GMU 652 Puyallup

GMU 652 is a top District 11 elk producer, driven by a growing lowland herd that spills onto farmland around Graham, Orting, Buckley, and Enumclaw as the North and South Rainier herds recover. General-season harvest has trended up over the past seven years (with a 2020 spike), and 652 has among the district's highest elk hunter-success rates. Managed heavily for damage control via Elk Area 6014 antlerless/three-point seasons — note Manulife has closed antlerless hunting on its 652 ownership for the foreseeable future.

• →Secure written landowner permission on farmland weeks before the season — access, not elk, is what limits you here.
• →Target the Buckley/Enumclaw damage country (Elk Area 6014) where 150-200 elk concentrate on ag land and hobby farms.
• →Scout field-edge and riparian cover along the Puyallup, Carbon, and White river bottoms where elk stage between feed and cover.
• →Consider the winter antlerless damage hunts (up to 10 elk per hunt) if you can lock down access to a damage property.
• →Respect the Muckleshoot Reservation boundary (Elk Area 6013) — that elk resource is managed for tribal hunting.

Columbian black-tailed deer densities benefit from the urban-edge habitat and comparatively light pressure, and GMU 652 deer harvest and success have steadily increased over the past three years. It's comparable to neighboring Deschutes (666) in hunter numbers and success — both urbanized units where pockets of higher deer density form away from development. Liberal seasons reflect WDFW's conflict-management approach in the lowlands.

• →Knock on doors early — the best blacktail ground is private farmland and woodlots that require permission.
• →Hunt field edges, creek bottoms, and woodlot margins at first and last light where deer feed the ag/cover interface.
• →Work the pockets of higher deer density that build up in the urban-edge matrix away from houses and roads.
• →Time effort to the late-October/early-November rut for the best chance at a mature buck.
• →Mind Pierce County no-shooting zones — legal-discharge geography shapes where you can actually hunt.

Black bear are present in 652 as part of the Coastal BBMU, but at lower density and harvest than the timbered eastern District 11 units — the seven-year average is roughly 13 bears taken annually by about 144 hunters (~9.5% success). The long Aug. 1-Nov. 15 general season and two-bear limit apply, but the urbanized, farm-dominated habitat makes this a secondary opportunity.

• →Hunt the more-forested and riparian fringes of the unit rather than the open farmland core.
• →Glass berry-rich edges and cover pockets at dawn and dusk in early fall.
• →Carry the bear tag while deer or elk hunting on permitted ground — most bears here are incidental.
• →Secure landowner permission first; the bear cover is on the same private parcels as the deer and elk.

Cougars are widespread across District 11 forestlands but thinner in the urbanized 652. It is grouped with Deschutes (666) in a cougar hunt management unit carrying a harvest cap of four independent-aged cougars. Most are taken incidentally, and the settled habitat makes 652 a low-odds cougar unit relative to the timbered east side of the district.

• →Treat cougar as an incidental tag while hunting deer and elk on the forested fringes.
• →Focus where deer concentrate along river bottoms and woodlots — cougars follow the prey.
• →Call the WDFW cougar hotline (1-866-364-4868, updated Thursdays) — the four-cougar cap can close the season.
• →Cut for tracks after any rare snow along creek corridors and cover edges.