Private lands available to hunt under Washington’s Hunter Access Program

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has paved way for hunter access to private lands with several programs:

• Register to Hunt, with about 7 properties in 6 counties;

• Feel Free to Hunt, with about 115 properties in 14 counties;

• Hunt by Written Permission, with about 100 properties in 10 counties;

• Hunt by Reservation, with about 100,000 acres on 318 properties in 22 counties.

The evolving programs are detailed on the agency website’s Hunting Access pages.

The Hunt by Reservation Program debuted last year and has expanded statewide and mushroomed five-fold in the number of properties this year. It allows hunters to compete on the department’s webpage to reserve two- to three-day hunting slots on properties ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand acres.

The program pays landowners $3-5 an acre for allowing hunter access and agreeing to habitat improvements. Hunters should print out maps showing boundaries of their reservation area and carry the maps for reference in the field.

“Even though they’re on public land, we’re also looking to add some of the waterfowl blinds in the Columbia Basin to the reserve to hunt program before the season opens because the format is set up and it works,” said Madonna Luers, department spokeswoman.

Here are some insights for using the Hunt by Reservation webpage:

• Names of the properties correspond to a road they border;

• Reservations can be made no sooner than midnight three weeks in advance of designated hunts;

• Hunters must park vehicles at designated access points;

• Some group reservations give two-four hunters exclusive access to a property for a hunting slot. If one hunter scores a reservation, the others must sign onto it;

• Some individual reservations for large properties may put up to four unconnected hunters on the same land at one time, such as in the case of archery deer hunts. In those cases, each hunter should use a different parking access point, first-come, first-served;

• A hunter is allowed to have no more than three reservations in his name at a time. A hunter with three reservations is eligible to sign up for another slot when one of those reservations expires;

• The number of hunts is limited on each property with a no-hunting gap in between to provide rest days for wildlife and a better chance for a quality hunting experience;

• The term “quality hunt” has no relationship to the “quality tag” category for deer and elk permits. Hunters with reservations can use any tag valid for the time and area of their hunt;

• Special restrictions are listed for each property. Use of motor vehicles generally is prohibited;

• A hunter can cancel a reservation up to a week prior to the hunt, making it available for other hunters.

Most of the properties in the Hunt by Reservation program have good wildlife habitats. Some are better than others. Some are being improved and a few need considerable improvement to be consistently productive.