Guy's recent black bear post really got me thinking... I'm pretty sure Washington state is the most under-rated state for big game hunting in the entire US.
Nice bears by the way Guy, gotta love those WA chocolate bears.... great hunt with your son... just awesome.
There's a lot of color phase bears in Washington... one of the reasons it's my favorite state to hunt big game. Three kinds of deer... two kinds of elk... sheep... moose... goats... bears... cats... coyotes galore...
Tags are reasonably priced and easy to come by (multiple bear/cat tags), and bear season opens August 1st on the west side. You can hunt hunt blacktails in the jungle, muleys in the high country, or rutting whitetails on the Palouse. Chasing bears in the alpine blueberries... wearing short sleeved shirts and shades... is a blast. And, there is tons of land access available to the public on unused logging roads... provided your method of transportation doesn't involve internal combustion.
Best of all... WA has one of the coolest over the counter hunts available anywhere... the high-country wilderness mule deer (and bear) rifle season that runs from Sept. 15th-25th every year. Great weather... rugged beautiful wilderness... muleys in velvet. It's a very cool hunt that a non-resident can buy a $250 tag.... spend another $200 on some boots (or $750) for a drop-camp hunt)... and your in the game. Tough hunt... fairly low odds... but one just about anyone in the west can pull off for under a grand.
Throw in salmon/steelhead.... and it's a no brainer.
Washington... a poor man's Alaska!
PS... DrMike, we all know BC is just more of a good WA thing...
Nice bears by the way Guy, gotta love those WA chocolate bears.... great hunt with your son... just awesome.
There's a lot of color phase bears in Washington... one of the reasons it's my favorite state to hunt big game. Three kinds of deer... two kinds of elk... sheep... moose... goats... bears... cats... coyotes galore...
Tags are reasonably priced and easy to come by (multiple bear/cat tags), and bear season opens August 1st on the west side. You can hunt hunt blacktails in the jungle, muleys in the high country, or rutting whitetails on the Palouse. Chasing bears in the alpine blueberries... wearing short sleeved shirts and shades... is a blast. And, there is tons of land access available to the public on unused logging roads... provided your method of transportation doesn't involve internal combustion.
Best of all... WA has one of the coolest over the counter hunts available anywhere... the high-country wilderness mule deer (and bear) rifle season that runs from Sept. 15th-25th every year. Great weather... rugged beautiful wilderness... muleys in velvet. It's a very cool hunt that a non-resident can buy a $250 tag.... spend another $200 on some boots (or $750) for a drop-camp hunt)... and your in the game. Tough hunt... fairly low odds... but one just about anyone in the west can pull off for under a grand.
Throw in salmon/steelhead.... and it's a no brainer.
Washington... a poor man's Alaska!
PS... DrMike, we all know BC is just more of a good WA thing...
