Arizona coues hunt
Whitetail Deer
Contributors to this thread:
Just got back from a great hunt with Duwane Adams, Arizona Big Game hunting. had the pleasure of sharing camp with a couple other Bowsiters, Zackman ( Zack Walton) and Keef (Roy Keefer).
Got to Phoenix August 18th. It was a dry 103 degrees...Got a rental and headed south. Stopped at a Walmart for OTC tag, and continued on to San Manuel. We stayed at San Manuel Lodge. Met the guys, and caught up with Duwane. Season opened in the morning.
we were up early, and on our way to the mountains. We'd be hunting between 6000-7500 feet. Duwane had 20 ground blind setups with pictures of good deer on trail cameras.
We drove to a parking area, then started up the canyon on a few side by sides. In addition to Zack and Roy, we had 2 other hunters, Mark and Stan.
The ride was a bit rough. It was 7 miles to my blind. We dropped Zack on the way.
I would hunt at the top for a couple days, see what the deer activity was, the decide on further plans. It was quite a bit cooler than the valley!
Been down that trail with Duwane before. That's before he had a side by side.
Great pics. Hoping you have more.
The pop-ups were tucked into the brush pretty well. There are small drinkers and mineral licks. Shots were set up for 25 yards and under
Each morning the routine was pretty much the same. Get in the blind as quietly as possible, get set up and wait. Since I was gonna hunt the same blind several days, I'd leave my stuff at night both to save time and limit sound. He hunts them close. These little deer are wired! Noise is critical.
All settled in for a long day. Duwane has found that deer activity pretty much stops around 5 pm, so that's usually pick up time. It's still an 11 hr day.
I've done the all day coues sit several times...it's tough.
These deer are silent. You spend hours looking at the same trees and grass, then one time you look up and there's one there.
The week started slow. Everyone saw deer, does and small bucks. I think it was due to the moon.
It was getting better each day. First buck in camp was killed day 3. It helped boost morale! It's a long sit, only seeing 6-8 deer a day. I probably saw 30 deer total. They don't spend a lot of time at the water or mineral. If you're going to shoot, you need to decide quickly!
I enjoyed my Coues hunt last year and hope to go again soon,,,,,,,,thanks for sharing yours
They sure are some wired critters, always on edge for sure. I got my coues last year on the third day in the blind. Long days for sure in that blind. After putting 15 hour days dawn to dusk in the blind for only two and a half days, I know I will never commit a crime because there is no way I could handle life in a little cube!
I practice for long sits in the blind. I do this by waiting on Bowsite for thread updates. lol
Steff what brand of camera do you use? It does a good job.
Keef, I shoot Panasonic Lumix. It does take good pics, but inner lens collects dust! Ned, I too practiced for the long sits waiting at the hardware store for my wife to pick paint colors for the house. I practiced hydration afterward...
Sweet Steff, i wondered what you had planned this year. goodluck! Mike
Steff,
Stop treating patients and finish the thread!!!!
It was great hunting with you this past week. Let everyone else know how the hunt turned out already!
been in the blind all day now. geesh. guess will hydrate heavily now. like sands through the....
Ok, ok..Sorry for the wait. first day back and all... So I sat the first blind for 4 days. Saw some small bucks, and even drew on a couple to see what I could get away with. When Duwane picked me up, he said " We're moving". We went to a lower elevation stand that he had pics of multiple bucks. I set up my gear for morning, and left it for the night. I was back in the blind at 5:30. Still a little dark. Duwane went up the mtn to drop Zack at his blind, and I settled in. The wait was short, and at first light, A nice buck trotted in. He fed head on 32 yds. No shot. A few minutes later, his twin joined him.He fed at 24 yds, completely bhind a big oak tree. Also, no shot The first buck moved a little closer, to 29 and turned broadside. I was getting ready to shoot when he picked up his head and started walking to me. I unhooked my release and kept adjusting my sight closer. Finally, I settled it at 15 yds, re-hooked my release and drew. He turned broadside at 14 yds. The green dot found his armpit ( Duwane said shoot for the heart) and I watched my red nockturnal bury there. I heard a brief run, then crash. I was sure he was down.
