westoakland

Thanks again for all the information. I'm in the process of finding out which side of the highway the ranch in Aguas. is on. When I do, I'll let you know.

I'd appreciate any feedback on Coues deer information from Mexican states other than Sonora and Chihuahua. Can you tell me if the white-tail deer in the more southern Mexican states like Durango and Aguascalientes are actually Coues deer? Any help with this, references or otherwise will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Westoakland

Thanks again for all the input and the references to other websites. Please don't mistake my comment about SCI - certainly no hissing and no contest. No hypersensitivity either, and I don't believe SCI is better or worse then others who make animal categories. I've been a happy and proud SCI member since the 1970's, but I'm not a taxonomist or deer biologist. I'm merely asking for clarification and a subspecies designation if the Aguascalientes deer is not a Coues. If we use the SCI designation of a "portion" of Aguascalientes as one respondent suggests, I'm also wondering how SCI sectioned a state that has only 2,157 sq mi. of area. Thanks again.

Thanks so much for your input. It is much appreciated. What SCI does re: Coues taxonomy is interesting (maybe even acceptable) but not necessarily biologically driven. Instead, my experience with B&C tells me their taxonomy designations may be based more on biology rather than trophy-member accolade. However, in general, I maintain the "state of the art" for accurate Coues designation (in my unprofessional opinion) is still wanting. For example, I hunted Gould's turkeys in Aguascalientes last spring, and also enjoyed the opportunity to observe lots of whitetails. Leaning on 11 consistent years of hunting Coues deer in Sonora, it occurred to me that the whitetails I saw in Agus. looked & acted exactly Sonora Coues. Therefore my question. The ranch owner in Agus. confidently asserted his deer were Coues. He is credible, believable, educated, realistic and sophisticated. So, what's a guy to do? Were the deer on his ranch Coues or some other subspecies of whitetail? If they aren't Coues, what are they? Thanks folks.