LAST EDITED ON Oct-28-06 AT 09:56PM (MST)[p]I found this skull in unit 27 while scouting for elk. I don't know Coues well but he looked like a monster. What does he score?
honestly mike i have NEVER been to Tex but I have always hunted muleys. I know this buck is big what I need to know is what is the world record because this might be the one! I know coues enough to know what people consider good. 100+ is usually the mark and this buck far surpasses that. He is not from the great state of Tx.
If that is truely a coues then he is a freakin monster.... but I'm sorry I ain't buying it. To wide between the pedicles as D13er is hinting to. And that rack just doesn't look like coues to me. My .02
MIKE
Nice find Travis. That is a find of a lifetime. I walked up on a winter kill 380 bull once and couldn't believe it. I think finding something like that is just as rare as actually harvesting one that size.
why were you souting for elk in the greaswoods,and the skull looks alot more aged than the antlers. If it is a real set than that is an awesome find,but the skull plaate looks to wide for a coues deer.
If it is, then its incredible. I know little about them, but agree with some of the critics. It really doesn't look like a coues. The skullplate is too big.
I'm thinking that this dude is full of the CACA on this one... looks almost like a mid western WT that he brought to the desert to take a pic with and post it saying he found it in AZ.. I'm not buying this one at all.
If this buck is not a Coues deer he must have escaped from one of the many ranches that boast big eastern whitetails in AZ. I don't know the life story of this buck but he WAS found in 27 near Simpson Mesa in AZ!
come on Madglasser, go on and come clean.. You're already pegged on this one..
The more I look at the pics, the more Missouri or Ohio comes to mind.. maybe even Michigan or Iowa.. I have never seen ONE, not one Coues deer with those white, polished antlers before that are so commonly seen on midwestern WTs..
Why are your hands covering the bases? It looks like you are almost trying to hold it together.
And if you found the skull why is it not a complete skull including eye socket, teeth & lower jaw bone?
Sorry to be a non beleiver but this find is fishy!
I was at this garage sale in Morenci about a month ago, folks said they were from Illinois. Scored on that rack for a cool $20. While I was driving that nasty switchbacked road north of town, that rack fell off on one of those nasty corners going north of Hannigans Meadow I reckon. Thanks for finding my rack for me.
Seriously man, no chance your rack is Coues and no chance the #1 and #2 non-typ Coues deer are Coues either. Who knows, maybe you could enter it as Coues and then all the top 3 wouldn't be Coues. Nice try though. We won't buy it but I'm sure B&C will just make up a believable story and your golden.
I would have to say that I have never seen a rack that old/weathered in the wild that didn't have some of it chewed up by varmits. The mystery deepens...
O K guys I got the rack and skull intact all together down by Morenci about a month ago. I bought the rack from some people for $100. They said the skull was from that area maybe the San Carlos. I don't know the whole story but if it is a Coues it would be awesome! We scored the buck @ 194 gross. I guess it is somewhat concievable but hard to believe. The ped measurements are just over 3" apart. Like I said I don't know the whole story and I am not DNA expert but the buck is from 27 in AZ as far as I know!
I Guess I will never understand why people have to make up stories on the internet to generate interest in a subject. That skull is a great story regardless of what it is.
Did you buy the rack from the same people antlerboy bought his from?
Guess I should take a few minutes before work and browse the garage sales in Morenci.
Jeff
cohntr6, my story was just as made up as maddglassers was. I haven't been to Morenci in a few years. Looks like I just about hit it on the head though... LOL!!!
Its hard to pull the eastern whitetail wool over us here bro. Good try even if it was in fun. A key phrase in your last post was " 'as far as I know' its from 27". No chance in hell but believe whatever you want man. I'd just be pumped I had a kick ass eastern buck that is that big!
Hey Antlerboy do you not believe the new #1 (pic above) is a coues either? I agree on the NM deer but from what I've heard that one is 100% coues.
Jared
Hey Jared, I don't think the Grey's Ranch buck from NM is a coues deer at all. I know all about the "proof" that they had to justify accepting it as a coues but you ask any well seasoned coues fanatics that actually pays attn to the configuration of thier antlers and 99 out of 100 will tell you no way it's coues. For one, look at the giant height of the G2's, impossible!!
Theres a guy at NAU (or was) that was doing his thesis on coues deer and he was doing a TON of DNA work on them. I'm sure he woulda been happy to get a sample of the top 2 "supposed" coues deer and test them and it wouldn't have cost B&C a darn thing. I can't remembert their reasoning for not testing them but all I can say is HORSE$#!T on B&C and those racks. I think there was a thread in the past about this exact topic and it went on for days..............
I am working with Boone & Crockett as we speak on a genetic test to diffentiate Coues WT from non-Coues. There currently are no genetic tests so we are just now reviewing proposals from several geneticists, including Roy Lopez at NAU. His work was only to look at gene flow and differences between mtn ranges in the SW. He and I teamed up on a small pilot project to look at a "Coues test" but we really need a full-blown North American analysis to do it right. I will be B&C's liason with the researcher that gets the grant and does the work. It is not an easy thing to develop, but I think it can be done with samples we have on hand and more from Mexico and other places. I also took upper tooth row and interpedicle measurements of WTD from throughout the SW and Mexico while visiting the Smithsonian (D.C.), the American Museum (NYC), and UC-Berkeley this summer. This physical analysis coupled with the genetic analysis should give us a good way to weed out the non-Coues from the record books (and forums!). Stay tuned. I have much more info in my new book Deer of the Southwest. Contact me at [email protected] for more info on that.
i don't care what kind of deer it is. if i found one like that out shed hunting, you would hear me whooping and haulering from there and i'm in wyoming.
Been huntin whiteys all my life in PA and WV and found shed after shed after skull after...agreed. varmints and mice get to em quickly...looks like a whitetail rack from a gamefarm to me. But still a heck of a rack..