Now a dilemma. Duwane would be coming back down at any time. I was on a bench, but in a hole and had no cell service. I quietly slipped out of the blind, and bailed down the hill to the road. I no sooner got there, and Duwane came around the corner. He couldn't believe it. We waited for his other guides Nick ( his son in law) and Michael, and went back up. Mark also joined us. The slick trick had done it's job, and he only went 35-40 yds.
He's a good deer, and I was happy. He fell off a ledge, and broke one G-2, but that was ok. I had my first coues deer. It was the 491'st buck that Duwanes clients have harvested both bow and rifle. That's pretty impressive!
It was a good hunt! Everyone in camp had opportunities, and we killed 4/5 nice bucks! I'll let them tell their stories. It was great to share camp with other Bowsiters! It was a really good group. A lot of guys on here have hunted with Duwane over the years. It's a hunt everyone should try .
Outstanding... I felt like I had been there. Congratulations. Ed F
Awesome story, thanks. Any coues buck is a trophy.
Congrats Steff! Great deer and pics.
Congrats on a great buck and hunt! Thanks for sharing.
Dwane is a great guide and knows his game, plus his camps are always fun.
Great story Steff. Glad you connected with a new species. Congrats on a nice buck.
Congrats Steff! Great Coues' and a really fun hunt. Those little deer are an addictive, challenging hunt for any bowhunter.
Great write up Steff, congrats...
Congrats!! What else is on your plate this fall Steff??
Great job! Congratulations!
Congrats Steff on a great hunt with other BSers!!!
Speaking of which I am aware of at least one other buck killed on this hunt......pics please:)
Mark
Thanks. I'll let the others share their pics/stories. P
Congrats on your couse deer! This species is on my short list.
Congrats! Sounds like a great trip!
Good job of telling the story of your hunt Steff. Mine is similar to Steff's. I have to backtrack and tell you that I hunted with Duwane last year and messed up on a chance at a 100" buck that we got on video. So this year I was trying to make amends for my screw-up.
I also sat in a blind for 5 1/2 days, 11 hours a day. Although I saw quite a few deer and some bucks, none were quite what I hoped to shoot.
On the sixth day at about 9:30 I had a nice buck coming straight into the blind. He meandered around a little while not offering a shot. At one time he came within 10 yards of the blind. Not wanting to make any noise and scare him off I waited.
Fortunately he moved to my right and stood broadside offering the perfect shot at 18 yards. We followed a scant blood trail and found him about 150 yards away. It was a double lung shot and we theorized a lot of the distance he traveled was from stumbling down the steep mountainside. So on flat ground he might not have made it as far.
Overall it was a great hunt, excellent guides and a group of guys I'd share camp with again anytime.
Freakin hammer of a buck, thanks for posting.
Revenge is always good- Great buck Keef! Congrats. Thanks for sharing your adventure.
Thanks to Steff and Roy for sharing their experiences on this hunt. I will piggyback and do the same. My journey to this hunt was many years in the making as I have had a mini obsession with Coues’ deer for two decades.
At 14, I sent a very lucky arrow through a Coues’ deer doe. Although I didn’t know it at the time, it would trigger an excitement in me to chase the smallest species of deer in North America.
After shooting that first Coues’ deer, it took many more hunts before I made a perfect 51-yard heart shot for my second. I remember walking up on the last-day doe and thinking that she was smaller than our family’s dog. I carried the deer down the mountain like it was an overgrown rabbit.
Mark, please don't be jealous of my look during my teenage years. I know, I had it going on!
For the next several years, I was distracted by desert muleys during my annual winter trip to southern Arizona. After a hiatus from Coues’ deer hunting, I was going to take it a more dedicated approach to arrowing a good buck. To do so, I knew I would have to change tactics to raise my odds at arrowing a cagey Coues’ buck.
