Look for a good blend of deciduous and conifer species that offers views through openings, or along dry streambeds. Avoid the younger areas of vegetation that have been more recently destroyed by floods.

If there's cover and enough food, and you still have enough visibility to hunt effectively, you may have found yourself a new honeyhole.

Be creative and come up with exciting ideas for river-bottom hunts. For a completely silent stalk on deer getting an early-morning drink from the river, use a drift boat or canoe.

Try a midday still-hunt through timbered bedding areas in patches of fir or hemlock.

Track families of deer across the sandbars and duff, during any part of the day, all season long.

Some hunters prefer to hold off hunting the river bottoms until the late season, when vine maples and alders drop their foliage and visibility through the woods is much better.

During late season, deer that migrate from higher elevations will congregate in the alder flats. They'll do the same during the rut.

Western Washington's major watersheds and tributaries provide plenty of possibilities for hunting close to home. The Nooksack, Skagit, Stillaguamish, Sauk, Skykomish, and Snohomish rivers are all glacier-fed. These large river systems offer great prospects for lowland hunts.

Sometimes public-fishing access areas can be good jump-off points. Even islands between river forks are home to families of deer. The vicinity of the flood plains is often under federal or state ownership, but you need to verify that before heading out.

Using the WDFG's free mapping link can help you identify parcels of land that belong to the government.

CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON WELL
Be warned: GMUs along the Interstate 5 corridor have firearms restrictions.

In these populated areas, it's not legal to hunt with centerfire or rimfire rifles, and hunters may hunt only during the season their tag allows.

Due to the up-close nature of most of these hunts, modern-firearms hunters using a shotgun with slugs or buckshot don't have too much of a disadvantage.

Those opting for a modern-firearms tag can still use shotguns with slugs or buckshot.

Muzzleloaders have the advantage of a season thatbegins a full week before the modern-firearms opener. Today's blackpowder rifles are much easier to use than the old flintlock-style rifles. After a crash course, even a modern-firearms hunter like me can operate one rather safely.