Washington Elk — GMU 278
Wahluke
Washington GMU 278 covers 542,023 acres and lies 22 miles south-west of Moses Lake and 41 miles north of Richland. 32% of it is public land, mostly wildlife refuge (11%) and Bureau of Reclamation (9%). In 2025, hunters took 2 elk here.
Your chance of drawing here
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife has not offered an elk license in GMU 278 in any draw we hold. It has a page because the agency still publishes harvest for it — the Washington elk hunts that are on offer are drawn elsewhere.
The country
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Who owns the ground
- Private 369,319 ac · 68%
- National Wildlife Refuge 61,664 ac · 11%
- Bureau of Reclamation 48,056 ac · 9%
- BLM 26,859 ac · 5%
- State trust land 19,002 ac · 4%
- State land 14,690 ac · 3%
- County or city land 2,161 ac · 0%
- Other public 269 ac · 0%
Source: WA DNR 'Non-DNR Major Public Lands' (NDMPL) layer, federal/state/county/city ownership parcels
How the hunting has gone
What Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast. Washington's figures come from mandatory hunter reports. WDFW credits a multi-GMU special-permit hunt's harvest to every GMU it spans rather than splitting it, so unit totals add up to more than the statewide total.
| Season | Harvest |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 |
| 2024 | 7 |
| 2023 | 6 |
| 2022 | 9 |
| 2021 | 5 |
What people carried (2025 harvest)
- Archery 2 · 100% · 8 hunters, 25% success
- Firearm 0 · 0% · 13 hunters, 0% success
- Muzzleloader 0 · 0% · 16 hunters, 0% success
Boundary: WDFW Hunt Planner 'UnitSpatial' polygon layer (WP_HuntPlanner/Regulation/MapServer/0)
Harvest: WDFW Hunt Planner 'BigGame' harvest table (WP_HuntPlanner/Harvest/MapServer/1)