Goethe State Forest is a true gem of the Real Florida, 48,000 acres containing examples of 15 different natural communities such as flatwoods, dome swamp, sandhill, and basin swamp. The extensive mature longleaf pine forest has one of the largest red-cockaded woodpecker populations in Florida. Other rare animal species found on the forest include the Florida black bear, gopher tortoise, Sherman's fox squirrel and bald eagle. It would in no way surprise me to learn that far-ranging young male Florida Panthers are dispersing into the area.
Goethe only became a state forest in 1992, the majority of it purchased from Mr. J.T. Goethe, a private landholder, using government-raised conservation funds. It may be a rural legend, but I've read that upon hearing of the impending State Forest designation, a local county counsel member said something to the effect: "That's not an endangered forest, that's good usable land!". Such is the Other Florida that Goethe was saved from (so far).
Only 250 permits were issued for the Goethe muzzleloading season this year, so even if everyone and their one guest showed up at once, that still left 96 acres per hunter (As I found, the case was far from this). I wanted to stack the odds even more in my favor. Something stuck in my head from my stack of old '80's-vintage Deer and Deer Hunting magazine: 99% of hunters never venture a mile from their vehicles (likewise, the experienced dayhiker in me has nothing but confirmation for that). When I discovered my win I started scanning Google Earth to find likely places far away from motorized entry points.
I found what looked like a good place about a mile cross-country and soon put boots on the ground to scout it out. I fell in love at first sight with what I found. An island of sorts, in a wet year you would have to wade thigh-deep to reach it, but its dry right now. Mature pines and bald cypress surrounded by prairie marshes, cut through with well-used game trails. Little sign of humans, and some of that was at lest seventy years old.
I bought a tree stand that can transform into a reasonable backpack-like configuration (I've been using it at 40 Acre Woods, too. Huh, maybe I'll do a review and endorsement soon), and placed it out Friday morning.
In good shooting range from the stand is a well-used game trail forced into a small funnel by some downed trees and brush, but also, more importantly, a fresh buck scrape the size of my work desk. Hunting was from Saturday-Monday, updates and results coming soon, when I get more time at the computer.
I hunted Goethe for the first time last year. I drew the opening weekend of general gun and saw three does over two days. This year I drew the last 4 day weekend of general gun. Over 4 days I saw one small doe opening morning - nothing else. Almost no shots heard other than the first morning. The weather was in the 50s last year and in the 80s this year. It was clearly too warm. Nothing was moving and there was almost no sign - few tracks and no rubs or scrapes. The fact that you cant drive the trails to retrieve game is a problem if you venture deep into the woods. I wonder how others have solved that problem. Im looking at the deer cart Cabelas sells. I also think a mountain bike might be handy on the grassy trails. I enjoyed your blog. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHello Sandfly, thanks for the comment. The part of Goethe I hunted has changed a lot since I posted this. A lot of it is either under water now since we are out of the drought or else has been cut over. I didn't hunt there at all this year. It was way too hot during archery and I didn't draw muzzleloading or a decent general gun permit. In the 2014 season I went about 6 times and saw one spike during archery, too far for me though. Nothing like the deer I saw the first two years, but I saw a lot of other wildlife, which is what makes it for me as much as anything else.
DeleteI've seen guys using mountain bikes to hunt there, and definitely using game carts. I didn't have that tech so I was just planning to cut anything I killed into manageable pieces and put them into those cloth bags you can buy to keep the bugs and dirt off while I used a frame pack to carry them out over a few trips. Not very efficient but I'd have made it, probably.
Good luck!