Carp

[bowhunter4life]

so were you road hunting with all those other trucks when you shot that little guy???

[5yearcoueshunter]

All hunting depends on the situation. I have a buddy that never put in or went Antelope hunting in his life. He put in the first year and of course drew it. Then he went and killed an 18 inch buck right from the truck at 200 yards after driving around for 5 minutes. He says it was to easy to kill a B and C Antelope and he will never hunt them again. Then you have other people that wait for a decade to get drawn for a tag and hunt their tails off to get a buck that goes 14 inches. All I can say is when it comes to Mule deer, I've always had a tough hunt and I think they are a tremendous game animal. I still enjoy hunting Coues more, but I would never put down the Mule deer or the people that like to hunt Muleys by calling them "Carp Deer".

[DEERSLAM]

Well I like Ernestos' answer the best. Sorta makes sense them feeding in the lower elevations were most of you hunt.

 

Keith,

I don't think anyone is trying to be politicaly correct and I don't think there is any bickering going on. Just trying to figure out were the term carp came from.

 

az4life,

I have seen a number of good deer of all species, yes coues deer also, taken from the road.

It took me about 20yrs before I got my first big muley. Took me 1 hunt to get a booner coues. Things like this happen, like 5yearcoueshunters friend on that antelope hunt.

 

Consensus is that a big muley is the hardest big game animal to take in North America these days.

 

Me personally, my favorite big game animal is the next critter I'm huntin or can draw a tag for

[Shiras]

That could be true about the deer in RR, but it still doesn't explain why those others in 23 and a few others on the trip just didn't seem to alarmed when seeing me or my buddy.

From what I've experienced, they are not too brilliant.....maybe the short bus riders if the deer family. While I do believe WT are in the MENSA group.-Shiras

[NMTcoueshunter]

I have hunted a lot of "carp deer", and I myself would never refer to a muley as a carp. I don't know what the deal with your mule deer over there in arizona is, but in New Mexico you can find mule deer anywhere from the flats to the highest peaks, this is in southwest NM also. From my experience the coues hang out in basically the same places as mule deer do. I have seen a fair number of big mulies while out hunting for deer and every good muley I have ever come up on has either blown out of the country or snuck off during a stalk. The coues on the other hand stay put. Once you spot your buck you can bet he'll be there after a couple hour long stalk. I hunt coues because I think I have a better chance at finding and killing a coues buck than I do at finding and killing a muley. The day I think I can reliably find and kill a booner muley is the day I will switch and start concentrating on mule deer instead of coues.

[wklman]

I'd have to disagree with you deerslam about a big mulie being harder to get then any other deer.you can only find coues in 3 different places AZ,NM,and old mexico. mule deer are found all across the western states and into canada. so i believe there's no way a big mulie is harder to get than a big coues.look in the record books as well and see how many b&c, p&y mule deer and coues there are.you guys shouldn't get too serious about mule deer being called carp.I've got a hard core mule deer guy at work that calls my beloved coues a dog deer because they don't grow any bigger than a large dog.he says its not worth hunting them because they don't have any meat on them.

[KGAINES]

I also have friends that refer to them as dog deer, dink deer, and jackalopes.

Shiras I haven't ever hunted eastern whitetail, but I have been back east several times and seen more deer dead on the roads in a couple of days than I have seen in my entire life in AZ, so I wouldn't say mensa.

[DEERSLAM]

wklman,

 

I'm quoteing the so called experts who say a muley is the hardest critter to put in the book these days.

 

I myself am not taking this to serious, just getting others take on this subject. Makes for fun reading what people think of our deer

[Shiras]

Let's keep in mind that in 1974 the US WT population was at 20 million. It's only grown from there. Texas alone has 4+million. I'm not sure of Mule deer population in the US, but I bet it's not 1/4 of the WT. (although that is a total guess)

The reason so many are hit by cars is simple. They live in urban areas, -not endless national forests. Heck, I live in a town of 80,000 people, 2 miles from the main hub, and I see WT a couple times a week. They just survive in very small pockets of wooded areas.

I'm still stickin' with MENSA -Shiras

[5yearcoueshunter]

I agree with Shiras in that whitetails are generally more wary then mule deer. Mule deer that haven't been hunted are a little more tame than whitetails. I've noticed that with Coues deer and Eastern whitetails. Even a mule deer buck that hasn't been hunted all summer will be a little more "dumb" than a whitetail. It's just the difference in species and I think it derives from the fact that the mule deer relys more on their eyes than whitetail. If a mule deer can see you, they don't fear you as much because that is their primary defence against predators. A whitetail doesn't trust his eyesight as much as the other senses, so that makes him naturally more wary. But again, mule deer Does haven't been hunted for at least 20 years in New Mexico, so they have no reason to be scared of humans. But a big mule deer buck that has been pushed by hunters, is the hardest animal in the mountain to bag. At least in my opinion.

 

Travis

[DEERSLAM]

Travis,

 

You're right on the money about how our different deer use their senses in different order as their main defence against predators.

 

That said, I'd have to say that coues deer are going to use their sight above their sense of smell due to the habitat in which they live. And what about those big ears on a coues deer? Could it be they use their sense of smell last.

I don't know, but it seems to me that maybe coues have the best of both worlds in between muleys and eastern whitetail

 

 

PS notice I don't use the word carp

[BASS]

Large ears help to rid the body of heat, as well as acting like large satellite dishes when focusing on a sound. I don't see anything wrong with calling them Carp. I always thought it refered to where they lived, lower areas compared to the Coues that like to see how high they can get on a hill.

[azpackhorse]

I've shot hundreds of carp with a 30-30 while standing on the road, actually a bridge. Even got confronted by a warden once, all he did was laugh and tell me not to shoot across the road.................but that was the real carp (fish) not mule deer.

[WMK]

Shiras, The Muledeer you're taking about are the one's near the ski area which provides Cross-Country Ski lessons outside of Red River. Not only can you not hunt that area (private property) but, the bunny huggers up their feed those animal. Two years ago while Cross-country skiing there, I was 25 yards from a 5x5 with 4 does. They have no fear because they have never been hunted and never will.

[Shiras]

I believe it because they had zero fear...

 

I might just have to take across country expedition with with a Thompson pistola tucked neatly under my jacket waiting for the poor trusting 5x5 to emerge... jk

-Shiras