Washington Elk — GMU 290
Desert
Washington GMU 290 covers 184,173 acres and lies 13 miles south-west of Moses Lake and 47 miles south-east of Wenatchee. 46% of it is public land, mostly Bureau of Reclamation (38%) and state land (5%). 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 290 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 99,533 ac · 54%
- Bureau of Reclamation 69,819 ac · 38%
- State land 8,419 ac · 5%
- State trust land 6,197 ac · 3%
- Other public 177 ac · 0%
- County or city land 19 ac · 0%
- National Wildlife Refuge 7 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 | 6 |
| 2023 | 0 |
| 2022 | 0 |
| 2021 | 1 |
What people carried (2025 harvest)
- Archery 0 · 0% · 2 hunters, 0% success
- Firearm 0 · 0% · 6 hunters, 0% success
- Muzzleloader 2 · 100% · 6 hunters, 33% 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)