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I went to the woods because I wished to live
deliberately…and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I
came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Henry David Thoreau
Does the picture above make your heart beat
faster? Does the first hint of the cool fall air find you longing to be in
the mountains of the southeastern Arizona, New Mexico, or Mexico?
If so, then perhaps, like me, you have
developed a passion for searching for the elusive Coues White-tailed Deer.
The Coues Whitetail (properly pronounced "cows", but almost everyone pronounces
it "coos") is a small subspecies of white-tailed deer found in
Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. This deer has developed such a reputation for being able to
vanish from view in the smallest
amount of cover that it is frequently referred to as the "Grey Ghost".
Many people consider Coues deer to be the most challenging big game animal to
hunt. Some even refer to hunting Coues deer as the "poor man's sheep hunt"
because of the harsh terrain involved. Famous big-game hunter Jack O'Connor proclaimed the Coues
deer to be "the most difficult of all deer to kill" due to its extreme wariness
and the inhospitable habitat this deer can live in.
This site, launched on December 23, 2002, is dedicated to bringing you everything you could
possibly want to know about Coues White-tailed Deer. I will cover topics such as the
biology and taxonomy of this deer as well as how to effectively hunt for this
species. I intend to make this web page useful to the novice as well as a
veteran Coues deer hunter. If there is something you think should be included
in this website that you don't see, let me know by sending an email to
amanda@coueswhitetail.com.
This is a work in progress and I will frequently be adding information to this web page, so please visit
often. Information on this website has been gleaned from numerous books,
journal articles and technical reports. Please visit the
references page to see a list of that literature.
Do you have a hunt story you would like to publish here?
Do you have venison recipe to share?
Would you like to post a picture of your favorite Coues
buck?
Navigation Hints: All of the information on this website can be
accessed using the navigation buttons on the left margin of this page.
Some of the information is highlighted below. If you know specifically
what you are looking for, you can use the navigation buttons to the left or the search box
just below this text. Pages that contain the word searched for will be
listed below the search box. Otherwise you can peruse the information below to
see what might interest you and what has been recently updated. Text that
is light purple and underlined is hotlinked and can be clicked on to go directly
to that section.
Please don't forget to
join the
extremely active
Discussion Forum.
Wondering what gear to get? Looking for info on a certain hunt unit?
Worried about the effect of the drought on antler growth? Use this forum to ask questions, leave
advice, and meet some new hunters.
Jan 15 - Please welcome
Colburn and Scott
Outfitters as a sponsor of CouesWhitetail.com! Darr Colburn and
Jay Scott have helped their clients take some amazing animals! You can
learn about their business by clicking on the logo below to go to their
website.
Jan 10 - looking for pics of bucks taken this year? Check out
the forum where content is updated daily! There have been some great
archery and rifle bucks taken this year and you can read all about the hunts
in the forum.
Dec 23 - Welcome to Ross
Outdoors as a sponsor of CouesWhitetail.com. Ross Outdoors is
a retail store located in West Phoenix and sells primarily archery gear,
optics, optics rentals, and some hunting gear (calls, knives). Ross
Outdoors provides full service for archery gear and they can help you get
the gear you need. Not many stores will rent high quality optics to
hunters, so if you are considering trying out some optics, give Ross
Outdoors a try. Ross Outdoors is offering a special for
CouesWhitetail.com members.....10% off when you spend $100 or more at their
store in West Phoenix.
Dec 21 - Welcome to Elk
Hunter Magazine as a sponsor of CouesWhitetail.com. If you
love hunting elk, you will want to subscribe to this magazine! One of
our forum members (Grong) is even on the front cover of the premier issue of
this new magazine. All CouesWhitetail.com members who subscribe before
Jan 1 will receive the premier issue free! To get to this offer, go to
the website to subscribe and add CouesWhitetail.com in the Company Name box
when you fill out your name and address during checkout.
Oct 21 - Good luck to all you October Coues Hunters!
FYI - our host server for the
forum is getting an upgrade and there may be some hiccups in service while
this is happening....bear with me!!
Oct 20 - Please go vote in the Trail Camera Photo Contest so we can pick the
top winners in each of the four categories.
Sept 6 - Please welcome Southwest
Wildlife Taxidermy as a sponsor! Jim Hartsock is the owner and he
has been in the taxidermy business for 36 years! They do some great
work and mount over 100 Coues bucks a year, so they have the experience to
make a great mount for you. Several of our forum members have been
very happy with mounts done by Jim. Check out their website and see if
Southwest Wildlife Taxidermy is right for you.
Aug 31 - Please Welcome Hunter's
Headquarters as a sponsor! This is a brand new retail store that
offers a great variety of items both online and in their 2000 sq ft store in
Flagstaff. In addition to having lots of outdoor and hunting gear,
they have an indoor archery shooting range. If you are in Flagstaff, I
suggest you stop by and see what they have. Or just check them out
online by clicking the button ad below.
