Two for Two

COUES WHITETAIL DEER HUNTING IN SONORA MEXICO

The Sonora region is known for having some of the best Coues deer hunting opportunities available. In January while most seasons are closed or otherwise winding down, the Coues deer rut in Mexico is just getting started. It’s the magic timeframe that brings these secretive critters out of hiding in the cactus-choked canyons looking for love.

The Sonora consistently produces Boone & Crockett class Coues deer. With mild winters, excellent genetics, high-protein feed, and limited pressure, it’s a recipe for growing giants. Like Joe’s operation, many of these ranches follow strict management protocols for high-quality and mature age class deer, ensuring what many believe to be the best trophy Coues hunting anywhere.

MORE ABOUT COUES DEER

First discovered by its namesake Dr. Elliott Coues in 1865, Coues deer are the only recognized subspecies of whitetail with their own categories in both the Boone & Crockett and Pope and Young record books. Their home range is found throughout the states of southern Arizona and New Mexico spreading down into most of Northwest region of Mexico.

These deer are both small in body and headgear. Mature bucks stand just over 30” tall, averaging around 100+ pounds, and a rack scoring north of 90+ inches, is widely considered a trophy. But what these diminutive deer lack in size, they more than make up for in stature and difficulty.

Earning the deserving nickname of the Grey Ghost, Coues deer have a way of appearing out of nowhere and then disappearing just like how they show up. These little desert dwellers are super tough, adaptable critters, thriving in what is not typically considered traditional whitetail deer habitat. They can be found cruising the desert floor one day and then the next on a mountain top that’s exceeding 8,000 feet.

WHAT ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE COUES DEER HUNTING TECHNIQUES?

Jack O’Connor regarded Coues deer as one of the toughest of big game animals to hunt. “If the stabbing vegetation and loose cobble stone ground of Coues habitat are not enough to test you, the deer is also a master of the cat-and-mouse game. Coues are the color of shadow and routinely vanish in cover that would barely hide a ring-necked pheasant”.

Whether you’re bowhunting or rifle hunting, Coues deer by nature are very skittish and always on high alert. The Grey Ghost has developed a well-earned stigma for being difficult to hunt and have grown a large cult-like following among those who pursue them.

Typically, there are three techniques for hunting these secretive little deer. Set up over water, glassing spot and stalk style, and a Mexico favorite, from a high-rack truck. All these techniques can be very effective based on the terrain and time of year that you are hunting them.

The traditional Coues deer hunting technique is to let your eyes do the walking. Glassing hillsides with high-power premium optics, set up on tripods is arguably the most popular method for turning up bucks. During our time in Sonora, we employed all three methods to locate deer.

WORLD CLASS COUES DEER DOWN

Once I let the arrow fly, I had to immediately sit down before my knees buckled. Post-shot adrenaline surged through me leaving my hands shaking so hard I couldn’t even text the guide. Once calm enough to gather some of my composure, I messaged my guide and marked the time to begin my countdown. I knew the shot was perfect, but I wasn’t taking any chances and would wait the traditional 30 minutes before I even climbed out of the blind.

Anyone that’s made that sit, knows that time moves slower than frozen pond water. Once my mandatory self-imposed sentence was up, I made my way to the arrow that was buried deep in the muddy bank he came to drink at. Blood from end to end confirmed what I had already knew. I immediately found sign and picked up his exit trail. Just a short 80 yards later, I found the Coues buck of 10 lifetimes laying in the grass in front of me.

Sporting 13 total scoreable points, the buck had triple eye guards on the left side and double on the right. Both his G2’s, were forked like a mule deer rack. He was super heavy with bladed out main beams that resembled mini moose palms. He was overwhelmingly big and the type of buck you only dream about. Back in camp we couldn’t wait to put a tape on him. In the end he green grossed just over 133” and nets over what the current number two non-typical buck in the Pope & Young Record book scores.

ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO

The next morning, we woke up still on a high from the previous day’s success. I planned to join up with the other shooter to see if we could get lucky and dig up another Sonora giant. After spending half the day watching over a waterhole that only yielded sightings of does and younger bucks, we loaded up for another afternoon ride in the high rack.

Heading to a section of the ranch that hadn’t been hunted in over a decade, we slowly drove down an overgrown two-track road. The old trail cut through a thick valley floor that was bordered by steep brush and cactus-choked hillsides. It just screamed “Coues Deer Country” and the excitement in the air was palpable as we knew we were heading into fresh untouched territory.

Moments after we just had just whispered to each other that something was about to happen, the vehicle quickly stopped. I’m not sure who saw him first, but a buck had sprung from his bed just 10 yards off the side of the trail.

We all struggled to see what the buck was as he stood motionless hiding in the thick, overgrown brush with his head covered by a mesquite tree. Suddenly a doe jumped up and started making her escape. The buck, intently focused on the doe, paid zero attention to us, and started to move in her direction.

Once his head cleared the tree, it was obvious this was a big buck that we wanted to take. Moving quickly, we got set up behind the rifle and focused on the lane he was going to take to intercept the doe. With shots fired and a few tense minutes of searching through the chest deep grass, I heard the victory whoops from everyone as they stood over his buck.

It was truly another once in a lifetime type of deer. A perfectly matched, clean, symmetrical typical eight point with long sweeping tines and heavy main beams. The buck taped out at just over 120” and easily exceeded the 110” B&C book minimum. They just don’t grow typical frames any bigger than that deer. We had another Sonora giant down!

WHAT’S THE BEST HUNTING GEAR FOR PURSUING COUES WHITETAIL DEER?

The weather during our Sonora trip varied drastically. We showed up to this desert hunt only to be greeted by a very untypical 36-hours of straight torrential downpour.

Once the rain cleared, the weather returned to a typical pattern with cool crisp mornings in the low 40s to pushing 80 degrees during the heat of the day. This was obviously considered a warm weather hunt, but we layered in insulation pieces to take the bite out of the cool morning air before the sun would rise.

There were three of us on this trip and our gear varied slightly but all of it was more than suited for the temperatures and weather we encountered.

The camouflage pattern we chose for this hunt was Valo. With its lighter tones, larger macro pattern for extended distances, and micro patterning for closer encounters, it’s the most versatile and effective camo pattern for hunting Coues deer in the Sonora.