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 me about the toughest Coues deer hunt you’ve ever had.

Chris Denham: The toughest Coues hunt I’ve ever been involved in was down at the Catalina Mountains outside of Tucson. A buddy of mine and I had packed up into this mountain just for a day hunt in December one year. We went up about 3,000 feet in elevation above our truck. Then a cold rain started falling about 3:00 pm. The weather looked like snow was getting ready to fall. We found a nice 3-point buck, probably an 85-inch Coues deer. I shot it right at dark. Then we had to cut-up that deer and go down those 3,000 feet in the driving rain during pitch-black night. Our flashlights burned out. That’s when I learned to always carry an extra set of batteries, for anytime I had to come off mountains in the dark again. We got home at 1:00 am the next day. We’d had an 18-hour day and more elevation than we cared to remember.

Phillips: Can you explain the technique you use for glassing? When you’re glassing, you’re not just looking at a mountainside.

Denham: When I look at a mountain, I’ll actually cherry pick it first. There are always three or four spots that I can pick out where I would be if I were a deer. I go ahead and look at those places for deer. Then I get those cherry spots out of my system, so I don’t feel like I have to hurry. I can break the mountain down into a grid – either by starting from the top of the mountain or the bottom of the mountain. I use a panhead on my tripod to move the binoculars in a dead level line. I move from left to right all across the mountain.

Then I move up three-fourths of a frame to still see a little of what I’ve seen before and start moving back right to left. I cover that and then go up three-fourths of a frame and move left to right again, stopping every half frame. So, I’ll look at something for about 5 to 10 seconds.  You have to give your eyes at least 5 seconds to adjust after the movement. Then your eyes can settle in and actually see movement. Next, I’ll move the binoculars half frame, and wait 5 to 10 seconds.

Phillips: So, you’re always re-looking at one-half of what you’ve seen before?

Denham: Exactly. Because these deer are so small, they can be standing behind a bush with their heads sticking out, and you won’t even notice the deer. Then suddenly you’ll see a flicker of a tail and perhaps even an ear.

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, “PhD Whitetails: How to Hunt and Take the Smartest Deer on Any Property,” available in Kindle at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007A2N792/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i8 and in print and Audible at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1979793387/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p7_i5.

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.