Coues Deer - Mexico

I'll share a few pictures from my January Mexico trip. This was an archery hunt for Coues Deer. I didn't manage to kill one, but did capture a few pictures.

The hunting was mostly from ground blinds over water holes or ponds.

In this area (Sonora), they get zero rain in the winter and the terrain is extremely dry. The deer have to go to water every day.

I had anywhere from 25-90 deer come in every day. Most of them were does.

The blinds were not really blinds, rather just sitting under a trimmed-out mesquite tree like this one. In this spot it was about 25 yards across to the edge of the water.

I wore a face mask and full camo, and as long as I made no movements at all, the deer couldn't pick me out against the brushy background.

Desert Coues deer are a whitetail species, just a lot smaller than our eastern whitetails.

This buck came right in to get a drink. He needed a couple more years to become a shooter.

Birds of all kinds were attracted to the water, and would come and go all day long.

This one is a Vermilion Flycatcher.

One of the favored foods for the deer is Cholla cactus. And a lot of them had pieces of the cactus stuck to their face. Doesn't seem to bother them, they just go about their business like nothing is wrong.

I got a piece of it stuck to my boot, and needed a pair of pliers to pull out the spines.

There were also Javelinas in the area. You could always hear them coming in because they constantly grunt and vocalize.

These two bucks came in to water but at about 90 yards down shore.

They were both good shooter bucks that would score well above the P&Y minimum, but much too far to shoot.

The deer would come down to water, spend no more than 1-2 minutes, then depart quickly right back the way they came in.

These are a species of quail known as Elegant Quail. They were very plentiful in the area.

This hunt took place on an 11,000 acre cattle ranch. They have the ponds fenced off to keep the cattle out, but this solo Charolais model had been trapped inside the fence and came in to water every day.

The mesquite trees were "alive" with hummingbirds most of the day. Something in those trees must be their food source.

This nice buck came in to water about 115 yards away on the far end of the pond.

I'd set up a blind on that end of the pond also. But the winds were sketchy and changed direction throughout the day. I'd sometimes have to move 2 or 3 times a day to other spots on the water hole to take advantage of the wind.




Even had a badger come in across the pond one morning to get a drink.

I didn't score on a Coues buck on this trip. But did manage to take a nice Javelina boar.

I never saw a single cloud in 5 days of hunting. Temperatures ranged from the 40's in the mornings to upper 70's in the afternoon. There were virtually no bugs. It was a real nice way to escape the Indiana winter. I enjoyed it so much that I've already arranged to go back again next year!

Great pics....thanks for sharing

Looks like fun!

Congrats on your trip.

Congrats. Nicely done with the pics and short narrative. I always look forward to viewing your trips. Thanks for sharing them.

Very Cool! Thanks for sharing