Who's a serious Coues deer hunters

[realunlucky]

Would love to pick the brains of some serious Coues deer hunters. Never hunted them and curious what makes these desert ghosts so special?

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[Tullis94]

Idk if you would call me "serious" but I've been to Mexico twice and try to hunt arizona OTC archery in January. My favorite deer to hunt!

 

[BBob]

My #1 favorite animal to hunt for near 45 years now

 

[Steve O]

If you are not sniping them at long range, they are very wary and spooky. I’ve stalked mix herds of mule and Coues deer in AZ in January and always the Coues deer are the ones to pick me off.

 

[svivian]

I’ve been stalking them on and off with a bow for a few years. Nothing more fun to do in January imo.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

If you draw a tag down in Arizona shoot me a message. They are a special and unique little deer in a really cool part of the county to hunt! I scout them year round and hunt/help on hunts for them every year.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

They live in awesome places, rut harder than just about anything else I’ve seen, and are extremely elusive…. What more could you ask for! Love chasing them

 

[JohnJohnson]

I'm definitely new to coues hunting so probably not in the "serious" category yet especially since they're a destination hunt for me since I don't live in coues country. I've only done one AZ rifle coues hunt last year but loved it enough I'm going back in 2025 and plan to do more past that. I was in a pretty steep/thick spot where shooting stuff on the hill you're on wasn't an option. So it was cross-canyon sort of deal when it came to visibility and shot opportunities. It's a very glass/gear centric style of hunting in that sort of terrain at least and I liked it a lot. In that steep stuff I was in, prone shots were a pipe dream. Oddly enough it's the hunt that's had the most crossover with NRL Hunter style gear/guns I have.

That coues hunt has driven a couple of scope choices for me. From the time the deer I shot was spotted with binos by someone with me, it took me a solid 10 minutes to find it in my scope with a Vortex LHT 4.5-22x50 which isn't primo glass but it's also no slouch. I didn't really have many issues seeing coues deer as long as the sun was on them but when they were in the shade it was very tough. The deer I shot was in a shaded steep/rocky hillside 380 yards across from me and the sun was low on the horizon at about my 1:30 o'clock direction. That was near worst case scenario for how hard it made finding the thing in my scope.

 

[WormSportsman]

The country they live in and how they can disappear for hours at a time to just stand up on a hillside 300-400 yards from you that you have been glassing the whole time. One of the most challenging hunts to kill a big one in my opinion.