GMU 335 Teanaway

The strongest mule deer unit in District 8 — GMU 335 consistently posts the district's highest deer harvest and hunter numbers (2023 general-season success: 14.4% modern firearm, 27.6% multi-weapon, 23% muzzleloader, 6.4% archery). All District 8 GMUs are managed under mule deer rules, but the unit also holds mule-blacktail intergrades that use different elevation bands. Hunting improves sharply once snow in the surrounding high country pushes deer down.

• →Hunt the high saddles with water and open subalpine benches early, glassing at first and last light before deer bed in timber
• →Time your trip to the first real snow at elevation — it pushes deer down out of the crest country and concentrates them
• →Get away from the road corridors and camps; the multi-weapon and muzzleloader windows show markedly higher success than crowded modern-firearm opening weekend
• →Still-hunt the timber-to-brush transition and regenerating Jolly Mountain burn edges during midday
• →Drought years suppress harvest — scout for green forage and water before the opener

GMU 335 is the top black-bear-harvest unit in District 8 — 50 bears taken in the 2023 season (17 females, 33 males) over ~3,278 hunter days by 535 hunters, about a 9.4% success rate, the district's highest. The heavily forested, berry-rich Teanaway drainages are core east-Cascade bear habitat; bears climb in fall following ripening huckleberries and other mast.

• →Scout for fall food: huckleberry fields, other berry brush, and forage openings in the higher forested country
• →Glass burns, clearcuts, brushy avalanche chutes, and meadow edges near water early and late
• →Combine with a deer hunt — most bears here are taken opportunistically
• →Do not shoot a sow with cubs; fall females are often trailed by lagging cubs, and this unit takes a lot of females
• →Remember the required black-bear premolar tooth submission to WDFW after harvest

Part of the greater Yakima elk herd but deliberately managed for minimal numbers because of conflict with the adjacent Kittitas Valley agriculture. Elk Area 3911 covers the lower portions of GMU 335 where most elk actually reside and carries general antlerless archery opportunity (archers took 12 antlerless here in 2023). Teanaway's steep, dense forest is classic early-season elk security cover, and archery/multi-weapon success can exceed modern-firearm success.

• →Focus the lower-elevation Elk Area 3911 ground and the ag-forest interface where the elk concentrate
• →This is a challenge unit — elk hold in dense cover and steep terrain early; hunt drainages with security far from roads
• →Archery and multi-weapon hunters historically out-succeed modern-firearm hunters here; consider those seasons
• →Wear hunter orange/pink in Elk Area 3911 — master hunters can take antlerless with modern firearms across a long window, so overlap is real
• →Get in early and be willing to climb into the roadless Malcolm Mountain/Elbow Peak country away from pressure

District 8 is a popular cougar area thanks to expansive public land, and Teanaway's strong mule deer prey base supports resident cats. Most cougars here are taken opportunistically by deer and elk hunters carrying a cougar tag; dedicated late hunting after fresh snow, often with calls, is the most productive dedicated method.

• →Hunt where the deer are — the district's densest deer numbers raise your odds of crossing a cat
• →Go early after a fresh snowfall when tracks are easiest to find and follow
• →Try calling (a fawn bleat won't spook nearby deer/elk) when snow is on the ground
• →Carry the cougar species option on your license during general deer/elk seasons for the opportunistic encounter