GMU 139 - Steptoe, Washington

Expansive Palouse rolling-hill agricultural landscape at 1,900–2,900 ft elevation. Eastern and southeastern portions feature the iconic loess-deposit wheat and lentil hills; western areas are drier with dryland grain crops, irrigated circles, canola, barley, peas, and grass seed. The Rock Creek drainage in the northwest (Revere Wildlife Area vicinity) holds Palouse grassland/shrubsteppe/scabland terrain with seeps and springs. The Palouse River traverses the southern third of the unit. Steptoe Butte (3,612 ft) rises ~1,500 ft above surrounding farmland near the unit's core.

Only 3% of the unit is public: approximately 1% BLM and 2% state land, concentrated in the northeastern corner near Lamont. The Revere Wildlife Area (2,414 acres, spanning GMUs 139 and 284) is the primary walk-in public parcel, located 9 miles southeast of Lamont in northwest Whitman County off Davis Road/Hwy 23; Discover Pass or valid hunting license required, daytime access only, no motorized vehicles except permitted disabled. Additional BLM parcels and state DNR sections are scattered in the northeast. WDFW Hunt-by-Reservation and Feel-Free-to-Hunt private land enrollment provides additional access beyond pure public ground; slots fill quickly on the WDFW website. Register-to-Hunt program covers some private sections. The vast majority of productive deer habitat is privately held farmland and wheat fields.

Dominant cover is dryland wheat, lentils, barley, canola, peas, and grass seed in the Palouse hills. Native vegetation survives in draws, fence lines, scabland outcrops, and along Rock Creek—Palouse bunchgrass prairie, big sagebrush/rabbitbrush shrubsteppe, and riparian willow/alder. The Revere Wildlife Area concentrates the best remaining native shrubsteppe and scabland habitat with springs and seeps in the Rock Creek drainage.

Mule deer use wheat stubble and crop fields for forage, bedding in draws, coulee edges, and shrubsteppe pockets during the day. Early archery season (Sept 1–25) finds bucks transitioning from summer range before crops are harvested. Late-season mule deer concentrate in the Rock Creek drainage and Revere area where water and shrub cover persist. Elk numbers in the unit are modest and increasing; they use the Rock Creek corridor and northeastern BLM ground, moving between agricultural edges and native brush. White-tailed deer occur along creek bottoms, riparian corridors, and brushy fence lines.

CWD carcass transport restrictions apply: from 100-series GMUs only boned-out meat, clean skulls/antlers, hides without heads, and finished mounts may leave the unit (whole carcasses cannot). Baiting and cervid-derived urine scents are banned in all 100-series GMUs. No mandatory CWD testing specific to GMU 139 (testing is mandatory in GMUs 124, 127, 130). Fall turkey requires a special permit drawn through WDFW; GMUs 101–154 allow two beardless plus two either-sex birds fall season. Black bear general season approx. Aug 1–Nov 15. Access is the defining challenge—hunters willing to knock on doors or use WDFW reservation programs will outperform those relying solely on public land.