Why do we hunt Coues?

[Red Rabbit]

Why do you choose to hunt Coues over the other deer species?

Is it their beauty? Terrain and country? Technique? Taste? Challenge?

[anthonyrmatthews]

Well....I would have to say ALL THE ABOVE. I really enjoy glassing God's country looking for them, I feel they are beautiful animals, they can up and disappear on you and humble you quickly. So All the above would be my answer-good question. I look forward to seeing others responses.

[DesertBull]

I started hunting Coues when there were always a lot of left over tags. I aways put in for the Kaibab late hunts, knowing that I would be able to get a left over Coues. My 1st Coues tag was a left over December tag in unit 33!

 

I still put the late Kaibab hunt 1st choice, but now a Coues hunt is 2nd.

 

I prefer the habitat the Coues live in. Awesome.

[cramerhunts]

I would have to say the challenge first, the beauty of the coues second, the country they live in third, and then finally the taste. I still hunt mulies with my bow if the opportunity arises and also when my wife draws a tag. I got bit by the coues bug when I was in highschool and I have never been able to get rid of it, it consumes my thoughts year round unlike other critters that I hunt. There is just something special about the "grey ghost".

 

Phil

[Snapshot]

I hunted mule deer since I was 14, then a few years back I came across this website and enjoyed reading what everyone had to say about Coues hunting and their experiences. I actually cruised the site for about a year before becoming a registered member.

 

So I have been starting to hunt Coues the last few years, and its all thanks to CWT.Com and its members!

 

As to hunting Coues, I just enjoy the outdoors and the thrill of the chase, and the great habitat in which we chase around those elusive whitetail.

[billrquimby]

Started hunting Coues white-tailed deer after moving from Yuma to Tucson to attend the UA in 1954. Why? The same reason some people climb the world's tallest mountains -- because they are there (here).

 

We called them simply "whitetails" or "desert whitetails" then. It wasn't until I'd hunted a bunch of other types of deer that I realized how blessed we Arizonans are to have them to hunt near our homes.

 

Unfortunately, all good things must end. My health and age does not allow me to hunt these niftly little deer today.

 

Although my Arizona deer hunting is limited to mule deer in easy country now, this site helps me remember the good times my friends and I enjoyed in years past.

 

Bill Quimby

[peloncillo]

Anyone who has ever watched coues deer can tell you of their beauty and intelligence. They are perfectly suited to their

environment. Due to the size of their their body and color of fur they blend right in to their surroundings. Couple this with their deliberate dainty movements and they can disappear before your eyes. I hunt coues deer because they are a challenge.

 

I saw my first coues deer over thirty years ago. I drew my first big game tag over twenty years ago and it was for coues

deer. My Grandpa helped me out on that hunt and it was succesful. My father also always encouraged me and bought tags for my brother and I for Arizona and New Mexico. I hunt coues deer to relive memories of past hunts with passed on family and friends and hope to pass some good memories on to my sons.

 

When I was in my twenties I was able to hunt deer from Texas to Canada. I hunted different ways and types of deer. I always returned home to Arizona to hunt coues deer. I now really have no interest in other deer. I hunt coues deer because they are different.

 

Coues country is big, rugged, steep, and brushy. In places you can see forever and in others only a few yards. You never know what you are going to see. The natural beauty and history of coues country is unsurpassed. There is no where else I would want to be. I hunt coues deer because of where they live.

 

The more I hunt coues deer the more they get to me. They take up a good part of my thoughts every day. Sometimes my body is at work but in my mind I'm up on a ridge somewhere glassing up toads down in a canyon. Every blown stalk or buck that got away is replayed in my head trying to figure out what went wrong. I dream about coues deer, draw pictures of them, and picked up taxidermy as a hobby because of coues deer. I hunt coues deer because they are addicting.

 

I guess the short answer as to why I hunt coues deer is because of the memories and enjoyment I get interacting with coues deer in their environment. They are an addicting challenge worthy of pursuit. I feel they are the deer hunters ultimate trophy animal.

 

Keven

[ruffcountry]

I enjoy the challenge they present , being in the terrain and country they inhabit , and employing my own technique a combination of spot and stalk and runnin and gunnin . They are paranoid little deer that live in big beautiful country and thats why I love them .

 

I spent every season of the whole decade of the nineties hunting mule deer in the Apache Mountains . When I worked in Phoenix I learned about left over tags ,and the idea of hunting coues deer got in my head , but it was several more years before I actually procured a tag . The gear and techniques I had aquired hunting those mulies in the Apaches were well suited to hunting Coues deer and I have been lucky enough to do it four years in row . Yeah , I'm pretty well hooked .

 

[Kilimanjaro]

Cuz there ain't no south TX monsters here in AZ!!!

 

And I just love the country they live in. The deer themselves dont do a whole lot for me. But they're habitat is what mountain hunting is all about. I love that part of it the most.

[cjw2222]

Cuz there ain't no south TX monsters here in AZ!!!

 

 

hahaha I've only met ya once and i coulda guessed you woulda said that

[Red Rabbit]

Since I posed the question, I guess I could opine an answer.

 

My first coues hunt was back in the 80s, and have hunted them almost every year since. The greatest attraction to me is the open country of grass-covered, oak-studded mountains the Coues inhabit and the spot and stalk hunting it affords. I started hunting with those eastern whitetails under a corn flicker in an oat patch in South Texas. Sitting in a box blind waiting to shoot pales to almost ghostly white in comparison to humping it up a mountain and searching for the trophy. Something about the open country chase to me that begins and ends each hunting day with awesome sunrises and sunsets.

 

Guess the same could be said about those harlequin quail that hold tight for one's best friend.

 

Doug~RR

[jonscaife]

to hunt an animal that is found only in my backyard and nowhere else on earth is kind of exiciting for me.

[Coues79]

For the very few chances of having your breath taken away, heart start pounding, adrenaline pumping, booner appear in your glasses. Then, to know that, that is half the battle; you still gotta get to him, find him and drop him, and you pretty much better be flawless in mistakes in getting to that point to pull the trigger.

 

Also, by getting off the beaten path, back into country where you can definitively tell yourself that there have been very, very few human beings standing at the point that you are at. Looking down on country at a view that relatively very few people get to take in during their lifetime.

 

Finally, realizing that you are taking in the beauty that was meant to be taken in and being thankful to Father in Heaven for creating something so beautiful and allowing me the opportunity to be there. Its quite a humbling experience. Can't wait to share it with my kids.

[crazy4COUES]

I would have to say ALL of the above. They part that stands out the most in my mind is the challenge, combo of intelligence/athleticism. It's amazing how beautifull they are as well. It is a blessing to live in the heart of coues country!

[SunDevil]

couple of things - IMO

 

1) they are the grey ghost - it amazes me how they can disappear in a second and/or appear out of nowhere.

 

2) their venison is far superior to carp.

 

3) they don't call it poor man sheep hunting for nothing. short of drawing an az sheep tag, this is the closest most of us will get to sheep hunting. the terrain they inhabit is not as extreme as sheep but they are smarter than sheep.

 

4) other than carp - it is what we have. chances of getting a trophy coues are far greater than a desert carp.

 

5) what else would we do? fall is overseeding season for most of the golf courses.