Title: Application strategy 2023: Washington deer and elkSub: By: Nathan Bare

Author date: May 26, 2023

2023 WASHINGTON ODDS/INSIDER UPDATE

If you’ve gone to the Washington state website to look for special hunt results from the 2022 season, you might have seen this message:

Washington has recently switched to a new licensing system vendor, which is the reason for the delay. This is the same vendor in GOHUNT uses to receive our state data in order to process our draw odds. We apologize for the delay on our end, but plan to have our Draw Odds and Insider updated shortly. Thank you for your patience.

WASHINGTON'S 2023 DEER AND ELK APPLICATION OVERVIEW

Washington is one of the few western states remaining that is simply an opportunity to hunt deer and elk over-the-counter (OTC). There are four species of deer that reside here and all are huntable except for the Columbian whitetail deer that live in the southwest corner of the state. There are also both Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain elk. Each of these species have OTC options to consider as well as special permits to apply for. However, Washington is not likely on many hunters' annual application radar because you must purchase a general deer or elk tag prior to applying. The point system is a bonus point system that squares your points in order to give you more presence in the draw and, yet, with an application system that is over 30 years old, even hunters who have near maximum points are now swallowed up by hunters with fewer points. The odds of drawing start very low and stay very low if you are looking to hunt one of the best units in the state.

As a nonresident, the total cost of applying for elk in a special permit area is $608. If you are unsuccessful in drawing a special permit, there is no refund, but you still have your general elk tag to hunt wherever you have selected.

If you are looking for a place to hunt each year and aren’t worried about the quality of the hunt, then Washington’s OTC hunts are a good option to consider. However, if you are going to purchase a general tag, you might as well roll the dice on a special permit while you are at it.

Note: The all species application deadline for Washington is May 24 by 11:59 p.m. PT. You can apply online here.

State Information

To view important information and an overview of Washington’s rules/regulations, the draw system, tag and license fees and an interactive boundary line map, check out our State Profile. You can also view the Species Profiles to access historical and statistical data to help you identify trophy areas.

IMPORTANT DATES AND INFORMATION

INFORMATION FOR FIRST TIME APPLICANTS IN WASHINGTON

First time applicants in Washington will need to get things set up well before the actual deadline to apply. The first step is to build a user profile on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFD) website. Once this is complete, you will be issued a WILD ID account number. Next, you will need to submit a photo of your hunter’s education card to the state and have it verified in order to be eligible to apply for any hunts. This can take some time and is not as streamlined as other states so you should do this as early as possible if you want to ensure you are able to apply in this year's draw.

Cost to apply

You must front the entire cost of the application fee and the cost of a tag when applying.

*Special hunt applications that are in the categories quality elk, quality deer, any moose, any ram and goat.

Mandatory hunt reporting

Washington is a mandatory hunter reporting state. If you do not submit your report, you will be charged a $10 penalty and this penalty must be paid before you can buy a license the following year. Washington does have an incentive program in place for hunters who submit their harvest reports early. For more information on this see the section below.

By Jan. 31, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. PT, hunters must report their hunting activity for each special permit acquired and each deer, elk, bear, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat and/or turkey tag purchased in 2023 even if you did not hunt. For each transport tag, you will owe a general season hunting activity report and you will also owe a hunting activity report for each big game special permit awarded. You cannot submit this information by mail or email.

If your season extends beyond Jan. 31, the hunter report is due within 10 days of the close of that season to submit your harvest report.

INCENTIVE PERMIT DRAWING FOR EARLY REPORTING

Any hunter who submits their harvest report by Jan. 10, 2024, will be entered to win an incentive permit. These nine permits are drawn in April before the state draw deadline and the hunts are for the following fall. There are two any elk permits for western Washington, two any elk for eastern Washington and five statewide deer permits. If your special permit hunting season extends beyond January 31, you will be included in the incentive drawing if you make a report within 10 days of the close of that season.

INCENTIVE PERMIT SEASON

These incentive permit hunts are valid in all open areas for the general season or special permit areas. The hunt dates are scheduled for Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 each year. Hunters are required to hunt with the designated weapon that is open in any given unit at any given time. If there is not an established hunt going on then the hunters are allowed to hunt with any weapon.

PAYING FOR INCENTIVE PERMITS

Hunters who win the special incentive permit must send the appropriate license fee to the WDFW headquarters office in Olympia. WDFW will mail the license and transport tag to the permit winners.

