GMU 111 Aladdin

The bread-and-butter species and the reason most hunters come to Aladdin. WDFW describes whitetail as present with a more localized distribution here than in the farm-forest valley units, with the highest densities on private valley/benchland; recent modern-firearm success has run near 20%, one of the better rates in District 1. Legal harvest is buck-only for all user groups.

• →Hunt the edges of regenerating clearcuts and old cuts at first and last light, then set up back in the adjacent timber where bucks hold in daylight.
• →Still-hunt slowly through brushy benches and creek bottoms, glassing for a leg or an antler tine rather than a whole deer.
• →Stand-hunt trails, habitat edges, and funnels between bedding cover and feed.
• →Time the mid-November rut — rattling and grunting can pull mature bucks in the days before peak breeding.
• →Work the private-ground fringe along the Columbia and highways only with written permission; push higher and deeper on the national forest for pressured, wiser bucks.

Aladdin sits in the Pend Oreille sub-herd area that WDFW flags as District 1's better elk country, but 'better' is relative — elk are scattered in small groups through dense timber and district-wide success is low (Aladdin's ~3% is at the bottom of the seven GMUs). Numbers are trending up. This is a spot-and-scout, cover-a-lot-of-ground elk hunt, not a herd hunt.

• →Scout hard before the opener — elk shift fast once pressure hits; find fresh sign before deciding where to hunt.
• →Glass forest clearcuts at dawn/dusk, but push into thicker timber, swamps, and young forest for bulls that avoid the openings.
• →Get in on foot, bike, or horse behind gated roads to reach elk that see little pressure.
• →Hunt fresh snow to cut and track a group late in the season.

Selkirk-herd Shiras moose are well established and hunted by special permit (draw) only. WDFW reports moose most frequently in the south and central portions of the unit, with some in the north. A hard-to-draw but high-quality tag.

• →Focus the south/central drainages: Big Meadow Lake, Seldom Seen Mountain, Bon Ayre Ridge, the North and South Forks of Mill Creek, Amazon Creek, and Clark Creek.
• →Glass willow bottoms, beaver ponds, meadows, and old cut edges morning and evening.
• →Moose are solitary — expect to cover ground and hunt sign, not congregations.

Black bear are common throughout the Northeastern bear unit and taken mostly opportunistically during deer and elk seasons, aided by abundant open public land. A two-bear limit with an August opener.

• →Glass clearcuts, avalanche chutes, and berry benches in late summer/early fall when bears feed heavily.
• →Hunt the same berry-rich Selkirk slopes you'd scout for deer.
• →Cover ground and use optics — most bears are spot-and-stalk finds.

Cougars occur throughout District 1 and follow the deer. Most are taken incidentally; success climbs with snow for tracking.

• →Cut fresh tracks after snow along forest roads and ridge saddles in the whitetail winter range.
• →Hunt where deer concentrate — cats are never far from the herd.
• →Know the harvest-guideline closure status for the unit before you go.