FARM BUCKS
Around here, you don't have to look far to find good cultivated lands to hunt. The Puget Sound area is blessed with an abundance of thriving farms.

In terms of access and deer populations, probably the best locations lie in the northern Puget Sound river valleys, which descend from the Cascade Mountains.

Here are some of the best blacktail hunting areas in the state:

• The Nooksack Unit (which is Game Management Unit 418)

• The Sauk (Unit 437), which contains the upper Skagit River valley

• Stillaguamish (Unit 448), and

• The Snoqualmie (Unit 460).

You could give these areas an initial exploration by driving state highways and county roads.

You won't see crowds of deer hunters. These farms are private, and access can be a hurdle.

However, asking permission to hunt farmlands is a little more relaxing than approaching property owners in more developed areas. Farmers are responsible for large areas of open space, and are accustomed to regular inquiries about their land.

Well before the season opener, show up in street clothes and introduce yourself politely. If you plan on hunting with a youngster, take him or her along to help break the ice --especially if you know that the farmer has kids or grandkids.

If you can offer the farmer something in exchange for permission to hunt, it could help your proposal.

You might offer to make a sweep for litter on his property while scouting his place. Or in your spare time, you could help mend a fence.

If you are granted access, make a gesture of gratitude with a small gift or personal thank-you letter after the season. It's always a great way to keep your foot in the door for the following year -- and it's also common courtesy for his trust in you.

You won't often see a buck walking across a cornfield in broad daylight. But you might see one traversing farmlands, using brushy travel corridors to get from point to point.

Deer will feed on wide-open crops at night, but not during the day.

Luckily for the deer, cleared agricultural land in western Washington is often interrupted by steep ravines, overgrown fence lines and stream watersheds.

These uncultivated areas let them pass through without feeling exposed -- so these passageways should be your objective.