The Satsop has the same general and late modern firearms seasons as the Wynoochee. The unit also has the same Sept. 1 through 30 archery season as other western Washington GMUs, but it doesn’t have a late season. There is a late muzzleloader hunt, which runs for 24 days in late November and early December, when any deer is legal.

As in the Wynoochee Unit, the Satsop A Permit Hunt is highly contested, with 680 hunters vying for 10 tags. Any deer is legal, and the success rate is good.

In addition to the boundary roads, a number of all-weather paved highways provide access to gated spur roads and logging roads. The Matlock Brady Road runs basically north and south and provides access to the northwest part of the unit, as well as Schafer State Park. The Cloquallum Road runs through the middle of the unit from Highway 101 and the junction of the Satsop Cloquallum Road, then juts south. Highway 108 extends from Highway 101 through the Kamilche Valley to McCleary, and the East Fork Satsop Road opens up the southwest corner of the unit.

THE SKOKOMISH UNIT
Sprawling across the southeast corner of the Olympic Mountain foothills, the Skokomish is a very large game management unit containing hundreds of miles of public land and timber roads. It extends from Olympic National Park and Lake Cushman on the north and is bordered by the Satsop and Wynoochee units on the south and southwest.

The divide between the Humptulips and Wynoochee watersheds between Lake Wynoochee and the park boundary functions as the unit’s western boundary. The GMU contains a wide range of habitats, from swampy, alder bottoms along the South Fork Skokomish, steep ridges and inaccessible canyons and gorges.

It even contains the Wonder Mountain Wilderness. Elevations range from near sea level at Lake Cushman to in excess of 4,000 along the park boundary.

The Skokomish Unit has the same general season and late-hunt dates as the other south-flank units, except that it’s a 2-point-minimum unit. That explains why the number of hunters has fallen from 2,409 in 1992 down to 1,102 two years ago, and why its harvest is less than half of the Satsop or Wynoochee’s.

The 2-point minimum is also in effect for bucks during the early and late archery seasons, although bowhunters can take a doe. There is no blackpowder season in the Skokomish, but muzzleloader and modern firearms hunters tough enough to get up into the Wonder Mountain Wilderness can take advantage of the Sept. 15 through 25 High Buck Hunt.

Forest Road 23 is the main vehicle corridor to the unit’s northern portion. There is also access along the Wynoochee River Road, and Forest Road 2270, on the east shore of Wynoochee Lake.

Because nearly half of the unit lies in the national forest, there is more trail access in the Skokomish than the other south-flank units.

Whether you pursue them with a recurved bow in the Satsop River bottoms, a muzzleloader in the Wonder Mountain Wilderness or the rugged foothills of the upper Wynoochee Basin, there may be no better place in Washington to pursue blacktail deer than the southern flanks of the Olympic Peninsula.