Game unit maps and information now online

OLYMPIA - Washington hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts now can point and click to find maps of game-management units and wildlife recreation areas, with the launch of Go-Hunt, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) newest interactive information site.

GoHunt can be accessed at http://wdfw.wa.gov/mapping/gohunt/index.html.

"GoHunt is an important milestone in our on-going effort to deliver user-friendly fish and wildlife information to citizens," said WDFW Director Jeff Koenings, PhD.

The site was designed to include features requested by hunters and other citizens, Koenings said.

The site's interactive features allow users to view maps and retrieve game-harvest information by specific county, game-management unit (GMU), deer- or elk-management unit, pheasant-release site or other user-defined area. Map-view options display aerial photography, topographic features, county lines, roads and streams.

The site allows users to download black-and-white GMU maps for commercial printing in a 24-by-36-inch format. In addition to hunters, other outdoor recreationists can find useful map displays of major public lands, including WDFW wildlife areas and water-access sites.

Besides maps, GoHunt also offers game-harvest statistics back to 2001 and allows users to retrieve harvest data by area or species and view information on hunter effort and success.

In the future, the GoHunt site will be upgraded with additional interactive features that will display hunting seasons and regulations by specific GMUs and detail the features and amenities of specific WDFW wildlife areas and water-access sites, said Mick Cope, who helped coordinate development of the website for the WDFW Wildlife Program.

GoHunt was developed with funding from the Legislature, hunting license fees and a grant from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and in cooperation with the Washington Department of Natural Resources and Department of Transportation.