GMU 648 Wynoochee

One of District 17's top blacktail units — WDFW lists the best opportunities to harvest a black-tailed deer in the district as GMUs 663, 648, 672, and 660, and 648 ranks among the highest-harvest GMUs overall. Lots of deer, but lots of hunters too. Mostly young bucks; a mature 4-point lives in the brush but is hard-won.

• →Hunt the edges and interiors of 3- to 9-year-old clearcuts and replants — these regen stands hold the highest deer densities for both food and cover.
• →Glass cut units at first and last light from across-canyon landings, then still-hunt the timber/clearcut edge once deer move to bed.
• →Time your hardest effort to the rut: late October into early November is when bucks move most and drop their guard.
• →Rattling and grunting can pull bucks during the rut — a less common but effective tactic on pressured blacktails.
• →Scout pre-season to find pockets of deer away from the road-hunting crowds; high deer numbers draw high hunter numbers here.

WDFW reports more black bears are typically harvested during the general season in GMU 648 than any other GMU in District 17 — the district's standout bear unit. Bears are common but rarely seen in the thick coastal cover, so success leans heavily on scouting and patience.

• →Glass open clearcuts and regen units containing berry shrubs — salmonberry, huckleberry, blackberry, elderberry, salal, and cascara — at dawn and dusk.
• →Hunt the open ground so you can spot a bear before it scents you; in dense cover a bear smells you first and slips off.
• →Find fresh sign in a berry-rich cut, then sit it for extended watches rather than covering ground — patient stand-watching beats walking here.
• →Target bears on ripe berry feed in the early fall, before deer and elk pressure scatters them; confirm current season dates in the regulations.

Cougars occur throughout the unit; 648 (grouped with 642 and 651) accounts for much of District 17's cougar harvest. Most are taken opportunistically by deer and elk hunters. The season is harvest-cap managed and can close mid-season, so check current status before and during your hunt.

• →Treat cougar as an opportunistic add-on while glassing clearcuts for deer and bear — carry the tag and be ready.
• →Hunt where deer concentrate (regen stands, river bottoms); cougars follow the prey.
• →Check the cougar hunt-area status regularly, since cap-managed areas can close once the removal threshold is reached.
• →After fresh snow at the north/higher end, cut roads and landings for tracks to follow up.

GMU 648 is part of the Olympic elk herd, but unlike the Willapa-herd units to the south (658, 672, 673, 681) it offers no reliable elk hunting — elk move through the Wynoochee drainage and visit forage areas occasionally rather than holding as a huntable resident herd. Manage expectations: this is a deer-and-bear unit first.

• →Scout hard and early; predicting elk here is difficult and gets worse once pressure builds.
• →Check timber harvests near cover, swamps, creek and river bottoms during warm early seasons — but expect bulls to stay in closed-canopy timber by day.
• →Look along the Wynoochee River corridor and forage edges where elk occasionally drift down from the north.
• →Realistically plan elk as a low-odds opportunity and lean on the unit's strong deer and bear hunting instead.