Coues Deer Hunt

[billy-bob8]

Happy New Year to all, Question for Big Fin and the rest of the gang. How about a "On Your Own Adventures Coues deer hunt? I have been hunting these "GreyGhosts" of the desert in Az.for the past 20 years. The late december hunts are about a 20% chance of drawing and usually take 3-4 years to draw. My 2 sons and I put in seperately every year and normally 1 of us is drawn so that we get to experience this great hunt on a almost yearly basis. I think that showing this unique deer in its steep, rock filled mountian enviroment along with the spot and stalk and usually long range shooting opportunities would make a great show and show the country another hunting experience that is available to the everyday hunter. what do you think?

 

[Oak]

Great idea. I'm pretty sure Fin is planning to ask me to go along on a Coues hunt one of these years.

 

[Big Fin]

What do you think?

I think it is a great idea. An idea I have talked about for a long time.

Barring some sort of scheduling conflicts with other tags, it is on the docket for this coming year. Actually thinking about doing it on a left over tag, assuming the tags are left over, the same as they have been for years.

It presents some serious filming difficulties, at least for a show that strive for our level of quality footage. And some viewer interest issues.

1. Often long distance shots, which are not good quality footage, especially for a small animal that blends well with its surroundings.

2. Involves tons of glassing, which if past comments are any indicator, "almost as boring as watching fat guys sit in tree stands." An actual comment from a viewer who thought we showed too much glassing in a certain episode. Other emails have commented that they get bored with glassing segments.

3. Getting filming permits in some of the areas I have identified as being the best hunting.

4. Left over tags are usually the early season tags that occur during periods while we have other "hard to draw tags." Tag conflicts could be part of the problem.

5. Regardless of method used, many people find Coues to be boring to watch, even if fun to hunt. Guess they like big antlered whitetails and they compare Coues to Iowa-sized bucks.

Not saying I feel that way. Just the reality of some viewers.

I have enough deer points to draw most of the late season Coues hunts, if I wanted. Part of that will depend upon what other tags we have when the AZ deer draw deadline comes up. Given I can hunt them without burning my points, I am inclined to go that route, and to show what opportunities are out there on left over tags. And, I can save my points for when Oak and I want to go and hunt them in December.

One other thing is a personal bias against showing long range shooting on TV, not of long range shooting itself, but of how long range shooting is portrayed on TV. I will try to explain that below, without being critical of guys who can truly do it. Many of the successful Coues hunters are the guys "who can truly do it," and do it with ease.

I have no problem with people doing it and know there are some who are immensely capable. I shoot a lot and feel comfortable with longer shots, which for me is up to 450 yards. The way TV focuses on long range shooting worries me that it is not a good idea for the impression it gives some people who are not capable of 600+ shots; who don't practice with their equipment the way experts do; and seem to view these living animals as range targets. Anyone who can consistently make these long range shots knows it is not as easy as the TV shows make it out to be, requiring a ton of practice and the best equipment.

With the long range shooting craze, I see some of these guys trying to improve their personal bests by moving back, or at least not getting as close as they could have. In those instances, the decision for staying far back often comes across as being motivated by a quest for increasing their personal best. For me, I measure my personal best by how close I got, not how far away I shot.

Our TV goal for shot distances is under 300 yards for elk, though we have had some longer shots on elk when we had the camera with the big lens. For deer, we try to keep it under 250. For antelope, under 200. The reason for these self-imposed restrictions is to make sure we get as good of footage as possible, and to lessen the likelihood of a mess.

To those who are capable, I say go for it. Many times that will be your only chance. I have had to pass many options, due to my self-imposed limits, but surely don't expect others to do that when they have practiced all year for that situation.

The long distances that much Coues shooting occurs has been one factor that has kept it off the list to this point. Maybe I worry too much about that kind of stuff. Enough on that topic.

I have a good AZ friend who has shot multiple bucks over 100" in these early seasons, on left over tags. He has a system of doing it that is very, very, impressive. He has asked me for many years to come down and hunt with him. Given his continued results, he finally convinced me while we shared some days antelope hunting in AZ last August. I would like to share some of his information with our viewers, but surely don't want to give away his well earned spots.

I know that is a very long answer to your very good question. I think it would be a ton of fun and we could make a great episode of it. It is on my "gotta do" list. And it looks like this could be the year it finally happens. Now if I have a MT sheep tag for the same season dates, I think I know where I will be.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Stop worrying about the long range aspect and chase them with a bow. Bow killed Coues on video.........hmmmm. Sounds like a triple double dog dare

 

[Oak]

I don't think you would have a hard time making a good show, depending on where you hunt. Buddy and I hunted December a couple of years ago. He got video from the truck of deer less than 75 yards away. Could have killed a few decent bucks at under 300 yards. We hunted 13 days and saw between 7 and 49 deer a day. Saw javelina, bobcat, mountain lion, gray fox and coatimundi that would have made for good filler. Saw illegal immigrants, Border Patrol helicopters flying overhead, and all kinds of trash. Would be an eye-opener for a lot of people.

 

[awapiti]

I think a coues hunt episode is a great idea. You could do an archery rut hunt in January and combine it with javelina. You would not have to worry about other hunting conflicts this way.

 

[Big Fin]

I think a coues hunt episode is a great idea. You could do an archery rut hunt in January and combine it with javelina. You would not have to worry about other hunting conflicts this way.

Very true. And that would be fun.

I do have to worry about my commitment to the rifle-oriented sponsors, to whom I have committed we would keep archery episodes between one and three per year, with them requesting that most the archery episodes by elk hunts. That makes archery Coues very unlikely. Not out of the question, but unlikely.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Big Fin---Great comments on the LR shows and it falls right in with my philosophy!!!

 

[billy-bob8]

thanks for the comments, was down on the late hunt last week with my sons and ran into a HUNTER who claims he is capable of 1100 yrd shots with his rig, so your comments are well founded. thanks for responding and hopefully you can find time for that early hunt. keep up the good work

 

[metau]

You could include a youth javelina rifle hunt along with your archery coues hunt. They overlap at the end of January. That should keep the sponsors happy.