Palouse late buck hunt permit-only

Washington’s late whitetail buck hunt in the Palouse region south of Spokane will not be open to general hunters this fall.

For years, the November season was a good thing for trophy buck hunters. Too good.

“Over the past four years, hunters have harvested about 500 bucks in those units during the late season, and because the country is much more open than it is up north, they get a lot of the big bucks,” said David Volsen, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist.

The agency decided a controlled hunt was the best way to help preserve a healthy ratio of bigger bucks in the population.

“We’re concerned that the word isn’t out about the change,” Volsen said. “We offered 625 permits — the most for any permit hunt in Washington. But only 1,200 hunters applied for the permits this spring. That’s an alarm call that many hunters didn’t know about it.”

The permit holders will be allowed to hunt whitetail bucks, with three points or more, in units 127-142 from Nov. 6-19.

Fish and Wildlife officials say they have no idea how many hunters who did not draw permits will be displaced to join the general-tag late buck hunt in northeastern Washington.