Washington snowpack

2023

Washington snow water equivalent update as of April 25, 2023. Source: NRCS

Washington Drought

2023

Source: US Drought Monitor

In 2023, like most of the western U.S., the state has shown quite an improvement in drought conditions compared to 2022. The snowpack for most of the state is well over 100%, which should supply a good runoff throughout the summer. With the ample amounts of moisture, it should be a good year for healthy horn/antler growth.

The Washington draw system

An interesting part about the draw system in Washington is that both residents and nonresidents are drawn from the same pool and, thus, have the same odds of drawing a tag.

In order to apply for special permits in Washington, you have a few steps to follow. First, you will need to purchase your hunting license and transport tag (general deer or elk tag).

For deer and elk, the transport tag must match the tag specified for the hunt listed in the special permit tables. You must select your transport tag, including weapon type and location, before you can purchase a special permit application. Next, you will purchase your special permit application. The good news behind all of this is that if you are unsuccessful in drawing a special permit, you already have a general tag in your pocket.

Unlocking Washington's system

THE POINTS SYSTEM

Washington is a pure bonus point system. The more points you have, the more applications go into the bucket and increase your chances of drawing a tag. There is no maximum point draw, but your points are squared, which gives you more presence in the draw each year you are unsuccessful. Essentially, it gives you a slightly better “random” chance of drawing. You will be awarded a point when you purchase your application. So if it’s your first time entering the draw, you will have one point. If it’s your 10th year applying, you will go into the draw with 10 points squared, plus an additional point for the current year. The good thing about a bonus point system is whether you have one point or 20 points, you always have a chance of drawing.

Points are accumulated in each species category.

MULTIPLE HUNT CHOICES

You can apply for a maximum of four hunt choices per application, except for the quality deer and elk categories. Quality deer and elk hunts only allow two hunt choices. You do not have to apply for more than one hunt. If more than one hunt choice is requested, each hunt choice will be considered in the drawing in order of the priority you chose, prior to moving onto the next applicant.

YOUTH AND SPECIAL PERMITS

If a youth is awarded a youth permit and turns 16 before purchasing the hunting license and tag, the full resident or nonresident price will be charged. Permit price is determined by the youth's age at the date of the special permit purchase. No refunds or exchanges will be made for those purchasing a hunting license for mountain goat, moose or bighorn sheep.

PARTY APPLICATIONS

When applying as a group, you will have a group leader and group members. The group leader must submit as the group leader for the category first. Each group member must submit their application as a group member and must know the group leader’s WILD ID to join as a group member. Any points that have been accrued by any party member are considered and averaged across the application. If one member of the group draws, then all members of the group draw. Be sure to apply only for hunt selections that have enough permits available to suffice the group.

THE MAXIMUM GROUP SIZES FOR EACH SPECIES CATEGORY ARE AS FOLLOWS:

POINTS ONLY OPTION

There is not a way of building points in Washington without having to submit all of the same fees. This is not so painful for residents, but is a hard pill to swallow for a nonresident who simply wants to build points because you will still be charged the full price of the elk permit or deer permit when submitting your point only application, making Washington the most expensive state for a nonresident to build points. If you are choosing to invest in this state, you might as well shoot for the moon and hope for the best.

CHECK STATIONS

An interesting part about Washington is that they provide the information for check stations around the state. Note that the times and locations of check stations are subject to change.

Special deer and elk permit categories

You may purchase and submit one permit application per hunt category that you qualify for as listed in the following tables.

Washington 2023 mule deer breakdown

Washington’s overall management strategy is based around creating more opportunities to hunt rather than the quality of hunt. As a general rule, a big deer could come out of just about any of the 75 different units available. However, if you are going to be looking towards the Evergreen State to fill the gaps in your annual hunt planning, then use Filtering and study up on success rates, overall public land and things of this nature so you can get started in the right direction. Plan on having some sort of learning curve wherever you land and plan on it taking more than a few days in any given unit to get consistent in producing the top end of what that unit has to offer.

THE GOHUNT HIT LIST UNITS FOR WASHINGTON MULE DEER

The top producing units in the state are typically going to take an excessive number of years to draw. Because you are on the hook for a deer permit whether you draw these top units or not, your best bet is to make a plan around which general unit you are going to hunt and swing for the fence on your application.

