This is one of Washington’s larger units, sandwiched between the Canadian border and the Colville Reservation, with approximately a 50/50 split between public and private lands. The Okanogan National Forest has four large sections of ground, mainly along the eastern edge, with a sprinkling of BLM and state ground scattered around. Scotch Creek Wildlife Areas are both located just south of the Canada border with the Charles and Mary Elder Unit in the western corner close to Oroville and Osoyoos Lake. Mount Bonaparte, topping out at 7,257-ft, marks the high point with broken mountain ranges dropping off to the western arid scablands, and ultimately into the Okanogan River which serves as the western border. The national forest basically follows the conifer forest, and private lands, which are largely agriculture with cattle ranch and large hay meadows, start just within the sparse timber edges. Mule deer, whitetail and elk can be found throughout the entire unit, with mule deer being much more abundant and widely spread. Spot and stalk is the primary method of hunting this broken to wide open country. This is a great unit to scout as there is lots of broken public land with a diverse habitat throughout, you may just turn up a monster outside of where the bulk of the hunters will be focusing. This is the only unit in district 6 with a significant number of elk.

Nice weather can make the deer hard to find. It can also be hard to find elk here; they are typically found on private ground.

There is great spot and stalk hunting terrain across the entire unit, although terrain will transition from timbered, mild mountains to large, broken- timbered fringe land, and on to scabland along the Okanogan River forming the western boundary. There are some excellent opportunities to gain high ground no matter where you hunt. Glass in the morning and evening for deer movement and plan your hunt from there. Okanogan National Forest lends itself to easy access and hunting and is mild when compared to the mountains further west. Game is spread thinly throughout the area, so glassing this broken to open landscape can save hours of time and frustration. Public land ends in an immense variety of square geometric chunks which seldom follow fence lines. Key in on the denser pockets of cover, primarily along creeks and shallow drainages, where the more dense cover abruptly transitions into more open meadows or forest edge at dawn and dusk.

A vast majority of private land here is considered rangeland consisting of moderately rolling hills getting steeper the more you move east. Vegetation changes from shrubsteppe along the Okanogan River, to tall native grass fields transitioning to conifer forests throughout the higher elevations. 2015 was a banner fire season with thousands of acres burned in the forest and along the southwest shrubland, burning out some old growth timber, brush and sage. As these burns reestablish a variety of grasses, flowers and young trees, it will add diversity to this GMU.

This unit is approximately a 50/50 split between public and private, thus allowing excellent access across most of the unit. Several ranchers also allow trespass hunting, so it is definitely worth scouting and gaining permission to hunt on private land.