Aug 12 - Forum was back up this morning!! Yeah! We have tons of
space now and shouldn't encounter that same problem again. Sorry for the
inconvenience.
Aug 11 - The forum is being moved to another server with more space.
We just flat out way exceeded our space limits with the old hosting company.
So we are getting a dedicated server with another company. The
transfer will take a day or two. I hope to have the forum up Friday
afternoon. In the mean time, browse through the photogallery and check
out the hundreds of photos of bucks there. Or visit us on facebook and
see the giant coues shed I just posted there....
Aug. 10 - The forum is down at the moment. Tech support is working on
it. We hope to have it back up soon. Sorry for the
inconvenience.
Aug 10 -
Fall 2011-2012 Coues Buck Contest is launched! You just have to be
registered in our forum before your hunt starts to be eligible. So for
you archery hunters, that means, you need to become a forum member fast, if
you are not already. For more info,
please click here.
We have some new categories, which include a random
drawing of winners from those who didn't already place in one of the main
categories. We also added smallest 3 point buck as a category.
And we also have youth categories, hunt story categories and more. So
you can win in this contest no matter what size buck you kill! So come
on sign-up, it's free!
Aug. 9 - Please welcome
Miller's Southwestern Processing as a sponsor! Miller's provides
outstanding meat processing for all your game and domestic animals.
They make some great sausage and for the month of august are offering
$10.00 off of processing orders
$75.00 or more & $15.00 off processing orders $125.00 or more to all
CouesWhitetail.com members. They have drop-off points in some of the
elk units, check out their website for more info.
July 16 - Welcome to Gila Outdoor
as our newest sponsor. Gila Outdoor in Thatcher, AZ is a 20,000 square
foot retail store specializing in archery equipment and other outdoor
related gear (optics, backpacks, camo, etc). They also have an indoor
archery shooting range and the all new Techno hunt where you can shoot at
real footage of animals such as deer, elk and even Africa animals and the
system tracks your arrow shot, fps and score so you can shoot against your
friends.
July 5 - Flatline Hunt Unit Maps are 1/2 price for limited time only!
Jimmy and Rynda Hoffman, owners of Flatline Maps have donated these high
quality hunt unit maps to help raise money for members Josh and Jennifer
Epperson. Josh and Jen suffered some major medical bills and we are
helping to ease that cost by raising money. Check out these great hunt
unit maps and help out some fellow members....
http://www.coueswhitetail.com/bookstore/maps.htm
May 10 - Welcome to Bull Basin
Archery as a sponsor of CouesWhitetail.com. Bull Basin has a store
in Flagstaff and a brand new store in Tucson that opened in April. If
you have any questions about archery, Bull Basin has a great staff that is
very helpful and they know archery! Visit
Bull Basin's website for more
information!
May 7 - Welcome to Camo
Collections as a sponsor! Camo collections sells a variety of
camouflage luggage, backpacks and duffelbags. I have checked out their
products and they are made to last and with very attractive camo patterns.
Visit their site and see if you can find something you need! Also,
they sell luggage with pink trim on it, so perhaps a great gift for your
wife or mom on Mother's day!
April 30 - Added Wilderness Athlete Products to the store! - these are
great products to keep you fueled-up during your hunting trips. I have
used them on backpack hunts and really felt the difference.
Wilderness Athlete Products Page
March 17 - Please welcome
Sonoran Ghost Outfitters as a new sponsor! Chris Jacob is the
owner and is a very passionate Coues deer hunter! He offers some
outstanding hunts in Mexico for the gray ghost. He will make your hunt
in Mexico a breeze by handling all the paperwork and guiding you on great
ranches. Check out his website to see some of the many trophies he and
his clients have harvested.
March 7 - Thank you to everyone that
sports a CouesWhitetail.com sticker on their vehicles! As a tribute, I made
this 3.5 minute video which shows about 170 stickers.
Enjoy the video!
Featured Coues Deer Hunting
Guides/Outfitters and Equipment dealers
The following guides/outfitters and
optics dealers help sponsor
this web site. Please consider supporting them by using their services
for your next hunt.
Would you like to have your service
featured here? learn how by
clicking here
Wildlife artist, Mike Fabritz, has joined as a
sponsor of CouesWhitetail.com. He has some excellent images of Arizona
wildlife. Check out his collection of pastels, by clicking on the
images below.
Need a tripod or tripod head?
CouesWhitetail.com has teamed up with Jim White to offer an excellent tripod
head and a variety of tripods for Coues deer hunters.
Want to know more about Coues deer hunting and read some great hunt
stories? Then check out the "How to Hunt Coues Deer" book by
Duwane Adams and Tony
Mandile. You get a copy from the
CouesWhitetail.com bookstore.
This is an information packed book that any Coues hunter will love.
Want to get the latest information about
Mule Deer Management? Then you are probably interested in reading a
new book put out by some of the leading Mule Deer biologists.
