NM-late hunt in 2-B for Mule deer
 

Hello,
I am aware of a late season hunting opportunity in area 2-B the first two weeks of January for bowhunting Mule deer. Since all the other seasons in this area are only five days in length I see that a full 14 day season after the rut to be a real opportunity in the area bounded by the Jicarilla reservation, and also the Colorado border. I would like to communicate with any hunters who have actually hunted in 2-B during this late bowhunting season.

Thank You in advance,

Gene So

It may help to put this up in the Regions thread too.

I helped a friend in the 5 day November rifle season there in 2011 and we hunted the northeast area you're talking about. The area is very dependent on a lot of snow up in the San Juans moving deer down into the unit from the reservation. We were seeing a decent amount of deer then, but nothing of any size because most of the better deer are the last to get down into the unit. We had a USFS contact who is one of the two guys that works that Carson NF and knows it like the back of his hand and he guided us on two days. We didn't see a buck good enough to waste the tag on in those five days. He drew the bow tag you are talking about and hunted almost every day of the two week January bow season and saw some better bucks, but could not seal the deal because of the very noisy ground conditions with crunchy snow. If you could catch the rut it might be good, but IMHO that country is tough to bow hunt especially that time of the year with the weather conditions you would be facing. Personally I think 2C south of there would be the better unit to put in for from what he told us because that area is predominantly resident deer that you aren't depending on the weather to move into the area.