virginia (around 200lbs here). You will need to check the regs on hunting them as it has been a few years since I have been there.
 
BigR-
I hunt in the Okanogan area (north-central WA), and while there are grizzlies in the area, you would have to look long and hard to find one. Many black bears, though. If you are planning on going to the northeast corner of the state (Pend Oreille Nat'l Forest), bear spray might be a fair precaution, but in general, I would not worry about it too much.

Western WA has wet, rainy weather during most of the hunting seasons, but is spectacular in every way, especially on the Olympic Peninsula and along the Columbia River Gorge. Elk hunting and blacktail deer in both those areas, but not an easy hunt. Southern WA has the Columbia River as mentioned, but also has some steep, tough country around Mt Adams and Mt St Helens (yes, the one that blew up). Eastern WA is drier and more remote, with rolling hills and prairie. Northern WA is mostly volcanic and short-grass prairie (desert, to many folks), but has very good deer numbers, both mule deer and whitetail deer.

As for guns to bring, most folks here hunt with bolt action rifles, lots of 270s. 308s, 30-06s, 7mmRemMags, 300 WinMags, and 338 WinMags. And 2 7X57s (that I know of;)).

All in all, WA is a good state for hunting, but not great. There are lots of hunting opportunities, but many areas have been hunted pretty hard and animals are pretty wise. Bird hunting is fair, except goose hunting which is very good. Varmint hunting is getting better thanks to the bunnyhuggers getting trapping banned. So come on out and bring your guns.
 
Thanks for the info Scorch. More than likely I will not get to hunt any but might be out there in August 09 and might try some fishing. More than likely sight seeing and passing through. My father in law is 76 YRS. old and loves to fish. It will probably be just me and him on one of our 7000 or 8000 mile trips. In 2006 I took him on a big trip out west and we had a blast. He never dreamed that he would ever go to Yellowstone or Colorado or out west. I figured thats the least I could do since he raised my wife up right and allowed me to marry her. Until that year neither one us had ever been west beyond the Mississippi River. He is still in decent health and I feel like time is of the escence so I think we need to take another western trip and include Washington, Oregon and California.

Guys I didn't mean to highjack this thread from a caliber discussion to vacation stuff. Sometimes I get carried away.
 
BIGR

no problem.
i live in the the northwest corner of washington.
we have many black bear and i have heard of grizzlys up further into the cascades. we also have a fair number of cougers in the area since hound hunting was banned.:(
when i go camping i ALWAYS bring a gun, either my 30-30 lever, .308, or my 30-06. you wouldn't ever need anything more. if you go up further into the cascades you will have to be more carefull of the bears, this year we had a really bad season for berries, so the bears are getting more aggresive, attacking hiker's dogs and what not...
 
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