GMU 272 - Beezley, Washington

Beezley Hills anticline (Yakima Fold Belt basalt) rising to ~2,886 ft at Monument Hill, dropping to ~500 ft along the Columbia River and Banks Lake shoreline. Elevation range roughly 500–2,886 ft. Landscape is classic Columbia Basin shrub-steppe: rolling basalt benches, ice-age coulee scarps (Moses Coulee, Dry Falls, Frenchman Gap), dryland wheat-farming flats in the north, irrigated orchards and row-crop agriculture concentrated along the southern and western edges near Quincy and Ephrata. Receives only 10–15 inches of precipitation annually. Channeled scablands with scattered springs on lower slopes (Baird Springs, Willow Springs area). Hwy 17 corridor runs north-south through the unit past a chain of alkaline lakes (Soap, Lenore, Alkali, Blue, Park, Dry Falls). Terrain is generally gentle to moderate grade — HuntScore rates terrain ease at 94/100.

Approximately 85% private, 15% public. Public land is concentrated in the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area complex (~160,100 acres across Grant and Adams counties, much of it Bureau of Reclamation land managed by WDFW for wildlife; roughly 53,000 acres fall within GMU 272 proper and are open to hunting). Additional public parcels include BLM (~3% of unit), state DNR/WDFW lands (~9%), and minor Bureau of Reclamation/NPS parcels. The unit has significant checkerboard public-private interleaving — a GPS with current ownership layers is strongly recommended. Access to the larger rough-country private ranches where deer concentrate in late season typically requires knocking on doors. No Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest within this unit; the Forest boundary lies to the west. Key access corridors: Hwy 17 (north-south spine), SR-28 (east-west, Quincy to Ephrata), and county roads off SR-17 into the Columbia Basin WA units.

Big sagebrush/bunchgrass shrub-steppe dominates upland basalt benches. Rabbitbrush, bitterbrush, and greasewood occur on lower slopes. Alkaline lake margins and coulee floors support riparian shrubs and cattail. Dryland wheat and barley fields dominate the northern plateau. Irrigated circles (pivot irrigation) and row crops (potatoes, corn, hay) along southern and western margins near Quincy Basin provide late-season deer feeding habitat. The Beezley Hills Preserve (4,788-acre Nature Conservancy holding within a 30,000-acre protected complex) represents some of the highest-quality intact shrub-steppe in the state but hunting access is restricted on TNC lands.

Mule deer in this unit are characterized by weather-dependent migration. Resident mule deer occupy the unit year-round in moderate numbers, but the unit's best hunting typically occurs when snowfall drives animals out of their summering grounds to the northeast and east (GMUs to the north toward Okanogan and Lincoln counties), pushing bucks down into GMU 272's shrub-steppe and coulee draws. Migration timing and volume is highly variable year to year. Resident white-tailed deer occur in lower density along coulee bottoms, creek drainages, and irrigated crop margins. Elk are essentially absent — no resident herd exists and harvest data shows only ~2 elk taken in the unit since 2000.

GMU 272 ranked 15th statewide for general-season rifle buck harvest in 2021 with 267 bucks taken. Total 2021 hunter count: 1,836 with 411 total animals harvested (22.4% success rate, 372 males / 39 females across all methods). Buck-to-doe ratios reported as 'very healthy' in recent years. A significant wildfire burned near Wilson Creek (south of Marlin/SR-28 corridor); hunters targeting the southern portion of the unit should scout burn-area conditions before committing. Deer tag is general/OTC — GMU 272 does not appear on WDFW's limited-entry special permit list for deer. Elk general season dates exist on paper (any elk) but with near-zero resident population, elk hunting is not a practical pursuit. Black bear are present as an opportunistic species. The Beezley Hills area is also a designated Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit recovery zone (US Fish & Wildlife), worth noting for habitat context. HuntScore public access rating: 12/100, ease of drawing: 13/100 (reflecting very low public land and limited draw pressure, not a special-permit draw unit).