GMU 113 - Selkirk, Washington

736 square miles of rugged, north-south-trending Selkirk Mountains in Pend Oreille County, northeastern Washington. Elevations range from approximately 1,290 ft at the normal pool of Lake Roosevelt (Franklin D. Roosevelt Reservoir on the Columbia River) to 7,309 ft on Gypsy Peak in the northern Selkirks. Topography is steep and heavily dissected with broad river valleys drained by the Pend Oreille and Columbia rivers. Coniferous forest covers roughly 68% of the district landscape; the remainder is agricultural land, rangeland, and water features. The unit sits entirely within WDFW Region 1 (District 1), which spans Pend Oreille, Stevens, and Ferry counties.

GMU 113 is one of the most public-land-heavy units in District 1. The Colville National Forest forms the backbone of public access; state DNR lands and WDFW wildlife areas add additional open ground. District-wide, approximately 37% of land is public (national forest, DNR, WDFW, BLM, USFWS), with GMU 113 cited explicitly as having among the most public land in the district alongside GMUs 101, 111, and 117. A Discover Pass is required to park on DNR lands; a WDFW Vehicle Access Pass (free with hunting or fishing license) or Discover Pass is required for WDFW wildlife areas. Large private timber company lands (e.g., Stimson Lumber, PotlatchDeltic) are also open to non-motorized public access but not to private motorized vehicles. Private agricultural lands require written landowner permission. Key access roads include Forest Service routes off SR-20 (Tiger/Ione area) and roads accessing the Selkirk highlands from Newport and Usk.

Dense coniferous forest dominates — primarily Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, western larch, and lodgepole pine at mid elevations, with Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir at higher elevations. Active and legacy clear-cuts provide important forage areas heavily used by elk and deer. Creek and river bottoms hold alder, cottonwood, and willow. Agricultural fields and hay meadows in the valley bottoms attract deer, especially at dawn and dusk. Merriam's turkeys use the forest-agriculture edge habitat. Black bears range throughout, using berry patches, clear-cuts, and forested draws.

Elk in GMU 113 are part of the Selkirk Elk Herd (Pend Oreille sub-herd area), scattered in small groups throughout the dense forest. Elk move between clear-cuts and forested benches seasonally — using open cuts and log landings for forage in early season, retreating to closed-canopy forest, swamps, and young forest as hunting pressure builds and temperatures drop in late October. White-tailed deer densities are highest on private valley-bottom and foothill-bench lands but are present throughout the unit; deer shift to lower elevations and forest edges as fall progresses. Turkeys constrict from high-elevation summer range to lower agricultural valley habitat as autumn snowfall deepens.

GMU 113 has no archery deer season and no late modern firearm deer season — the deer opportunity structure is general modern firearm (Oct 17-30, any buck) plus an early and late muzzleloader season. This late muzzleloader window (Nov 25-Dec 8) is unique among District 1 GMUs and allows a dual-season strategy: hunt elk through Nov 5, then switch to late whitetail muzzleloader. Elk hunting is general-season (no draw required) but success is low — 2-4% hunter success rate in the 3-year average; 736 sq mi unit, ~595 elk hunters/season modern firearm, ~13 elk harvested/season. Deer harvest ranks lowest per sq mi in the district (0.32 deer/mi2 modern firearm) partly due to the unit's size and forest density, but absolute whitetail numbers are good. No CWD has been detected in Washington as of 2022. The 2021 EHD/Bluetongue outbreak hit neighboring GMUs 117 and 121 harder than 113. Black bear populations are stable; district-wide hunter success 4-18% depending on year. Moose are present but limited-entry special permit only.