A new mule
deer book called "Mule Deer Conservation: Issues and Management Strategies"
has just been published by the Mule Deer Working Group (sponsored by the
Western Assoc. of Fish and Wildlife Agencies). This 240-page book is the
latest information on mule deer biology and management and is written by the
western states' and provinces' leading mule deer biologists. It is written
primarily for the working biologist so you have the latest information at
hand on issues like diseases, predation, habitat changes, nutrition,
elk/deer competition, weather, etc. However, it will also appeal to many
hunters.
Joe and
Marisa Cerreta are wildlife photographers with a real appreciation for Coues
Deer. Please visit
their collection to see
33 of their beautiful photographs.
Check out these monster sheds from the White Mountain
Apache Reservation. They score 122 6/8
without a spread!
You can see more photos of these sheds and many others in the
Ellsworth/Epperson Coues Deer collection.
You can see more photos of the monster shed below and
others in
Coues Sheds-5. This
palmated shed totals 82 4/8 inches and has a 7 inch 3rd circumference!
This huge buck was found dead and net
scores 125 inches. You can look at other found racks in the
Pick-ups section of the
Photo Gallery.
Check out the
Bookstore! Need a gift for a hunting buddy? How about some
topographic mapping software? Want to
read about Elliot Coues, the man for whom the Coues Deer is named? You can
find a book about him at our bookstore. How about a hunting video?
Have you ever wondered whether Coues deer and mule deer can
interbreed?
Get the facts by reading this outstanding article by Jim Heffelfinger, a biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
This article is an excerpt from his upcoming book "Deer in the Southwest".
Click on the link below to read his authoritative article which is posted in
the Coues Biology section.
Want to read some Coues deer hunt stories?click here
to see them. Read Martin Guerena's story that was featured in Trophy Hunter
Magazine. Or read about Mark Hanson's Pope and Young Coues deer buck and Marlon Giese's adventures
in unit 24b. Read about Dave's 2002 hunt in Arizona. Or read about
Casey's first Coues Deer.
Dale
Tasa, from Clarkdale, AZ sent this photo in.
What an incredible collection of Coues deer! Most of these bucks score over 100 inches
and were taken by rifle in Unit 6A over the course of the last 28 years.
If you want to see hunter photos visit the
Coues deer photo gallery. I
reorganized the photo gallery by state and weapon type. This is also where
I have the shed photos and "Find the Deer" photos as well as live Coues deer
photos. I have started a New Mexico section, but need
more photos of New Mexico bucks. Send some in!
Sally Epperson with a huge Coues deer shed she found!!!
Wow, what a find. If it wasn't chewed up it would probably be about a 55
inch shed. And it probably had an 18 inch spread, making it from a buck
that scored about 128 inches! And it may still be alive.....
They're here!!
The
top 5 typical and non-typical Coues deer from the Boone and Crockett
Recordbook! This is a great collection of photos. Click on the
photos above to go right to the
recordbook section
CouesWhitetail.com
has partnered with MyTopo.com to bring you custom topographic maps.
Doesn't it seem like everywhere you want to hunt is in the corner of four
topo maps? Trying to line them up is a pain, especially when it's
windy out. MyTopo.com gives you seamless maps - centered anywhere!
These maps are great! I have created some for myself and used them in
the field. They are waterproof and almost indestructible. You can
write on them and they can be easily folded and packed away. Or you
can order them so they are unfolded, which makes them great for your office
wall or hunt cabin. Give MyTopo.com a try. Use these topographic
maps for your next hunting or scouting trip.
Click on the image below to go directly to
MyTopo.com.
Check out the
"Where to Hunt"
section.
I have posted data from the Arizona Game and Fish Department including draw
odds and hunt success for each unit, as well as Coues deer survey data for
the last 5 years. There is also historic statewide hunt data from
1952-2000. You can also see a map of the
Coues deer density in Arizona. This data
is not available online anywhere else! Use this data to help you
decide where to hunt.
Worried about Chronic Wasting
disease?
click here to learn more
Need information about Rabies?
This year, with its record warm temperatures, AZ has had a record number of
rabies cases.
Click here to learn how
to limit you and your pets risk
For information on West Nile
Virus,
click here. This virus is spread
by mosquitoes. Learn how to limit your risk.
Did you know?
Coues Deer breed about 6-8 weeks later than other
subspecies of whitetail.
Coues deer does that are greater than 3 years old produce the
most fawns.
Antler is made of the fastest growing bone
in the animal kingdom.
Find out more about the antler cycle in Coues.
A large Coues deer buck is only about 30 inches high a the
shoulder and generally weighs less than 100 pounds. Go to the
Coues Biology section to find out more.
What kind of sign do Coues deer leave? click
here to find out.
Want to know how to tell a Coues deer from a Mule Deer? click here
Looking for some fun? Test your skills at finding Coues deer in the
Find the Deer section or in finding sheds
in the Find the Coues Deer Shed section.
This site was launched on Dec. 23, 2002.
This page was last updated on
Friday January 27, 2012
Please email me at
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