It'll be the last time holders of general modern firearm tags for deer will be able to take the field in 2011.
The four-day open modern firearms late deer (main for bucks) season opens in selected Western Washington game management units Thursday, Nov. 17.
Because of the season's scope, only the westside's black-tailed deer will be the focus of this hunt, which historically yields up to one-third of the total annual Western Washington harvest of deer in the Thursday-to-Sunday stint.
LOCAL OPTIONS
All westslope Cascade foothills game management units (including the 418, 426, 437, 448, 450, 460, 485 and 490) will be closed during this hunt.
For Whatcom hunters, just the 407 (North Sound) or western third of the county will be open. The next closest options are to the south and include the 410 (Island), 454 (Issaquah) and 466 (Stampede) units.
Other GMUs in WDFW regions 5 and 6 also will be open.
In mid- and north Region 4, center-fire and rim-fire hunting weapons are banned during both the main and late general deer hunt in all portions of game management units west of Interstate 5.
MORE LATE HUNTS
Following the November late main event for deer, bow and musket hunters will take to selected game management units around the state for their late stanzas, which will last into December.
Locally, muzzleloaders will have access to the 407 and 410 GMUs for their last hurrah, while the closest option for Whatcom archers in the late hunt will be GMU 437 in neighboring Skagit and Snohomish counties.
COMING SUNDAY
Read the outdoors page for more details about options for the late westside general deer season together with information about hunter responsibilities for reporting as each season ends.
Also, find out where it's legal to shoot and where it is not in rural Whatcom County.
Doug Huddle, the Bellingham Herald's outdoors correspondent since 1983, writes a weekly fishing and hunting column that appears Fridays. Read his blog and contact him at http://pblogs.bellinghamherald.com/outdoors/.
