GMU 636 Skokomish

One of only three reliable elk units in District 15. Part of the Olympic elk herd; hunted bull-only through a special permit draw (on average about eight permits split among weapon types). Quality is rated fair — within the target 12-25 bulls per 100 cows post-season but below population objective — yet permit-holder success is strong (five-year averages near 80% muzzleloader, 70% modern firearm, low for archery), with bull harvest averaging about three. Treponeme-associated hoof disease is present and may be suppressing calf recruitment.

• →Focus on the upper Wynoochee valley around Lake Wynoochee, the South Fork Skokomish valley, and the Matlock area, where elk are most reliably found.
• →Get a Green Diamond access permit if you plan to hunt the Matlock ground where much of the elk activity is.
• →Scout the timber-harvest edges, swamps, and river bottoms near cover during warm early weather; expect bulls to hold in closed-canopy timber by day.
• →As a low-pressure permit unit, invest scouting time up front — few hunters but you must locate the resident groups yourself.
• →Expect and plan around tribal (Skokomish) hunting pressure, which can take a large share of the district elk harvest.

Good low-elevation blacktail hunting under a two-point-minimum rule that many hunters enjoy. Deer density is solid in the lower managed-timber habitats and drops off at higher elevations. Maritime climate means severe winter die-offs are rare, so numbers stay fairly stable year to year.

• →Hunt the lower-elevation clearcuts and 3- to 9-year replants where blacktail density is highest, not the high country.
• →Glass cut units at first and last light, then still-hunt the timber/clearcut edge as deer move to bed.
• →Time your hardest effort to the late-October to early-November rut when bucks move most and drop their guard.
• →Get a Green Diamond permit for the Matlock-area ground; elsewhere on the unit no company access permit is required and much is USFS.
• →Rattling and grunting can pull rutting blacktails — a less-used but effective tactic in the thick coastal cover.

Part of the Coastal Black Bear Management Unit (with 621 and 651). WDFW's 2023 density sample of the USFS foothills portion of 636 estimated about 12 bears per 100 square kilometers. District bear success averages roughly 8%, and most bears are taken opportunistically by deer and elk hunters, though dedicated bear hunters do better.

• →Glass open clearcuts and regen units with ripe berry shrubs — huckleberry, salmonberry, blackberry, salal, elderberry, cascara — at dawn and dusk.
• →Work the accessible higher-elevation huckleberry patches on the USFS ground, a WDFW-suggested strategy for 621/636.
• →Hunt open terrain so you spot a bear before it winds you; in dense cover the bear smells you first.
• →Find fresh sign in a berry-rich cut, then sit it for long watches rather than covering ground.

Cougars occur throughout the unit and are taken mostly opportunistically by deer and elk hunters. The season is harvest-cap managed and can close mid-season once the removal cap is reached, so check current status before and during a hunt.

• →Treat cougar as an opportunistic add-on while glassing cuts and river bottoms for deer, bear, and elk.
• →Hunt where deer concentrate — regen stands and valley bottoms — since cougars follow the prey.
• →Cut roads and landings for fresh tracks after snow at the higher north/west end.
• →Check the cap-managed hunt-area status regularly, as it can close on short notice.