Next weekend, I'm headed over to the palouse to try and fill my late whitetail rifle permit. I can hunt units 127-142, and I haven't had time to get over there and scout. I've done quite a bit of hunting further south around Dayton/Pomeroy, but don't know the units further north around Pullman and Spokane. If any of you have experience hunting any of the 'feel free to hunt' or other accessible areas over there, I'd appreciate any info you can give. WSU or other cougs - did you do any whitetail hunting when you were in Pullman? Or did you hunt those open areas for pheasants and see any whitetails running around? They should be starting to rut up, so could be a sweet hunt if I can get some access points. I've also been thinking of taking my boat and hunting the snake in the Almota unit (142) - anyone done that? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

salty,

check out the areas around albion and palouse. there are plenty of hunt with written permission areas. you'll need to knock on some doors. outside of palouse check along the river. i took several bucks there on private ground. i believe that there are some public spots between colfax and palouse along the river. as for taking the boat you'll probably see mainly mulies. there is also crp areas all over palouse and albion don't overlook them. good luck!

My buddies go there for the late muzz hunt and just knock on doors. they have good luck getting access and now have land to hunt every year by keeping in touch with land owners throughout the year. the farmers really like gettiing rid of a few deer. they can shoot does with their muzz and they have a deal with a landowner over there that one of them tags a doe. they are always succesful.

There are Whitetails in the Palouse?
I am a coug and never seen a whitetail around that area. Lots of Muledeer but not Whitetails.

There are basically only whitetails in the palouse. The breaks that go down the snake have mulies, and they go up in the wheat fields right above the breaks. I have only seen a few mulies more than a mile or so from the breaks. Salty, is there an elk season open there at that time, I know there are some late ones over there?

I hunted the Almota unit for almost 10 years with an older farmer and his family on the Snake breaks.
Unfortunatly he passed away a few years ago and I haven't been back, but I can tell you we took a lot of bucks out of there and chased many more down the canyons on the river. The only problem is it is almost entirely mule deer country so it won't do you much good for the late hunt. We would hunt the Steptoe unit for whitetails around Colfax(they had a ranch there to) drive around, knock on doors most those old timers out there are friendly and they like smoked salmon or maybe help doing some work in exchange for permission to hunt. Good Luck

Thanks everyone for the help. As suggested, I think I'll head over and knock on some doors. There's also a link on the WDFW site that shows you the location of the feel-free-to-hunt areas in those units. Not many of them, but at least worth a drive by. BTW, I hunted the breaks of the Snake in the Almota unit a few years back - looking back on it, I don't recall seeing any whities in the breaks, just muleys, as suggested by a few of you. Probably makes the boat idea a bad one, although that sure would be fun to do for muleys sometime.

WSU - good thought on the elk. I know there aren't a ton over there, but I've seen a few in the Mayview unit and heard there are some around Colfax. Wouldn't that be a sweet double - get my deer with the rifle then find a cow with the bow? Just looked at the dates though, rifle elk just closed over there on the 5th. I'm archery elk anyway this year, and most of the palouse is AHE only for late archery elk.

Salty sorry for the bad info I gave you on the Snake breaks....I swear they were Whitetail!
Anyway just had buddies there and Central Ferry is 1) Closed and 2) sounds like a dismal pheasant year on the eastside.
ps Thanks for the hookup this past weekend. Much appreciated.

Salty, PM sent.

yup...the further south you go, the muleys will appear. we hunt pomeroy every year during the general season and we saw lots of pheasants and huns this year too.
some of the rifle elk hunts over in that area are any elk or any bull too, which would be real cool if you could find them.

Actually...there are quite a few whitetails in that area. If you hunted around that area and didn't see whitetails your eyes were closed. J/K. Used to see plenty while out pheasant hunting. The area around colfax has quite a few and there are some along the snake. Along the snake the whitetails will be up on top and the mulies in the breaks. Know your species as you are likely to see both on a daily basis if hunting these areas.
Tim

Yeah, plenty of whities over there, but the public areas on the Snake are all right on the river banks - just don't recall seeing any whities that close to the river. The hilltops/farms where the whities hang out are all private. Have seen a few at Rice Bar near central ferry, but that's a planted area (and for this hunt, in the wrong unit).

Salty, replied to your PM

Talk to the local WDFW office that covers that region. I think its in Spokane. They had a list of farmers with their phone numbers who wanted guys to hunt their property. Thats what I did with great success.