Elk Area 2033 Peshastin
Midwinter orchard-fringe elk hunts — including a real any-bull permit — on the Mission Creek side of the Wenatchee Valley.
WDFW Region 2 (North Central) — District 7, Cashmere-Leavenworth (Wenatchee River south side, Chelan County) · Last reviewed 2026-07-17
Area
42
sq mi
Public land
—
approx.
Elevation
780–4,500
feet
Motorized
limited
access
Overview
Elk Area 2033 "Peshastin" is a small (about 42-square-mile) WDFW special-permit overlay on the south side of the Wenatchee River between Cashmere and Leavenworth — the Mission Creek, Tripp Canyon, Camas Creek, and Mountain Home Road country inside GMU 251 (Mission). It exists for damage management of a discrete pocket of Colockum-herd elk: WDFW reinstated both antlered and antlerless permit hunts here in 2021 after biologists and orchardists documented growing elk use and orchard-damage concerns. The re-established hunts have worked as designed — WDFW reports they provide a quality experience for hunters while keeping elk moving across the landscape and cutting the time elk spend in any one orchard. Antlerless permits run through the heart of winter and a small number of any-bull permits follow in late winter, so this is genuinely a midwinter hunt on the orchard/timber edge. The area is heavily dominated by private land; WDFW tells applicants to secure landowner permission before applying.
Terrain
Orchard benches and river bottom along the Wenatchee River at Cashmere and Peshastin rise quickly through dry canyons — Mission Creek, Tripp Canyon, Camas Creek — into timbered foothill ridges toward Devils Gulch and the Camas Land plateau. Elk shuttle daily and seasonally between conifer cover on the upper slopes and the orchard/hay ground below, and the hunt happens on those edges.
Cover: Irrigated pear, apple, and cherry orchards on the valley floor and benches; bunchgrass, bitterbrush, and scattered oak-free shrub-steppe on south slopes; ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir in the canyons and on north aspects; wet camas meadows in the Camas Creek drainage.
Landmarks: Wenatchee River (northern boundary, Cashmere to Leavenworth) · Mission Creek / Mission Creek Road (south of Cashmere) · Tripp Canyon · Camas Creek / Camas Land · Mountain Home Road (above Leavenworth) · US Highway 97 (Blewett Pass corridor on the east) · Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve (DNR, restricted)
Access
Like the neighboring Malaga area, this is a private-land hunt first: WDFW's district prospects state that access to private lands is critical to these permit hunts and encourage hunters to obtain landowner permission within the area before applying. Chelan County has no formal WDFW private-lands access agreements, so it's door-knocking and relationships. Public ground is a thin fringe — Mission Creek Road south of Cashmere leads toward Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest at the area's upper edge, and Highway 97 between Peshastin and Blewett Pass bounds the east side. The DNR's 1,300-acre Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve in the Camas Creek drainage protects endemic plants and is not a hunting-access property. Permit holders can call the WDFW Wenatchee District Office at (509) 662-0452 for current information before their hunt.
Managers: Private orchard, residential, and timber land (dominant), USFS Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest (upper Mission Creek/Devils Gulch fringe), Washington DNR (Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve — recreation heavily restricted)
Access points: Mission Creek Road south from Cashmere · US 97 corridor between Peshastin and Blewett Pass (east edge) · Camas Creek Road off US 97 · Mountain Home Road climbing from Leavenworth
Species notes
Rocky Mountain Elk
limited qualityA small, discrete pocket of the Colockum herd's northern extension uses the Camas Meadows/Peshastin country reliably — enough elk to generate orchard damage, not a big herd. The winter antlerless permits are honest opportunity work, but the handful of late-winter any-bull permits are a legitimately special tag: mature Colockum-lineage bulls, almost no competition, and WDFW itself calls the experience quality. Success rides on private access and finding the elk, which move constantly.
- →Secure orchard and hay-ground permission around Cashmere, Peshastin, and Mountain Home Road before applying — the elk damage (and the kill sites) are on private land.