HOW TO UNCOVER HIDDEN GEMS

Quality bucks have been taken in just about every general unit in the state at one point or another. However, there are a few tips to finding some more consistent success. The first is to look towards some of the more primitive weapon hunt offerings that seem to get less pressure each year. Utilizing Filtering 2.0 and Maps can help locate areas that are more difficult to access. Look at percentages of public versus private land. If it takes a few more hours of driving to get to the more remote areas, then the likelihood that you drove past lots of hunters is high. The same goes for when you get boots on the ground; look for the more obscure areas of the unit that are harder to access. Much of the eastern part of the state is swallowed up with private land, so talking with landowners to gain access can help.

HIGH BUCK HUNTS

A unique opportunity in Washington is the early high buck hunts. These hunts open up Sept. 15 and end Sept. 25. They are found in Units 203, 215, 218, 244, 245 and 249.

Another great way to find a hidden gem in Washington is utilizing Filtering and sorting the units by season, harvest stats, trophy potential, buck:doe ratios and percentage of 4 point or better bucks. There are a plethora of general season weapon options in Washington.

Managing points and expectations

Unfortunately, there isn’t much to say in this section of the article. The truth is that the special permits in Washington are very hard to draw and with a point system that is now 30+ years old, the exponential value you are receiving because your points are being squared still doesn’t give you much presence in the bucket of tickets. For example, if you have been applying for 10 years and now have 101 tickets in the bucket compared to 100 applicants who have been applying for five years, there is a grand total of 2,601 tickets in the bucket. If you have been in the game for a long time and are a resident, you may still find a little luck at some point. The hard decision comes to the nonresidents and having to front the cost in order to have a shot at the special permits. Once again, if you are buying a general deer or elk license anyways, why not apply and go for it all?

Washington's 2023 Columbian blacktail deer breakdown

There are 74 units to consider when looking to hunt Columbian blacktail deer in Washington. These units are up and down the West Coast and include 11 different units that are islands primarily in the Puget Sound as well as one in the southwest corner of the state. As you move across the state to the east, you will reach the farthest extent of their range on the top of the Cascade Mountains. Washington classifies a deer as a blacktail if they are found west of a line drawn from the Canadian border south on the Pacific Crest Trail and along the Yakama Indian Reservation boundary in Yakima County to the Klickitat River and south down Klickitat River to the Columbia River. Although Washington is not in the running for top destinations for hunters interested in taking an exceptional representation of the species, it is a great choice for hunters who want to check the box on this amazing deer. Quality deer are taken in just about every unit in the state.

HOW TO UNCOVER HIDDEN GEMS

A hidden gem in Washington for Columbian blacktail deer is tough to find and will likely come as the result of multiple years of knowledge gained in one OTC unit or the other. Use Filtering to look at success rates, the amount of public land and buck:doe ratios to get you started in the right direction. At least you can get started on your learning curve in a unit that has a slightly better than average track record than another.

Modern firearm general season blacktail deer hunts

ANY BUCK

ANY DEER

3 POINT MINIMUM

Late general season modern firearm blacktail deer hunts

ANY BUCK

ANY DEER

Managing blacktail deer expectations

Out of the 30 different quality rifle blacktail deer hunts in Washington, if you have 10 points, some units to consider would be 418, 426, 437, 448 and 663. However, if you want to plan a blacktail deer hunt in Washington and you can stomach the expense, then swing for the fence and pray for some luck.

Washington's 2023 Whitetail Deer breakdown

The odds that Washington is on your short list for whitetail destinations is minimal at best and, yet, there is a great population of deer in the state and it seems to be getting better all the time. There are some particularly big deer coming out of the northeast corner of the state near Idaho and British Columbia, but whitetails can be found in just about every unit in Regions 1, 2 and 3, which cover the entire eastern side of the state. The truth is that if you are just looking to hunt deer, this may be the best choice out of the three types available in Washington. Every year, above average deer are harvested and, overall, this is a species that doesn’t seem to be targeted by nearly as many hunters compared to mule deer or Columbian blacktail deer. Using Filtering so you can narrow down your search and find a great starting point for whitetails in the Evergreen State.

Washington's 2023 Rocky Mountain Elk breakdown

Just like deer, getting started building points in Washington for elk is a tough pill to swallow, especially as a nonresident. You are required to purchase an elk permit in order to apply and build points, which makes this the most expensive elk application in the country. Couple this with very low odds of drawing a top producing unit in the state and it really is hard to imagine why someone would do this when there are so many other better choices across the West. However, if you are a resident and you are going to be purchasing your elk permit regardless, then it would be a shame not to apply and pray for some of the harder to draw areas of the state. There are currently 75 elk units in Washington for Rocky Mountain elk and 21 units with a trophy potential of 300” or better. The bulk of the best hunting in the state is found in the south center portion of the state as well as the southeast corner within the famous Blue Mountains.

