Gun Dog Forum

I am new to hunting bird and I have a spot for waterfowl but its not that's great, does anyone know where some good to great spots in western Washington also for upland game to? Anything helps thanks

I cant speak for WA, but my suggestion is get a plat book some arial photos, and look on google maps. find some likely spots and call some land owners. your not likely to get much info from people on the places they hunt. put in some time and log some miles, and then reap the rewards.

Jim

in western washington there are numerous pheasant release sites up and down the I-5 corridor, on the peninsula, and many of the islands. best bet would be to call WDFW to find out which ones are active. usually many of those pheasant release sites will be productive for water fowl later in the season as the rains start. there are endless opportunities to hunt three species of forest grouse in the foothills and mountains. you might also find some mountain quail in your neck of the woods, but leave them alone since they having a hard time of it lately.

for more/easier grouse hunting, wild pheasants and chukar, and less rain head east of the mountains.

Thanks guys helps alot

Where do you live in WA, I am up in Bellingham. I could tell you exactly where some spots are if you are up this way?

I am actually down in bremerton Washington, so not to close but if they are food spots I can drive

We do alot of pheasant hunting in the early season up around lake terrel, and over on the east side. We usually wait for duck hunting until halfway through the season, and we hunt all cut corn fields, maybe some open water everyonce in a while if we get bored.

Just a wild question since we're on the topic - is any of the Snake River from Lewiston to Tri-Cities BLM or other publicly owned? i'm from Oregon and lots of the Deschutes and John Day river banks are BLM. Great places for chukar. Snake looks similarly rugged, so I'm guessing good bird habitat also, just wondering if its open to the public?

I live down near Walla Walla, you can find some "Feel Free to Hunt" on the Snake if you look at the WDFW map- although it is very indifferent. I'm not a Chukar hunter, as I've got my hands full with Hun, Phez, and Quail, but I hear it can be quite good up on the breaks.

Thanks i will have to check out the maps on wdfw

We hunt upland, almost exclusively. It's highly unlikely that you'll find any wild pheasants here in western Washington. Like a previous poster wrote, there are quite a few pheasant release sites on the west side. To hunt pheasants this side of the mountains, you'll need a west side pheasant permit, which is a little pricey. But, if you don't have the time to drive east to hunt, and with the price of gas, maybe it's a good deal. I know several people that hunt the release sites and they seem to think it's OK and they certainly see and shoot a lot of birds. You can shoot the hens, too. I got a west side permit ONE time about 12 years ago and it was scary. It was like going to the Puyallup Fair except everyone had guns and their dogs were running all over the place. There were even a couple duck hunters laying on the ground that we almost walked over! It could have been the day and time I was there, but when I returned home and told my husband about it, he said, "I told you so."

We do hunt ruffed grouse here on the west side. But, for quail, chukar, and pheasants, we go east. The roosters on the east side are not too plentiful. But if you enjoy the hunt and you have good dogs, you'll get some chances. I'm typically a lousy shot, but even I got a few last year. We have two red setters and two labs.