GMU 415 Blakely
A privately owned boat-in island — Blakely black-tails with essentially no public access
WDFW Region 4 — North Puget Sound / San Juan Islands (District 13) · Last reviewed 2026-07-12
Area
5
sq mi
Public land
0%
approx.
Elevation
0–1,040
feet
Motorized
limited
access
Overview
GMU 415 is Blakely Island, a small, rugged, almost entirely private island east of Lopez with no state ferry service — access is by private boat or commercial water taxi only. It supports Columbian black-tailed deer (the subject of a 2024 published study on long-term browser decline), but there is effectively no public land to hunt: the island is dominated by a private residential/airpark community and a university field station. Any hunt here means securing written landowner permission under San Juan County ordinance, and, as everywhere in the county, no modern rifles are allowed. This is the hardest-access unit of the San Juan trio.
Terrain
A compact, steep-shouldered island rising sharply from the water to forested highs around 1,000 feet, with two interior lakes (Horseshoe and Spencer) and a rocky, cliff-lined shoreline.
Cover: Dense Douglas-fir and mixed-conifer forest over most of the island, madrona bluffs, and small freshwater lakes and wetlands. Heavy long-term deer browsing has measurably reshaped the forest understory (Long et al. 2024).
Landmarks: Blakely Island airstrip / private community · Horseshoe Lake · Spencer Lake · Thatcher Pass (Lopez–Blakely channel) · Seattle Pacific University field station
Access
Public access on Blakely is extremely limited to nonexistent — WDFW singles out Blakely (with Shaw, Decatur, and Guemes) as among the most access-restricted islands. There is no Washington State Ferry to Blakely; you reach it by private boat or commercial water taxi, and most shoreline and moorage is privately owned. The island is a private residential and airpark community with a university field station and no meaningful public parcels. Hunting is realistically possible only with written landowner permission (required by San Juan County ordinance) from a private owner. Modern rifles are prohibited countywide — shotgun, muzzleloader, short-range pistol, or archery only.
Managers: Private (Blakely Island community / airpark), Seattle Pacific University (field station)
Access points: Private boat or commercial water taxi (no state ferry) · Private land only, with written landowner permission
Species notes
Blacktail Deer
common opportunityBlakely holds Columbian black-tailed deer — dense enough historically to drive a documented long-term decline of the forest understory they browse (Long et al. 2024) — but they are small-bodied island animals. Reported harvest is low, and during the 2021 AHD outbreak Blakely's harvest actually ticked up slightly while neighboring islands crashed. The limiting factor is not deer numbers but access: without a private landowner connection, there is essentially nowhere to hunt.
- →Do not plan a Blakely hunt without a confirmed private-land invitation and written landowner permission in hand
- →Arrange boat or water-taxi logistics well ahead — there is no ferry and moorage is private
- →Hunt with a slug gun, muzzleloader, or bow; no modern rifles in the county
- →Focus on forest edges, lake margins, and old clearings where island blacktails feed
- →Report harvest to GMU 415 specifically — Blakely's small sample makes accurate reporting especially valuable
Pro tips
- →Access is everything on Blakely — a landowner relationship is the prerequisite, not a nice-to-have
- →No state ferry: budget for a private boat or water taxi and confirm moorage before you commit
- →No modern rifles anywhere in the county — bring a slug gun, muzzleloader, or bow
- →Carry written landowner permission (San Juan County ordinance) at all times
- →Report to GMU 415 exactly — misreporting on small islands corrupts already-thin harvest data
Watch out for
- !No public land — Blakely is a privately owned island with no ferry and no public moorage
- !No modern rifles allowed anywhere in San Juan County
- !Written landowner permission is legally required and, on Blakely, is the only realistic path to hunting
- !No elk, bear, or cougar hunting — San Juan County is closed to elk and lacks huntable populations of the others
- !AHD has circulated in the archipelago; use discretion on sick-looking deer and dispose of carcasses locally
- !Boat-in logistics and weather can strand or cancel a hunt with little notice
Logistics
There is no scheduled ferry to Blakely; hunters must arrive by private boat or commercial water taxi, typically staging out of Anacortes or a neighboring ferry island. There are no public services, campgrounds, or public moorage on the island — plan to be fully self-sufficient and to have private accommodation arranged. Cell coverage is limited.
Nearest towns: Anacortes (mainland launch), Lopez Village, Friday Harbor
Nearby units
Seasons & regulations
This page carries no season dates or regulations. Get current rules from the official Washington sources:
Research sources: WDFW — Hunting in the San Juan Islands (August 2024) · WDFW 2025 District 13 Hunting Prospects (Region 4) · Long ES, Tham EJ, Ferrer RP (2024) — Succession and climatic stochasticity induce long-term decline of a forest browser (Blakely Island), PLoS ONE · WDFW Game Management Units
FAQ
- How big is GMU 415 in Washington?
- GMU 415 (Blakely) covers about 5 square miles, ranging from roughly 0 to 1,040 feet in elevation. Area is computed from the unit boundary polygon.
- How much public land is in GMU 415?
- Approximately 0% of the unit is public land. Primary managers: Private (Blakely Island community / airpark), Seattle Pacific University (field station). Always verify ownership boundaries on the ground.
- What species does the catalog list for GMU 415?
- Blacktail Deer. For seasons, tags, and regulations, use the official Washington agency resources linked on this page — this page carries no regulatory information.
Put GMU 415 on your map.
Boundary lines, public/private ownership, topo, and offline maps for this unit — in Baseline Maps, free for 14 days.