Coues Distribution

[Broncazonk]

Hey!

 

What is the Boone and Crockett boundary for Coues deer?

 

All of Arizona, all of New Mexico? (Can't be.. West of the Rio Grande?)

 

Northern Mexico, but I see that Baja has Coues all the way down.

 

What's the deal with the Carmen Mountain Whitetail? Is it a Coues?

 

Robert

[CouesWhitetail]

Boone and Crockett recognizes WT from Arizona, southwestern NM, and northwestern Mexico as Coues. Specifically in Mexico it is the states of Sonora and Chihuahua. In NM, the Coues WT boundary is defined as "Arizona border to the west, the NM boarder to the south, the Rio Grande River to the East and Interstate HWY 40 to the North."

 

As far as the Carmen WT, there is much debate about them. Apparently they are bigger than Coues and smaller than texas WT.

 

Here is a section from Jim Heffelfinger's (biologist with AGFD) book Deer of the Southwest which discusses it more.

 

Coues whitetails in southwestern New Mexico are found primarily in the Animas, San Luis, and Peloncillo mountains extending up to the Mogollon Mountains and Black Range. These whitetails are geographically separated from, and do not interbreed with, the population found in the Sacramento Mountains in south central New Mexico and in scattered, isolated pockets in the eastern half of New Mexico and west Texas (Findley et al. 1975; J. Nelson, personnel communication, NM Department of Game and Fish, 2000; TPWD Files). All white-tailed deer east of the Rio Grande in New Mexico are more similar to those in South Texas (O. v. texanus), which are measurably larger in body and antler size (Bailey 1931, Raught 1967).

 

Although the smaller Coues form and the Texas form of whitetail are separated in the U.S., they blend together across a series of populations south of the border (Findley et al. 1975). Whitetails gradually becomes larger as one moves north and east out of Chihuahua through west Texas, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and then into South Texas (Krausman et al. 1978). Whitetails in northern Coahuila, Mexico and the Chisos Mountains of west Texas have been described as a different subspecies, the Carmen Mountains white-tailed deer (O. v. carminis). These deer are isolated somewhat from both the Coues and the Texas whitetail at the extreme northern portion of their range in west Texas. Krausmen et al. (1978) supported the recognition of Carmen Mountain whitetails as a distinct subspecies based on skull and body measurements of Coues, Texas, and Carmen Mountain whitetails. However, there is no geographical separation of Carmen Mountain whitetails in the central and southern part of their range. In fact, Coues whitetails from western Chihuahua gradually become larger in size throughout their continuous distribution in Coahuila and into South Texas.

 

Farther south in Mexico, the Coues whitetail intergrades imperceptibly into populations of whitetails that have been described as a number of different subspecies. No analysis has ever been conducted on how these whitetails differ from Coues whitetails, or from each other. These deer probably represent a gradient of characteristics throughout the range of this species.

 

 

 

Hope that helps!

 

Amanda