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Wild Turkeys of Eastern Washington

Ask someone where to go to get a Roosevelt Elk in Washington, and they are sure to tell you to head to the Peninsula.  Dove hunters will tell you the dove hunting is in Yakima.  Ask a turkey hunter, more than likely that hunter will point you to the north east corner of Washington, Stevens County.  Not only does Stevens County hold the most birds harvested for the Evergreen State, but it is one of the populated turkey grounds in the Western United States.

You want Roosevelt elk in Washington you go to the Peninsula.  For dove, you go to Yakima.  For turkey, however, the buck stops in the state's northeastern corner.  Stevens County is Destination No. 1 for turkey hunters looking ahead to the beginning of April spring season in the Evergreen State.  While you can certainly find a gobbler in several other counties on either side of the Cascades, the land that stretches from the Spokane River north along the banks of the Columbia River to the Canadian border is among the richest turkey ground in the Western United States.  And hunters are taking notice.

"Every year, (turkey hunting) gets bigger out here," says Dale Denny at Bearpaw Outfitters (509) 684-6294) in Colville.  "We've been hunting them since about 1982, and I think there have been more birds almoster every year since then.  There's been more hunters too, but the turkeys have done so well, there's no danger of ever having too few birds.  They've spread out and populated all over the place."

Including the wide-open public hunting grounds in the Colville National Forest.  "If I was a Westside guy who didn't really know this area very well, I'd go right to the national forest," Denny advises.  "There's just tremendous access there, and the birds are very well spread out in the forest.  You get away from the problems of private land in the forest, there are large tracts of land and a lot of freedom to move around out there."

Most important source of national forest access info: a Colville National Forest map that's available outside the Colville Ranger District office.  This map - which you can buy for a couple of bucks from a vending machine located at the front of the station - shows all the public and private lands throughout the forest.

"I'd get ahold of that map, because trying to find little pieces of public ground around here is pretty hard," Denny suggests.  "you have to know the boundaries."

1. West Bank Columbia: "The whole west side of Columbia River above a certain elevation is an excellent place to hunt," says Denny.  "The whole Columbia/Kettle area has a lot of public land."

2. Colville River Valley: The east side up into the higher elevations of the national forest, including the Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Area.

3. Other areas: The Alladin Valley north of Colville and east of Hwy. 395 to the Pend Oreille County border