GMU 667 Skookumchuck

The standout: GMU 667 posts significantly higher deer harvest than any other District 11 GMU and consistently the district's second-highest success (above 30%). WDFW surveys blacktail on the Vail Tree Farm because it is the highest-quality deer ground in the district and region. Roughly 2,100 hunters worked the unit in 2023, making it District 11's most heavily hunted deer area — but the Weyerhaeuser permit requirement thins the crowd enough that those who get in do well.

• →Buy the Weyerhaeuser Vail Tree Farm permit in spring — it sells out, and it is your key to the best blacktail ground in the district.
• →Scout regenerating clearcuts; the highest deer densities sit in 3- to 9-year-old cuts that hold both forage and escape cover.
• →Glass cut units and landings at first and last light, then still-hunt the timber edge as deer slip back to bed.
• →Work DNR's Crawford and Bloody Run blocks as public alternatives to the permit-gated Weyerhaeuser ground.
• →Time your hardest effort to the early-November rut, when mature 4-points move most; the unit produces solid four- and five-point bucks.

GMU 667 is part of Elk PMU 62 (with 652 and 666), where general-season harvest has increased slightly over the past seven years but success stays the lowest in the district. South Rainier herd sub-herds are increasing and expanding on and around the Centralia Coal Mine and Skookumchuck Wildlife Area, with more elk in the southern half of the Vail Tree Farm and southward to the mine. Damage-driven elk congregate on private farmland in the Yelm and Hanaford areas.

• →Scout from the Skookumchuck Wildlife Area south to the northern boundary of the Centralia Coal Mine, where the growing sub-herd concentrates.
• →Hunt the southern half of the Vail Tree Farm and southward toward the mine — that is where the elk density builds (Weyerhaeuser permit required).
• →Expect bulls to hold in closed-canopy timber and regen stands by day, dropping into clearcuts and forage edges at first and last light.
• →For elk on private farmland around Yelm and Hanaford, secure landowner permission weeks ahead; access, not elk numbers, is the limiter.
• →Watch for Hanaford Elk Area 6069 damage-permit and Region 6 Master Hunter opportunities if you want antlerless odds.

Cougars are widespread in the unit's forestlands, and GMU 667 is its own cougar PMU. Under WDFW's harvest-cap rule the unit closes at a cap of four cougars (rising to six if the cap is met before the recreational season). Most cats are taken opportunistically by deer and elk hunters.

• →Carry the tag as an add-on while glassing clearcuts for deer and elk; nearly all harvest here is incidental.
• →Hunt where deer and elk concentrate — regen cuts and river bottoms — because cougars follow the prey.
• →Confirm the PMU is still open before and during your hunt by calling 1-866-364-4868; the four-cougar cap can close it early.
• →After fresh snow at the higher east end, cut roads and landings for tracks.

Black bears inhabit the unit as part of the Puget Sound BBMU, but 667 is a weaker bear producer — general fall success averages only about 5%, below the district's stronger bear GMUs. Bears are common but seldom seen in the thick timber, so scouting sign is everything.

• →Glass open clearcuts and regen units on the Vail Tree Farm holding berry shrubs at dawn and dusk.
• →Scout for fresh sign — scat and bark peeling — in regenerating stands, then sit a berry-rich cut for extended watches.
• →Hunt the open ground so you spot the bear first; in dense cover it will scent you and slip off.
• →Treat bear as a secondary target here; deer is the reason to buy the permit.