GMU 130 Cheney

GMU 130 is the mule-deer standout among the Spokane-area units — muleys make up roughly 62% of the modern-firearm deer harvest, by far the highest whitetail-to-muley ratio of the three. These are scabland/Palouse-margin mule deer on the western edge of District 2's mule deer range. A 3-point minimum applies, and there are late general muzzleloader whitetail seasons in 130–142. Overall deer success is modest (~16% modern firearm) and mule deer recruitment took a hit in the 2021 heat/drought.

• →Glass scabland coulees, rock rims and pine stringers at first and last light, then plan a stalk on bedded bucks.
• →Hunt the transition where wheat and grass meet the broken basalt and pine — muleys use both.
• →Cover country; scabland deer are spread out — a spotting scope and boot leather beat road-hunting.
• →Be certain of species before shooting — whitetail and mule deer overlap and carry different rules.

White-tailed deer share the unit, holding in the wetter draws, aspen pockets, riparian brush and around the Turnbull/pothole margins rather than the open scab rock. They make up a bit under 40% of the deer harvest. A 3-point minimum applies to whitetail (late whitetail season is the draw-only Palouse Special Permit). District whitetail numbers are down after Bluetongue (2015) and EHD (2021) but recruitment is rebounding.

• →Hunt creek bottoms, aspen draws and brushy edges near water and ag where whitetail concentrate.
• →Still-hunt slowly and glass for pieces of a deer in the thicker cover.
• →Time the mid-November rut; the late muzzleloader whitetail season offers extra opportunity.
• →Submit head/lymph nodes for mandatory CWD sampling within the required window.

Hunters who secure private access in GMUs 130 and 127 have often had the highest elk success in District 2 (~16% modern-firearm). In GMU 130 hunters likely benefit from elk moving on and off Turnbull NWR during the season, and elk are frequently targeted by landowners over crop, fence and haystack damage. A special-permit elk hunt (Elk Area 1015) operates within Turnbull, plus CPWMA raffle/permit hunts nearby.

• →Get permission on private ground adjacent to Turnbull and hunt elk as they move off the closed refuge.
• →Look into CPWMA cooperative hunts and the Turnbull special-permit draw for refuge access.
• →Glass pine groves and scabland edges at dawn/dusk where herds feed on ag and grass.

Shiras moose occur but are dispersed and highly mobile, and the unit is almost entirely private with the larger public blocks closed to hunting. Moose are hunted under the Cheney MHU as antlerless-only permits — split off from the Hangman MHU in 2015 mainly to address suburban/rural moose conflict. Historically very few permittees hunt it and success has been spotty.

• →Secure private access first — the huntable moose ground is overwhelmingly private.
• →Glass willow and brushy wetland margins and aspen draws at first and last light.
• →Expect to cover ground and put in days; moose here are few and mobile.

Black bear are scarce in this open scabland/ag unit — bear habitat and harvest in District 2 concentrate in the more heavily forested country to the north and east, not the Cheney scablands. Encounters are incidental at best.

• →Focus on the wetter, pine-timbered draws and refuge margins if pursuing bear at all.
• →Do not shoot sows with cubs; a premolar tooth submission is mandatory.
• →Treat bear as an opportunistic add-on to a deer/elk hunt here.

Cougars are present following deer through the scabland and refuge fringes, but GMU 130 harvest is usually very low compared with the district's top cat units. Take is opportunistic during deer and elk seasons.

• →Carry a cougar tag while deer/elk hunting; most cats are taken by chance.
• →Cut tracks in fresh snow along pine stringers and coulee rims near deer.
• →Hunt where deer concentrate along the refuge and riparian margins.