I started scouting isolated water sources at planning my trips to coincide with stretches of hot, dry weather. It would pay off for me and with luck on my side; I sat for only two hours before sending an arrow through my first Pope & Young Coues’ deer.
I couple years later I tried the same approach and I’ll be damned if the bowhunting gods didn’t shine another light in my direction. After a 15-hour drive, I hunted less than three hours before arrowing a beautiful Coues’ with 5-inch eye guards! I spent 10 times as long driving to and from home than hunting on that trip, but I will never complain about the results!
A couple years ago I decided I really wanted to experience a hunt for Coues’ deer in velvet. There is something about hunting deer in both early and late-season environments that has always intrigued me. Since my years of Coues’ deer hunting had been filled with an incredible amount of frustration and disappointment, I chose to get some help for an early season hunt.
After talking to more than a dozen people about options for velvet Coues’ hunts, I decided on Duwane Adams. He had a straight-forward approach to which I was immediately drawn. Fast-forward to a couple weeks ago and I was on the road to Arizona for another Coues’ deer hunt.
Duwane’s largest buck he has personally shot. High 130s.
I am not a very experienced blind hunter, so the 11-12 hours in a blind was tough. I think my antelope hunt in Nevada this past August helped condition me.
I was pretty fortunate during the first couple days with a lot of deer action. I saw 13 deer the first day and six more on day two. I passed on several smaller bucks on those two days, knowing there were nice bucks in the area.
Sorry for the photo quality, it is a screen shot from video.
On day 5, I moved to a new blind and it didn’t take long for deer to show up. I saw three does and two spikes scamper along the trail within 20 yards. About an hour later, I heard a rock roll to my left. I could see a forky pop into view, with another buck behind him. I couldn’t tell how many points, but it was a good deer.
After a few minutes of watching the bucks, I made sure no other bucks were with them. He was the biggest. I had to draw and lean out because he was off to the left, along the edge of the trees. My top pin was low on the buck’s chest when the release fired. Both bucks burst up the trial and in about five seconds I heard rolling through the rocks and brush. He didn’t make it 40 yards.
Dreams of a velvet Coues’ realized!
This was a fun hunt with some great people. Duwane and his crew did all the work, I just had to sit still and shoot straight. It was also nice to share camp with a couple of other bowsiters, who tagged nice Coues’ deer of their own.
Thanks to everyone for making my first hunt of the year a great trip! Good luck the rest of the season.
Spike that was a frequent visitor
This roadrunner tried to jump in the blind with me a couple times
Congrats guys ! Sounds like a fun hunt.
Very nice... Congrats guys. Ed F
Zack and Roy, thanks for jumping on. I think this tells most of the story. Looking forward to sharing a camp again
SUPPER HUNT AND STORY. NICE GOING BOTH.
Paul
Congrats Zack and Roy on some great bucks!!!!
Zack, is that your "playgirl centerfold deer pic" pose? Lol!
Mark
Great Job Guys, Duane do a great job on these hunts.
Awesome hunt guys! Coues deer are creeping up on my to do list.
Congratulations all around... awesome stories guys!
Oh Mark, only you--or maybe Cory--would know about my magazine shoots from college. I was a young bowhunter and needed the money. Thanks for picking up a copy, I still get some royalties...
Zack- did you drink a beer to celebrate your nice trophy buck? Congrats and a nice write up.
The Bowsiters rocked on this hunt !! Congrats to all again.
Yes Greg. But only one beer. I do everything in moderation :)
I've seen Zack in action... moderation is not in his vocabulary. Just look at the number of Coues deer he's stacked up! Ed F
Congrats guys! Some beauty bucks! Coues is on my list to try someday!
Zack, keep those royalties funding hunts! That buck with 5" eye guards is sweet!!!
Mark
Was waiting for that Zack, awesome...Great hunt guys!
a brute of a coues. well done
Grats guys!
Nice deer. Looks like a great time