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John's Journal...
Entry
121, Day 4
CHRIS DENHAM OF ARIZONA -- HUNTING COUES DEER
Another Way to Hunt Coues Deer
EDITOR'S
NOTE: Chris Denham of Chandler, Arizona, has lived in Arizona for
38 years and started hunting seriously in Arizona when he was about 14.
Denham, an outfitter and expert hunter, took his first Coues deer when
only 16-years old. A colonel, Elliott Coues, back in the 1800s, first
discovered the Coues deer, and the deer were named after him. This week
we'll take a trip with Denham to the mountains of
Arizona to hunt Coues deer.
QUESTION: Let's talk about the other method of hunting
Coues deer where you jump them up. How does that work?
ANSWER: We call this the Jack O'Connor method. Jack, an
internationally-known outdoor writer, made this type of hunt famous in
the 1920s and 1930s when hunting Coues deer was basically a still hunt.
A hunter would move along ridgelines from canyon to canyon and literally
jump the deer up. Fortunately Coues deer have a tendency to run straight
up a mountain. If you're on one ridgeline, the Coues deer will tend to
run right up the other ridgeline. You can get a shot at them, but you
won't have the time to really evaluate the deer's antlers to know if it's
the kind of deer you want shoot. Often Coues deer won't stop until they
get over that mountain too. With this method of hunting Coues deer, you
won't get the shot or you have to take a running shot and risk wounding
the deer. Too, when a deer is going away from you is the worst look you'll
get at his antlers to evaluate that buck for trophy potential. Every animal
looks big when he's going away from you.
QUESTION:
Will the Coues deer stop and look back at you like a mule deer will?
ANSWER: Yes, and no. If the deer aren't really spooked, if they've just
heard something that has them a little bit buggered, then typically they'll
run about half-way up the hill, stomp, blow, look back and try to figure
out what that sound was. If the deer get a whiff of you or a really good
look at you, then they will run right over the top.
QUESTION: The other problem starts when you shoot the
Coues deer. Because you're anywhere from 2 to 3 miles from camp and on
foot with a pack, how do you get the animal out?
ANSWER: This time is when the Badlands pack that I carry -- the Split
Pack -- comes in really handy. Everything pulls away so that you can get
right to the frame of the pack. I literally skin the entire deer, cut
all the quarters off, cut the legs off and cut the backstraps and loins
off. I carry a game bag and tie the entire meat portion of the deer right
to my back and restrap the pack over it. Then your pack will weigh 80
to 90 pounds. So, you have to be really careful climbing down those steep
hills with a pack that heavy.
QUESTION:
What about the head of the deer; what happens with it?
ANSWER: Often I'll go ahead and just cape the deer out right to the last
joint of the neck called the atlas joint and take the head off at that
point. Then I'll wrap it, tie it into my pack and carry it off the mountain.
QUESTION: So, you carry the whole deer off the mountain?
ANSWER: The whole deer. Right.
QUESTION: How can you carry 90 pounds plus the 40 that
you usually carry in, which puts you at about 130 pounds.
ANSWER: Actually, by the time you leave behind the deer's legs, pelvic
bones and rib cage, you'll end up with about 60 pounds of meat and head.
Then if you have anywhere from 30 to 40 pounds in your pack plus your
water, you'll be pushing 80 to 100 pounds. Try not to fall, because getting
up will be hard.
To
learn more about Coues deer hunting, you can contact Chris Denham at 1814
West Oriole Way, Chandler, AZ 85248, (480) 857-3057, or email him at c.denham@prodigy.net.
For information about Denham's equipment, contact: Badlands in Salt Lake
City, Utah, for backpacks at (800) 269-1875 or go to www.badlandspacks.com;
Kahles in Cranston, Rhode Island, for binoculars at (800) 426-3089; Outdoorsmans
in Phoenix, Arizona, for Denham's tripod at (800) 291-8065 or go to www.outdoorsmans.com;
Swarovski Optik in Barrington, Rhode Island for binoculars at (401) 245-4461.
TOMORROW: DENHAM'S TOUGHEST COUES HUNT AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ABOUT APPLYING TO HUNT COUES DEER
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