Keep in mind that most Rocky Mountain elk hunts are highly regulated and very few units offer the opportunity at a branch-antlered bull. Most units are open to spike or antlerless elk. However, this can change depending on the unit and weapon type.

Rocky Mountain elk units are the 100, 200 and 300 Series Game Management Units (GMU).

HOW TO PICK UP A TAG TO HUNT IN WASHINGTON

To hunt elk in Washington:

Hidden gems

With the best units in the state only boasting 340”+ caliber bulls, a hidden gem is a real relative term in this state. The truth is a successful elk hunt in Washington is tough to come by when looking at the percentage of harvests versus hunters. The real hidden gem could be anywhere you can build a track record of success and will likely be a general unit since the other units are hard to draw.

ARCHERY GENERAL ELK

Only units open to branch-antlered bulls are listed. Units open to spike or antlerless elk only may have higher success rates.

MODERN FIREARM GENERAL ELK

MUZZLELOADER GENERAL ELK — EARLY

MUZZLELOADER GENERAL ELK — LATE

Hit list units for Rocky Mountain elk in Washington

Managing Rocky Mountain elk points and expectations

There really isn’t much to expect when it comes to drawing a quality elk permit in Washington. Even with 10 years worth of applying you are still going to be in the single digits for odds of drawing any of the muzzleloader or rifle hunts across the state

Washington's 2023 Roosevelt elk breakdown

If you are looking to hunt elk in the Evergreen State, a Roosevelt elk is actually a much better choice in my opinion simply for the fact that at least when hunting you have fewer restrictions and are able to harvest the best bull you can find. Although this state does not have a reputation for producing as big of bulls as California or Oregon, there are still some quality bulls harvested each year in many different units for hunters willing to get in and hunt hard. Roosevelt elk are found on the western side of the state in the 400, 500, and 600 Series units.

SPECIAL INFORMATION WITH REGARD TO ANTLERS

Certain units in Washington have antler restrictions.

3 point minimum: A 3 point minimum elk means that a legal elk in those units must have at least 3 antler points on one side. Eye guards are antler points when they are at least 1” long. A 1x3 and a 2x3 are legal elk in a 3 point minimum unit. Antler restrictions apply to all hunters during any open season.

Antler points: To qualify as a point, an antler point must be at least 1” long, measured on the longest side.

Hidden gems

ARCHERY GENERAL ROOSEVELT ELK UNITS IN WASHINGTON

Any elk: 407, 454, 564, 666, 684, Elk Area 6014

3 point minimum: 448, 460, 466, 506, 510, 513, 516, 524 (except closed in Elk Area 5066), 530, 601 through 618, 624 (except for Elk Area 6071), 627, 633, 638 (except Master Hunters only in Elk Area 6064), 642 through 651 and 658

3 point minimum or antlerless: 501 through 505, 520, 550, 554, 560, 568, 572, 574, 578, Elk Area 6061, 652 (Except Elk Area 6013 closed to antlerless), 654, 660, 663, 667 through 673, 681, and 699.

Some units listed have 3 point minimum antler restrictions.

MODERN FIREARM GENERAL ROOSEVELT ELK UNITS IN WASHINGTON

Any elk: 407, 564, 666

Any bull: 454

3 point minimum: 460, 466, 448, 503, 505, 506, 510 through 520, 524 (except closed in Elk Area 5066), 530, 550, 560, 568, 572, 574, 578, 601 through 618, 624 (except for Elk Area 6071), 627, 633, 638 (except Master Hunters only in Elk Area 6064 portion of GMU 638), 642 through 651, 652 (except for Elk Area 6014), 654, 658, 660, 667 through 681, 684.

3 point minimum or antlerless: 501, 504, 663, Elk Area 6014

Hit list units for Roosevelt Elk in Washington

Managing Roosevelt elk points and expectations

Like other species, there are so many OTC opportunities and very few quality options. It forces applicants into only a few options to choose from and, therefore, makes the odds that much worse. As it stands, there are not any quality hunts that have higher than a 10% drawing odds with 10 or fewer points. The truth is that if you plan on hunting one of these above average areas, it will be a lightning strike when the day comes. The best plan is to get very familiar with the general unit you prefer to hunt. Always remember to apply for the quality hunt that you desire for a chance. There’s always a chance in the bonus point world.