GMU 175 - Lick Creek, Washington

Dual-character unit: the western half is heavily forested with old-growth ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir on mild-to-steep ridgelines, with Elk Point cresting at 5,256 ft. The eastern half transitions to arid shrub-steppe and dry grassland, dropping toward dryland wheat-farming ground near the GMU 181 boundary at roughly 2,000 ft. Lick Creek and the North Fork Asotin Creek drain the core of the unit through a series of gulches, hollows, and timbered benches that provide year-round cover. Post-fire regeneration habitat from 2018 burns (Warner Gulch, Alder Gulch) creates early-successional browse on the southern end.

Access is straightforward: three road corridors enter the unit from Asotin Creek Road (county road gated Dec 1 - Mar 31, open Apr 1 - Nov 30). Parking areas are located at the Lick Creek / North Fork Asotin Creek confluence, the South Fork hayshed, and near the Smoothing Iron Ranch buildings in Warner Gulch. No motorized travel is permitted off county roads on WDFW land; a Discover Pass or Vehicle Access Pass is required. Private land is limited to the eastern boundary (dryland farming); some parcels participate in Washington''s Feel Free to Hunt program.

Mixed conifer forest (ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, grand fir) on west-facing slopes and north aspects; open bunchgrass-shrub-steppe (bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue, big sagebrush) on south and east aspects. Post-fire burn areas from 2018 provide ceanothus and elderberry browse. Riparian corridors along Lick Creek and Asotin Creek forks support willow, alder, and water birch. The Asotin Creek Wildlife Area unit (20,437 acres) encompasses Lick Creek drainages and is managed for a mix of grassland and dry conifer habitat.

The Blue Mountains elk herd (shared with Oregon) uses GMU 175 as core northern range; WDFW has identified 175 alongside GMUs 162 and 166 as a focal area for herd recruitment research due to persistently low calf survival. Elk move between forested benches and south-facing burns during archery season, then compress into timbered draws as rifle season pressure builds. Deer rut in whitetails begins late October and can extend through late December; mule deer rut peaks in mid-November. Both species use the creek bottom willows and grassy meadows as staging areas before moving to higher conifer cover.

GMU 175 is part of WDFW Region 1 District 3 (Blue Mountains), not the Selkirk/Columbia Basin District 1 as sometimes assumed. The elk herd has been below WDFW population objectives (5,500 animals) since 2017, running roughly 20-25% below target. Calf survival in GMUs 162, 166, and 175 averaged only 13.6% in year one of a recent WDFW study, prompting ongoing collar research on 100 adult cows. Deer general season success in GMU 175 is the lowest in District 3, attributed to high hunter numbers and a high harvest rate of legal bucks. Turkey hunting on the Asotin Creek Wildlife Area is a strong secondary opportunity with good bird numbers on public land.