Coues deer life span

[308Nut]

Without factoring premature death from predators, hunters or thieves, what is the life expectancy of a coues buck on average?

 

In other words, how many years do they live before they die a pure old age?

[GameHauler]

You should find the answer to all your questions here:

http://www.coueswhitetail.com/coues_biolog...ues_biology.htm

[SilentButDeadly]

Without predators, I'd say the biggest factor will be how long their teeth can hold out... Some animals I've found dead had serious dental problems (like broken back molars, cavities, osteoporosis of the jaw bone).

 

Depending on what they feed on (soft and squishy vs hard and crunchy) I'd say that a Coue's could it make >12 years.

 

This is the oldest deer I've ever seen, his rack has been getting smaller since 2006... so you can guess at how old he might be.

 

T

[TREESTANDMAN]

I believe coues bucks live an average of 12-15 years when dying of old age. I think it also depends on where they live, winter conditions, rainfall, stress, etc. I have pics right now of a buck I believe to be well over 12 years old right now. I've gotten pics of him for many years. He lives in an area with very few lions.

 

Mike

[oz31p]

As long as it takes for me to find him

[.270]

around these vegitarians on this site, it's quite awhile. ya see, it ain't that coues are all that shifty, it's that the guys that like to hunt em are a little "challenged". they say they are really smart and wary and stuff so's as to make themselves not look so ignernt. Lark.

[billrquimby]

Game departments in Arizona and New Mexico undoubtedly would have info specific to our little deer, but I was unable to find it on the Internet.

 

However, many sites claimed the lifespan of "white-tailed deer" is 10 years in the wild and 20 years in captivity. There's no reason to believe that Coues whitetails would live longer or die earlier than other whitetail subspecies.

 

Incidentally, one website listed 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 years as the average lifespan for deer in the wild. That's the age when whitetails carry their best antlers.

 

Bill Quimby

[TREESTANDMAN]

Interesting. The 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 might be the case in Mtn Lion infested canyons but I know for a fact that is not the norm. The only reason I would figure coues may live a little longer than their eastern relatives would be the milder winters? But I've done some research and haven't found any GOOD info on the average lifespan of a coues deer. Who knows, maybe even the bucks/does vary by several years? I know women are supposedly supposed to outlive men by 7 years.... not sure if that is fact or wisetell?

 

Mike

[billrquimby]

Interesting. The 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 might be the case in Mtn Lion infested canyons but I know for a fact that is not the norm. The only reason I would figure coues may live a little longer than their eastern relatives would be the milder winters? But I've done some research and haven't found any GOOD info on the average lifespan of a coues deer. Who knows, maybe even the bucks/does vary by several years? I know women are supposedly supposed to outlive men by 7 years.... not sure if that is fact or wisetell?

 

Mike

 

Mike, I doubt there are many Coues deer that are not subject to predation. Where there are not mountain lions everywhere in Coues deer range, there certainly are coyotes and feral dogs that also will kill and eat deer. I believe that if the truth were known, few prey animals (and deer are prey animals) in Arizona die of old age.

 

I would bet a dollar that the Arizona Game and Fish Department has a paper somewhere that has estimates of lifespans for Coues deer in the wild. I can think of at least three or four studies that were conducted in the 1970s and 1980s that involved capturing and tracking wild deer for many years.

 

Game and Fish also used to set up roadblocks all over southern Arizona during the deer season where they checked licenses and tags and inspected (and sometimes pulled) teeth from deer. That data could have been best used to learn the average age of deer killed by hunters, but it also should have given a good idea of just how old our deer can get. Researchers also closely monitored a herd AGFD kept at the University of Arizona's farms on Campbell Avenue in Tucson.

 

My point is, a lot of data has been collected and a heck of a lot is known about Coues deer. I suspect Jim Hefflefinger could answer your question off the top of his head.

 

Bill Quimby

[DubTee]

If anyone is interested in finding out the age of the deer you kill, you can pull one of their lower incisors and send it in to a company in Texas that ages deer by inspecting the rings inside the tooth. I think it is something like 99.99% accurate, much more so than the lower jaw tooth wear method. We always do this with the bucks we shoot in the midwest, interesting to judge their age on the hoof then get the real age a few months later. I'd like to see how old some of these big coues bucks are.

[billrquimby]

If anyone is interested in finding out the age of the deer you kill, you can pull one of their lower incisors and send it in to a company in Texas that ages deer by inspecting the rings inside the tooth. I think it is something like 99.99% accurate, much more so than the lower jaw tooth wear method. We always do this with the bucks we shoot in the midwest, interesting to judge their age on the hoof then get the real age a few months later. I'd like to see how old some of these big coues bucks are.

 

I would guess that they will be 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 years old. A friend who owns one of those deer-hunting farms in Michigan claims that's the age that produces the best antlers.

 

Bill Quimby

 

[TREESTANDMAN]

Bill,

 

I disagree that most coues deer die from predation. While coyote's play a huge role on coues fawns and sometimes the occasional adult, I don't believe they play a major role in the death of adult coues bucks. I've been doing the trail camera thing for over 10 years and I am still getting pictures of quite a few bucks that I've gotten pictures of previously. In the past 10 years I've also done a lot of shed hunting in these areas and have yet to find a coues kill....(in certain areas) Just my opinion. I also believe as you do Bill, that most harvested deer are going to be less than 5 1/2 years old. I think the best antelers come from 5-7 year old bucks. I've noticed after that 6th or 7th year usually some trash starts developing and some turn completely non-typical.

 

Bucks become wiser year after year of being hunted and I believe the older bucks start to move less and less each day which makes them harder to be seen and harder to hunt.

 

You are probably right about all the data being collected but again... certain areas hold medium to high lions and certain areas hold low to none. I'm guessing most of these surveys were done in areas with more lions. I would welcome Jim Hefflinger's input on this. I've read his book and it was excellent.

[Tines]

Interesting read. Everyone makes excellent points. I'm not sure if I have anything credible to say but I think that the term "average" needs to be emphasized. IMO, "Average" Coues deer bucks don't grow to be the monsters that get talked about on CWT. There's a big difference between age and genetics. "General" Coues deer habitat is infested with lions. "Typically", predators (including us) are the cause of death to most Coues deer. Not to start a pissing match, this is just what I've seen....

[CouesWhitetail]

I would say that generally truly large bucks (say >110 inches) are going to be 7 years old or larger.

 

my buck from this year scores 106 and based on toothwear and sheds found and trail cam pics, I would say he was 5 years old.

 

My 110 buck from mexico a few years ago was 7 years old based on tooth wear.

 

Dale Gonzales gave me the lower jaw from that monster buck (story and pics here) he killed and I think it's at least 8 years old.

 

When I worked on San Carlos we pulled teeth from a lot of Whitetail, but the lab gave inconsistent results so we didn't have a lot of faith in that data. But the mule deer were easier for them to age, and the biggest bucks were generally 8, 9 or 10 years old.

 

I would say you can get good 100+ inch bucks at 4-5 years old, but true monsters tend to be older.

[CouesWhitetail]

here is some more info based on shed antlers from the same bucks over time.

 

the first pic shows a set found by Dan and Monica King. You can see his best antlers are when he was 7+ years old.

 

 

and some from Jim Reynolds collection:

 

this set is missing some of the early antlers