Remembering My First Coues
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://www.biggame.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/untamed.png[/author_image] [author_info]Larry Weishuhn is a widely known writer, speaker, raconteur and world hunter. He co-hosts “DSC’s Trailing the Hunter’s Moon” on Pursuit Channel, CarbonTV and the show’s YouTube Channel.[/author_info] [/author]
Office time. Between recording my weekly “DSC’s Untamed Heritage” podcast and awaiting a call from Luke Clayton to record our weekly “Campfire Talk” radio show segment, I glanced to my left and looked at two Coues whitetail mounts. Compared to the near 30-inch wide Iowa whitetail hanging above them, the Coues mounts look small. Even so, one is a near Boone & Crockett 15-inch outside spread 8-point, the other a velvet-horned 7-point “cactus buck,” both big and unique for the subspecies.
To access distant higher mountains that Coues love, we rode horses to vantage points, glassed until we found mature bucks then tried to stalk them. Coues tend to blend in with their background, one of the reasons they are known as “the gray ghost of the deserts.” On occasion, I have crawled high and looked down on desert bighorns while hunting Coues.
The 8-point is my first Coues (properly pronounced “kauz”, but also called “koos”). I grew up reading Jack O’Connor in Outdoor Life. O’Connor regularly wrote about hunting Coues in his native Arizona and Sonora. He admiringly called them the “smartest game animal in North America.”
I dreamed of hunting Coues long before being able to do so. As part of the Bass Pro’s RedHead ProHunting Team years ago, I was finally able to do so in Sonora, Mexico with Alcampo.
Hunting Coues reminded me of times spent as a wildlife biologist on Texas’ Black Gap Wildlife Management Area assisting the desert bighorn sheep project…glassing for many hours.
My first Coues came toward the end of the hunt, high in the mountains, chasing a doe. I was thrilled! After dreaming about hunting and taking a Coues deer, I had finally done so.
There have been more Coues, including one that ranks high in Boone & Crockett’s record book non-typical category, but that first one will always be special.
About time for me to again hunt one of my favorites animals in North America…
Regardless of what is going on in the world there are always small things, of beauty and splendor, for us to enjoy, admire and appreciate!
Watch “DSC’s Trailing the Hunter’s Moon” TV show on our YouTube Channel, or on CarbonTV.
If you haven’t heard any of the “DSC’s Untamed Heritage” podcasts, visit blubrry.com/untamedheritage/ to listen to one of our 30 podcast episodes.
