Curiosity killed the Coues (well, almost)

by Creed Christinat

Ahhhhhhh, the Coues. Hunting the Coues with a bow is the most amazing thing in the world. Most hunters would probably agree, the ”grey ghost” can appear from nowhere and leave just the same.

As I recall, it was in August and the dew from the previous afternoon had already soaked my pants. We got a late start but were already a mile away from the truck. We had seen nothing but does when a large coyote had fluttered from 40 yds in front of us. While we were studying the area the coyote had ran through, we noticed a mule deer doe in the distance running. We decided to walk a couple of hundred yards and start blowing on his coyote call. It was the first day of the August hunt and we had nothing to lose. He started to call. No coyote came in but the mulie doe came trotting in, making a loud blowing noise, “fwooowf,fwooowf.”

The doe ran in circles around us not knowing what the call was. Falling rocks in the back caught our attention. We sat as the forked horn Coues stared us in the eyes, not showing a grit of fear. It was accompanied by a mulie doe. My uncle decided to take the shot. He raised his bow, aiming carefully. It seemed like hours had passed when he finally pulled the trigger on his release. The arrow flew through the air. It was a dead shot. I knew it was. It took only a couple of seconds until we realized he missed. The buck walked away as if nothing happened. “Well Vincent, another miss for you and eleven more days of hunting.”