Editor’s Note: Chris Denham of Chandler, Arizona, has lived in Arizona for 50+ years and started hunting when he was about 14. Denham, today the publisher of “Western Hunter Magazine” (https://westernhunter.net/), was previously an outfitter and took his first Coues deer when only 16-years old. A colonel in the U.S. Army and a naturalist, Dr. Elliott Coues, first identified a subspecies of the white-tailed deer, the Coues deer in 1865. The deer were named after him. Coues deer frequent southwestern mountain ranges that have scrub oak, manzanita, juniper, pinon pine and grassy bowls – often composed of mesquite and cacti – at elevations of 3,500 to 9,000 feet above sea level. They can survive without standing water for some time, depending on the moisture they retain from the vegetation they ingest. The top 5 Coues deer include: the Apache Buck with a B&C score of 196-2/8 points found in Graham County, AZ; the Chase Buck, 186-1/8 inches on B&C, taken in 1941 in Hidalgo County, NM; the Zellner Buck, 177-1/8 inches B&C, taken in Sonora, Mexico in 2009; a pick-up buck with 158-4/8 inches found in Santa Cruz County, AZ in 2009; a pick-up buck with antlers of 155-7/8 inches found in Sonora, Mexico in 2018. I hunted with Denham some years ago. Here’s what I learned.

John E. Phillips: Tell us about the mountains where we’re hunting.

Chris Denham: We’re hunting in the Winchester Mountains, in southeast Arizona just outside the Cochise County line. The elevation in this area runs anywhere from 5,000 to about 7,000 feet. The land homes mostly cedar and a few pinon trees but also has some ponderosa pines at the very top. Too, you’ll see an abundance of mesquite and thorn bushes locally known as cat claw in the lower country.

Phillips: Tell me about the history of these Winchester Mountains where Cochise and Geronimo once lived.

Denham: Both of these Apache Indian chiefs lived in this region, and Cochise County is named after Chief Cochise. Geronimo surrendered here, but no one’s sure what happened to Cochise.

Phillips: Tell me how the Coues deer differs from the white-tailed deer we hunt back East.

Denham: The Coues, a subspecies of white-tailed deer, has a much-smaller body than other white-tailed deer and stands 32-34 inches at its shoulder. When the Coues is a mature buck, he only will be in the 90- to 110-pound range with the Boone & Crockett (https://www.boone-crockett.org/) score of 110 inches minimum on the bucks, and the minimum of Pope & Young (https://pope-young.org/) 70 inches. These smaller whitetails appear to have much-larger tails than whitetails in the East. Although their tails are probably the same size as that of eastern bucks, on a Coues deer’s smaller body, the tail looks huge. Hunters call a Coues deer’s tail a fantail because the big-looking tail fans out. These mountain deer have gray-colored bodies to blend in with their surroundings, very-large ears to dissipate heat from their bodies in the summer, and always seem to prefer traveling and living on the steeper slopes.

Phillips: Would you compare Coues deer hunting to goat hunting?

Denham: Yes, Coues deer hunting is very-similar to hunting goats and sheep. Many hunters refer to a Coues deer hunt as, “The poor man’s sheep hunt.” You’ll spend a lot of time glassing; you must be prepared to climb very-steep terrain composed of loose rocks where the air is thinner than in most sections of the East and your footing won’t be very sure; you can expect to take shots of 150 yards or more; and you’ll wear a 30 to 50 pound pack on your back all day, every day. Too, you’ll quickly learn how good the Coues deer’s nose and eyesight are. The Coues deer also hears very well. I believe the Coues deer is one of the most-elusive and most-difficult of all the whitetails to hunt.

To learn more about hunting deer, * watch for John E. Phillips’ newest deer book, “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro: Volume II,” due out in print by October 1, 2022, and in Audible by November 1, 2022. (See photo) * check out John’s book, “Bowhunting Deer: The Secrets of the PSE Pros,” and its Chapters 12 & 13 on Coues deer, available in Kindle and print at (http://amzn.to/VBr1qW), and soon to be available in mid-October in Audible. * see also, John’s book, “How to Hunt and Take Big Buck Deer on Small Properties,” available in Kindle, print and Audible versions at (http://amzn.to/1vIcj4m). You may have to copy and paste these links into your browser. When you click on the books, notice on the left where Amazon says you can read and hear 10% of these books for free. On the right side of the page for each book and below the offer for a free Audible trial, you can click on Buy the Audible book.

Tomorrow: Understand the Equipment to Hunt Coues Deer