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Thread: 66B

  1. #21
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    I bought a tag, scouted a bit with my bike, met with Mr. Patchell in the summer, and had the week off for deer hunting. I didn't see any deer during the October bow hunt in my regular WMU, then passed on several deer during the first and early part of the second week of the rifle hunt, waiting for something bigger. As a result, I still had my primary tag for the entire second week of the rifle hunt, which coincides with the bow hunt in 66B. I thought it best to concentrate on the rifle hunt, as my chances were highest to fill my tag that way. Also, with the unusual weather we had during the second week of the rifle hunt, I didn't want to spend any time wandering around unfamiliar and potentially low probability areas. In summary, I never went to 66B. Maybe next year?

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  3. #22
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    Reviving this old thread to give an update. I used my primary tag on the first weekend of the rifle season on a nice little buck (I'll post about that later), so I had my back-up tag for WMU 66B and I had taken the entire week off as I initially planned to rifle hunt the whole second week of the rifle season. After getting a deer early, I ended up changing my plans and worked a couple of days, but decided to take Thursday and Friday off to hunt in 66B. I didn't intend to shoot any deer unless I saw something really extraordinary since I already had an entire deer in the freezer, and I had very low expectations due to the fact that I had never hunted the area before. I was mostly going out to explore and spend some more time in the woods.

    I arrived kind of late in the afternoon on Thursday. There was a surprising number of bowhunters heading out - maybe because it was a federal government holiday? I drove past a main parking area to see if there was somewhere less crowded for me to head into the woods. Not too far from the main parking area, I spotted a nice doe just off the road. I stopped to have a look, and she eventually bounded off, seemingly not too bothered since she didn't wave the flag and then stopped and looked back at me. I thought this was a good sign. I chatted with one hunter who was heading into the woods (using a recurve) - very friendly guy and gave me some good intel. I mentioned to him that I saw a doe just off the road, and he sounded interested as he was heading in the general direction. He mentioned that the deer there are pretty used to humans. The hunting season is very short, and the rest of the time, people are walking in the forest constantly. After parking, I grabbed climber and my gear and tried to strike up a conversation with another guy heading out. He was not friendly.
    As I walked down the road looking for a spot to enter the woods, I saw the dark figure of a deer about 20-30m into the woods watching me. I stopped and had a look and saw a really decent looking buck (by my standards, anyway)! I could not count the points due to all the brush in the way, but it looked significantly bigger than the deer I already had in the freezer. I started to think that if I could get a shot opportunity at this deer, I might take it. We had a stare down for a few minutes, then he finally just calmly turned 180 degrees and started walking parallel to the road I was on. There was no way I could get far enough off the road to be able to load an arrow and take a shot, but I kept walking down the road to see where he headed, and I was going that way anyway. I lost sight of him, but decided to take a trail into the woods that potentially could allow me to cut him off. I still hunted the rest of the afternoon, but didn't find him.
    I returned Friday evening. There were only a couple of other vehicles in the area, unlike the day before. I set-up in my climber at the spot where I initially saw the buck. There were some rubs there, and it looked like a nice spot with some potential. It was a nice evening to be out, but I didn't see any deer.

    Overall, I was impressed with the area and might consider hunting it in the future. I admit though that it felt kind of strange to be hunting there. It's a very "residential" forest, with lots of people walking around. There's a fenced-in dog park there, and I found it bizarre to be driving past people walking their dogs as I was leaving from an evening deer hunt. Also, the timing of the hunt is not ideal as it coincides with the second week of the rifle hunt. If they moved it to the last week of October or the week after the rifle hunt, that would be awesome.

  4. #23
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    Thanks for the update, I haven't talked to anyone that has hunted there in years. When we did our recce of we also felt a bit uneasy with the nature walkers everywhere. We decide if we would head up to the area just south of the golf course, less traffic up there.

    Any idea, from the guys you talked to, of the success rate. ?

  5. #24
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    The one guy that actually took the time to chat said that it was his 3rd year hunting there, but he hadn't shot a deer there yet, mentioned that it can be difficult to get a shot off. I believe him since many spots are very thick.

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