These refuge guides are always a work in progress. They are compiled and updated as we hunt them during the season. We always try to add permanent blinds to the guides, but because waterfowl hunting can be competitive we won’t add spots that others have shared with us.
Nothing will prepare you more than seeing these areas for yourself. I strongly encourage you to scout your intended hunting spots during the daylight hours. One way that works for us is we try to schedule an afternoon hunt to new locations so we aren’t stumbling around in the dark, right at legal shooting time, ruining other people’s hunts, and endangering ourselves.
This is our home refuge and I know it better than the others. It offers a safe and controlled environment and is a perfect place to learn to hunt waterfowl. Despite grumbling among old-timers about newbies flocking here, sometimes the hunting here is pretty great.
Hunting on the Burbank Slough can be fantastic in the right conditions. Demon winds and cold can add to the challenge. This is a favorite Eastern Washington getaway for our hunting gang here in Southwest Washington.
Learned local duck hunters will tell you they get some good hunting here, but warn, too, of skybusting yahoos, early-season pheasant hunters, and occasional car break-ins. I’ve hunted it a few times now and have managed to take a few birds.
This is a good spot in Southern Oregon to get an introduction to waterfowling. It’s close to town with easy access albeit you won’t be alone.
All Refuges and Wildlife Areas That Allow Waterfowl Hunting
Including places we have not visited yet.
State of Washington
Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually
Puget Sound, south of Seattle
Boat required
Willapa | Riekkola Walk-in Unit Map –
Long Beach, WA
Walk-in and boat access
Julia Butler Hansen | Hunting Brochure
Columbia River, West of Longview
Boat required
Conboy Lake | Hunting Brochure
South central Washington north of White Salmon
Walk-in
Ridgefield NWR | Hunting Regulations | Blind Map
Southwest WA, just north of Vancouver, WA
Walk-in only with blind reservations and standby lottery picks
Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuges
Links to all hunting units in this complex
Units are mostly clustered around Tri-Cities of Southern Wa
Walk-in, boat access, and some areas have blind lotteries and stand-by lotteries
Umatilla NWR | Hunting Brochure (Including areas on WA side of Columbia River)
Columbia River, southwest of Tri-Cities
Walk-in and boat access
Cold Springs NWR
Columbia River south of Tri-Cities
First-come-first-serve walk-in blinds
Toppenish NWR
South central Washington, near Yakima
Walk-in with some first-come-first-serve blinds