NM area 2-B late hunt

[wildcat westerner]

Hello, the area 2-B in northern New Mexico has a late hunt the first two weeks of January. Since all the other hunts in this area, which has borders on both the Jicarilla Apache reservation and also the Colorado border, are just five days long, I see this long, post rut hunt as a significasnt opportunity.

Is there anyone active to this site which has hunted in that area, during that time of year? I would appreciate corresponding about that hunt. I know the area is at 8,000+ feet, campgrounds are primitive, and obviously snow would be the major consideration.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Gene So.

 

[Tomg]

Yes, I have hunted that area in January and you will have snow on the ground and it will be extremely cold temps. Lots if deer it shouldn't be to hard to a get a small buck but the big ones are hard to find.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

2b is way overrated regardless of what season you hunt it! I've been there with a friend 2 of the last 3 years for the hunt the first week of November and there are a lot of deer, but few people are shooting anything but dink bucks. The decent bucks, as mentioned in the other post, are few and far between. We hunted the east side near the Jicarilla the first time in the Carson National Forest and saw a lot more wild horses than deer. This year we hunted the area to the east side of Navajo Lake and saw a lot more deer over there. My buddy shot a small 3x4 buck that was the best we saw this year and we only saw one better than him the first time there, but the season hadn't opened yet and we were just scouting. I believe the January hunt is strictly for archery equipment if I'm not mistaken, unless they have recently added an extra late gun hunt for the unit. Way too many tags are issued for the unit and most of the people who draw the tag are road hunting on the many open roads serving the gas wells and there are a ton of them throughout the entire unit! We'll never put in for it again due to these issues.

 

[livtoohunt]

There a bunch of big deer there so if it is over rated you were hunting the wrong areas! It will be tough stalking in the crunchy ice but try around Gas Buggy and surrounding canyons. Good luck! There are some good articles in Easton's bow hunting.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

There a bunch of big deer there so if it is over rated you were hunting the wrong areas! It will be tough stalking in the crunchy ice but try around Gas Buggy and surrounding canyons. Good luck! There are some good articles in Easton's bow hunting.

***That's funny because both trips I've been on all over the whole north half of the unit we didn't see squat or talk to anyone else that had seen or taken anything but dinks! I've hunted all over for 60 years and think I know a little bit about deer hunting. If there are big deer in that unit they are few and far between, are not down from CO in November since it is claimed that it is migration dependent based on weather in CO, or are not moving during legal hunting hours because we glassed enough territory on those two hunts for me to make and stand behind that statement.

 

[Tomg]

As far as the unit being overrated, Im not sure about that, it's true the unit is not what it used to be. I've hunted that unit for 32 years and it has changed over the years mostly due to internet sites like this and TV shows and the popularity of hunting in general has increased over the years. other changes have come from Game & Fish giving more tags over the years and also changing the season to early November rather than late November like it once was. I am fortunate to live near by so I am either hunting the unit or going with someone that has been lucky enough to get a tag. This year we pulled 3 tags and these are the bucks that we got on the second season which was in late October, I was surprised to find these bucks that early.

Its definitely true that this unit is dependent on the migration and weather. I tried a new spot this year and it paid off even though everyone else was not seen or getting anything we scored 3 out of 3. I still think this is a good area just wish the hunts were in late November again.

I will be going again next weekend for my Elk hunt, I know people say there are no Elk in the unit either but I seem to find them every year I get a tag.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Wow, 2 of those 3 bucks you guys got are real nice---congratulations. The one in the middle picture is about like the one my buddy ended up shooting this year after not seeing anything better. As far as elk in the unit, we saw a herd of 10 with one real nice bull and a raghorn and they were hanging around close to where we camped for several days. If you're interested in exactly where that was just send me a PM and I can get you real close where we were seeing them. I think maybe they are staying right in that general area from what it looked like during our stay there. I think the secret of unit 2b is like you said in that there are decent bucks there and it takes a lot of time to find them, which is hard for a NR to do in the short seasons that NM has. You did real well taking those bucks in October, as they surely must have been resident deer that early in the season.

 

[captacademy]

It is a migration hunt, but as shown above, big bucks are taken every year in that area. I hunted it this year and passed on 5 bucks, looking for something over 180. Never found him, but a few of the bucks I did pass on were nice 160's deer! The others were large bodied forks. I saw the bigger deer on the Eastside of the unit, but saw a lot more deer on the Westside of the unit.

 

[Tomg]

I was back up in that area again this weekend hunting Elk and when I came back to town for gas I ran across this monster buck, It was parked at the local bar and I'm sure the hunter was inside celebrating! deservedly so!

What a Buck!

 

[Topgun 30-06]

The way things are nowadays I can't believe anyone would leave a trophy like that buck out for thieves to grab. Several years ago my buddy in Wyoming shot a great bull that went 357 3/8". We brought the head/cape out along with the backstraps and tenders on the first load and I chained both sides of the rack to the bed of his PU to make sure they were there on our other trips in and out to get the rest of that monster. It's a shame you have to do stuff like that, but look how often we are now reading about breakins where mounts of various game animals are stolen.

 

[captacademy]

Very nice!

 

[Tomg]

I didn't draw a deer tag this year in unit 2 but just came back from my elk hunt in that unit and saw this nice buck. was able to get a few good photos before he hauled *** out of the area.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

That is certainly a great buck and we didn't see anything half that big on our two November trips. Did you get into any elk on your trip there?

 

[Tomg]

I drew a Cow Elk tag. I was able to get one opening day. Spent the rest of the weekend scouting the area. Still no snow in the area and Temps in the 50's unusually warm for this time of year.