- →Hunt the snow: midwinter storms pull elk off the timbered Mission Creek/Camas Land ridges onto orchard edges, usually at first and last light.
- →Drive and glass the county-road network (Mission Creek Rd, Camas Creek Rd, Mountain Home Rd) at dawn to locate groups, then arrange the approach — the area is small enough to check in a morning.
- →For the late-winter bull permit, look for bachelor groups on south-facing bunchgrass slopes above the valley; bulls winter separately from the cow groups doing the orchard damage.
- →Expect elk to relocate after any pressure — WDFW designed these hunts to keep elk moving, so plan on re-finding the herd every few days.
Pro tips
- →Do the access work before the draw — WDFW says outright that hunters should have landowner permission lined up inside the area before applying.
- →Call the Wenatchee District Office (509-662-0452) after drawing; staff track which orchards are taking damage and can shortcut your scouting.
- →Treat it like a whitetail-style patterning hunt, not a backcountry elk hunt: small area, roads everywhere, glass-and-move.
- →Fresh snow is your friend twice over — it moves elk downhill and makes tracks along the timber edge readable from the road.
- →In February, examine bulls carefully before shooting: antler drop starts in late winter and a shed-antlered bull is not a legal bull.
Watch out for
- !Almost entirely private — this hunt fails without pre-arranged access, and orchard country is tightly posted with homes scattered throughout.
- !Residential density is real: Cashmere and Peshastin backyards, Mountain Home Road cabins — know your backstop and local firearm-discharge sensitivities.
- !Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve is a restricted DNR preserve protecting plants found nowhere else on Earth — it is not a hunting access point.
- !Winter road conditions on Mission Creek, Camas Creek, and Mountain Home roads can be icy and steep; carry chains.
- !The boundary threads through town streets in Cashmere and along small roads — carry the WDFW hunt map or GPS mapping; elk near the line are easy to misjudge.
Logistics
This may be the most civilized elk hunt in Washington: the entire area is minutes from US 2, with lodging and restaurants in Leavenworth (busy and pricey in the winter tourist season — book early), cheaper rooms in Cashmere and Wenatchee, and fuel and groceries throughout the valley. There is no camping play here in winter; treat it as a day-hunt area from a warm bed. Cell coverage is good along the valley and degrades up the canyons. Winter driving is the real logistics problem — Mission Creek, Camas Creek, and Mountain Home roads ice up, and Mountain Home Road in particular is steep and sketchy in snow.
Nearest towns: Cashmere, Peshastin, Leavenworth, Wenatchee
Seasons & regulations
This page carries no season dates or regulations. Get current rules from the official Washington sources:
Research sources: WDFW 2025 District 7 Hunting Prospects — Peshastin Elk Area reinstated hunts (2021), orchard damage purpose, winter cow/bull permit structure, access guidance · WAC 220-415-040 — Elk area descriptions (Elk Area 2033 Peshastin legal boundary, Chelan County: Cashmere, Mission Creek, Tripp Canyon, Camas Creek, Mountain Home Road) · DNR Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve — location off Camas Creek Road, 1,300 acres, restricted recreation · WDFW Deer and Elk Special Hunt Areas (elk area maps index) · Washington eRegulations — Elk special permits (Peshastin winter antlerless and late-winter bull hunt windows)
FAQ
- How big is Elk Area 2033 in Washington?
- Elk Area 2033 (Peshastin) covers about 42 square miles, ranging from roughly 780 to 4,500 feet in elevation. Area is computed from the unit boundary polygon.
- What species does the catalog list for Elk Area 2033?
- Rocky Mountain Elk. For seasons, tags, and regulations, use the official Washington agency resources linked on this page — this page carries no regulatory information.
Put Elk Area 2033 on your map.
Boundary lines, public/private ownership, topo, and offline maps for this unit — in Baseline Maps, free for 14 days.