OLYMPIA — Hunters have through May 18 to apply for special permits for deer, elk, mountain goat, moose, bighorn sheep and turkey in Washington.
Permit winners will be selected through a random drawing conducted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in June.
Special permits qualify sportsmen to hunt at times and places beyond those authorized by a general hunting license.
To apply for a special permit, hunters planning to hunt for deer or elk must purchase an application and hunting license for those species and submit the application with their preferred hunt choices.
Most special hunt permit applications cost $7.10 for residents, $110.50 for non-residents and $3.80 for youth age 15 and younger.
The exception is the cost for residents purchasing applications for mountain goats, any bighorn sheep ram, any moose, and “quality” categories for deer and elk.
Those applications cost $13.70.
Mick Cope, game division manager, said new hunting opportunities were approved in several categories this year.
They include additional buck hunts in Pacific, Grays Harbor, and Benton counties; more antlerless deer hunts throughout the state, and new youth hunts.
Instructions and details on applying for special permit hunts are described on pages 12-13 of the 2016 Big Game Hunting Seasons & Regulations pamphlet, available at department offices, license vendors, and online at http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations.
Cope urged hunters to update their phone numbers, email, and mailing addresses when purchasing their special hunting permit applications and licenses.
Each year, hundreds of special hunting permits are returned due to invalid addresses.
Results of the special-permit drawing will be available online by the end of June at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/wa/specialhuntlookup.
Winners will be notified by mail or email by mid-July.
