GMU 247 Entiat

The primary draw and the reason hunters target 247. This is critical winter range for the Chelan County migratory mule deer herd, and the fire-driven buckbrush mosaic produces strong body condition and some genuinely good bucks; recent surveys have shown high buck-to-doe ratios. General-season pressure is real, but late limited-entry quality permits are highly prized for mature deer.

• →Hunt the elevation band the deer are using for the date: early-season bucks hold high in cooler timbered north slopes and burn edges near Stormy and Baldy mountains; they drop to lower buckbrush draws and benches as snow accumulates.
• →Migration is snow-driven and staggered — does and fawns move down first, mature bucks last, so a late hunt after a snow push concentrates the best bucks on winter range.
• →Glass the open, fire-scarred slopes and draw heads at first and last light; dominant old bucks stay nocturnal and cover-bound until the rut pulls them into the open.
• →Still-hunt the thick buckbrush draws midday where bedded bucks hold, and watch transition lines between burn regen and standing timber.

The Chelan Butte California bighorn herd — established in 2004 with 35 sheep translocated from Cleman Mountain and grown to roughly 150-200 animals (about 20 were removed to Utah in 2019; surveys remained high through 2024) — ranges on and around the butte. This is a draw-only, once-in-a-lifetime-caliber tag, not a general opportunity, but Chelan County bighorns are among the best in the state.

• →Permit-only — this is not a hunt you can plan around without drawing the tag.
• →Sheep concentrate on the steep, rocky, grassy faces around Chelan Butte and adjacent breaks; glass cliff bands and open south slopes.
• →If drawn, scout off recent WDFW survey/collar data, as part of the herd's seasonal movements are GPS-monitored.

Black bears occupy most habitats in the unit at moderate density in these drier East Cascades habitats (higher to the west toward the Cascade crest). A reasonable add-on opportunity for the deer hunter.

• →Glass green draws, burn regrowth, and brushy north slopes where berries and forbs concentrate bears in late summer and fall.
• →Focus on the wetter, timbered upper drainages rather than the dry southern benches.
• →Spot-and-stalk off the same glassing knobs used for deer.

Cougars occupy the unit wherever deer winter, so density tracks the strong deer herd. Encounters are incidental for most hunters; deliberate cougar hunting is a late-season/snow pursuit.

• →Hunt fresh snow to cut and follow tracks along ridgelines and drainage bottoms.
• →Concentrate near deer winter-range concentrations where cats follow the prey.
• →Glass rims and rocky breaks where cougars travel and bed.

Elk are very few and far between in 247, with extremely low success. Small dispersed bands occur mainly along the fringes of the county; this is not a unit to plan an elk hunt around.

• →Treat any elk as an opportunistic encounter while deer hunting rather than a primary target.
• →If pursuing them, work isolated pockets of timber and expect long odds.

Whitetails are a very minor component, limited to riparian bottoms along the river corridors. Almost all deer harvested here are mule deer.

• →If specifically after whitetails, focus the brushy river-bottom edges along the Entiat and Columbia.
• →Expect to encounter far more mule deer than whitetail.