Since I really only got the itch for hunting Coues deer from watching Randy’s show a decade or more ago (who knows when those first Coues deer shows aired ???), it only felt right to do a little semi live recap of how things unfolded on my FIRST rifle hunt for Coues. I’m not sure I ever knew Coues deer existed bedore Randy introduces me to them all those years ago.
I did try archery hunting them about 5 years ago, with a buddy, and we overthought things and ended up finding deer on day 3 out of a 4 day trip. Of course we never filled any tags but we sure had fun escaping the winter weather from up north.
This time, I burned 11 bonus points on a late December tag. I had no desire to ever accumulate 11 points but mainly it’s always been tough for me to save vacation to do a late December Coues hunt! It’s also tough to want to tackle that 2 day drive from my home in Wyoming, in the middle of winter.
I had planned on burning those points at 7 points, and 8, and then well I had to just put my foot down and say “I’m going Coues deer hunting in 2024!”
Season opened on the 13th and would in until the end of the month. I had originally planned to head down there on the 14th and hunt until the 23rd. I had been able to tack on days as I ended other hunts earlier than anticipated this year, and had almost the entire season off! The plan was I was going to return home on the 23rd, spend Christmas with the family and head back south for the second leg of the hunt if I needed to.
Well…my wife had made plans in Midway, UT to go see Christmas lights and do other christmassy things with her family for that first weekend, and kind of expected I wouldn’t go. With our son (our only child) being almost 1 1/2, that was hard for me to want to miss…so I didn’t. I figured I had plenty of time to hunt and the hunting would only get better, the later into December we got. We headed down to midway Friday after work, her in her car, and me loaded down for a week of Coues hunting after that. We hung out in midway until about noon on Sunday and headed our separate ways.
I made it to flagstaff that evening about 8:00. I stopped at wal mart for my groceries and got a hotel room for the night. I hate getting hotels but I didn’t want to unload my truck for a place to sleep.
Up at 5 AM I continued south. I learned that I will never drive through Phoenix again unless it’s in the middle of the night. I hit Phoenix about 8:00AM and that was a mistake. I got stopped on the interstate multiple times…just terrible.
Anyway I arrived at camp a bit after 11:00 and had camp set up by 1:00
That evening I headed to a predetermined glassing spot on the map. It was about two miles in and 1600 feet of elevation above where I needed to park. During late November and all through December, I dealt with back to back TO BACK illnesses. Little man is in daycare so I seem to be the recipient of all the crud. I knew it would be a rough start to this hunt having really not done much for the better part of a month. It was.
I spotted my first Coues of the trip on the walk up, a couple does, but being a rookie, I pushed on wanting to make it way over to that high peak. I spotted another Coues at the base of the steep stuff as I hiked up…another doe, and again, I pushed on.
From my almighty glassing spot that I just had to get to, I spotted exactly 0 Coues deer during the last hour of light. My thinking was I outwalked the water, and thus, the Coues. There must not be any water up this high on the mountain…or I’m just missing them.
Regardless, I had other pins very similar to this one that I had planned on hitting for the next few days. It made me kind of rethink that plan.
I learned my second very important lesson of the trip and that is to not take a different way down, than you took up, in the thick desert country. I thought it was an easier way down, according to the map. After I jumped off the first couple boulders, I should’ve known better. I soon found myself mid slope, not really able to go back up, and in a sea of boulders, thorny brush, and cactus. Absolutely miserable, I finally had to hit the valley bottom, which was a dry creek bed, and rock climb out that way. It took me 2 hours to go 1/2 mile
A nice scenic picture I took back before the hike took a turn!
I did try archery hunting them about 5 years ago, with a buddy, and we overthought things and ended up finding deer on day 3 out of a 4 day trip. Of course we never filled any tags but we sure had fun escaping the winter weather from up north.
This time, I burned 11 bonus points on a late December tag. I had no desire to ever accumulate 11 points but mainly it’s always been tough for me to save vacation to do a late December Coues hunt! It’s also tough to want to tackle that 2 day drive from my home in Wyoming, in the middle of winter.
I had planned on burning those points at 7 points, and 8, and then well I had to just put my foot down and say “I’m going Coues deer hunting in 2024!”
Season opened on the 13th and would in until the end of the month. I had originally planned to head down there on the 14th and hunt until the 23rd. I had been able to tack on days as I ended other hunts earlier than anticipated this year, and had almost the entire season off! The plan was I was going to return home on the 23rd, spend Christmas with the family and head back south for the second leg of the hunt if I needed to.
Well…my wife had made plans in Midway, UT to go see Christmas lights and do other christmassy things with her family for that first weekend, and kind of expected I wouldn’t go. With our son (our only child) being almost 1 1/2, that was hard for me to want to miss…so I didn’t. I figured I had plenty of time to hunt and the hunting would only get better, the later into December we got. We headed down to midway Friday after work, her in her car, and me loaded down for a week of Coues hunting after that. We hung out in midway until about noon on Sunday and headed our separate ways.
I made it to flagstaff that evening about 8:00. I stopped at wal mart for my groceries and got a hotel room for the night. I hate getting hotels but I didn’t want to unload my truck for a place to sleep.
Up at 5 AM I continued south. I learned that I will never drive through Phoenix again unless it’s in the middle of the night. I hit Phoenix about 8:00AM and that was a mistake. I got stopped on the interstate multiple times…just terrible.
Anyway I arrived at camp a bit after 11:00 and had camp set up by 1:00
That evening I headed to a predetermined glassing spot on the map. It was about two miles in and 1600 feet of elevation above where I needed to park. During late November and all through December, I dealt with back to back TO BACK illnesses. Little man is in daycare so I seem to be the recipient of all the crud. I knew it would be a rough start to this hunt having really not done much for the better part of a month. It was.
I spotted my first Coues of the trip on the walk up, a couple does, but being a rookie, I pushed on wanting to make it way over to that high peak. I spotted another Coues at the base of the steep stuff as I hiked up…another doe, and again, I pushed on.
From my almighty glassing spot that I just had to get to, I spotted exactly 0 Coues deer during the last hour of light. My thinking was I outwalked the water, and thus, the Coues. There must not be any water up this high on the mountain…or I’m just missing them.
Regardless, I had other pins very similar to this one that I had planned on hitting for the next few days. It made me kind of rethink that plan.
I learned my second very important lesson of the trip and that is to not take a different way down, than you took up, in the thick desert country. I thought it was an easier way down, according to the map. After I jumped off the first couple boulders, I should’ve known better. I soon found myself mid slope, not really able to go back up, and in a sea of boulders, thorny brush, and cactus. Absolutely miserable, I finally had to hit the valley bottom, which was a dry creek bed, and rock climb out that way. It took me 2 hours to go 1/2 mile
A nice scenic picture I took back before the hike took a turn!
