Jim Shockey - Mexican Mule Deer and Coues Deer

Hunt the Sonora Desert in Mexico for desert mule deer, desert sheep and Coues’ deer. Mule deer hunts run the first two weeks of January. Food, lodging, service is first-class!!! It is like hunting out of a first-class restaurant in a surrounding of old Mexican culture. We have four ranches which no one hunts but us. The ranches are thousands of acres, and, rare for old Mexico, they have lots of water!

There will be someone waiting at the airport to meet you. Probably it will be Patti, Ubaldo’s wife, Ubaldo or myself. Don’t worry about clearing customs and immigration with your guns, the paperwork will be in order, and they are used to having hunters come through at that time of year. That said, if there is a problem, Patti can handle it.

Hunters will fly in to Hermisillo the day before their hunt is scheduled to start. You’ll hunt for six days and you will be driven back to the airport the day after your hunt ends, at which point you can catch the flight home. If you need to fly out earlier there is no problem getting you there. The drive to camp only takes one hour.

The weather should be quite cool, right at freezing, jackets and sweaters will be necessary in the morning. It will be quite hot during the day, short-sleeve weather.

You will be riding in the back of a truck with high seat for much of the hunt. The deer will often hide in the cactus thickets as you pass along the senderos (cutlines through the bush or truck trails) and you can see them much better from the higher vantage. But you need to be ready as you will have to shoot from the rest on the truck and will likely have to shoot fairly quickly. We will do some spot-and-stalk as well.

You will have an experienced guide with you who will do his best to make the call on the mule deer. I have found these guys to be proud of what they do and quite good at it as well. They are looking for a “muy grande” buck for you and they do know what a big mule deer looks like.

Your shot can be short, 50 yards through the brush, and it can be long, 400 yards. I’d recommend something flat-shooting like a .300 Wthby. Mag. but that is up to you.You will be hunting first thing in the morning then take a break for the middle hot part of the day and then going out again in the evening.

We can arrange for you to sit and wait for the bucks to come by as well. We will have stands set up, and it can be an effective way to take a buck, but it can also be boring. We also do some walking but that isn’t the most effective way to hunt in most cases. Bring good hiking boots for sure, though. We are looking into hiring some horses and a couple of cowboys. This might be a good way to hunt, but as of yet I’ve not tried it.

Jim Shockey will be there hunting as well with his muzzleloader and videotaping for our television show. He likes hunting Coues’ deer most of all, and hunts them just like whitetails in Saskatchewan, make a blind and wait. The Coues’ deer come to water at least once a day, and when hunting mule deer Jim usually stays close to camp and leaves the areas open for you. There are some great Coues’ deer on these ranches up to 130 B&C. If, however, you see a good Coues’ deer while you are hunting mule deer, shoot it!! You’ll have to square up with Ubaldo that day when you get back to the ranch house, but don’t pass up the opportunity, they are tough little animals to see and shoot. In Jim Shockey’s mind they are one of the best trophies in North America.

There are mule deer on the ranches that are wider than 36 inches and that will score more than 200 Boone and Crockett points. Hopefully you will get one of these bucks, but not everyone will. I’d put the odds at the highest anywhere, but still you will need luck to get a buck so large. A 180 buck is a more reasonable size to try for, but if you take a buck that size, you won’t have a tag if a 195 shows up!! I videoed numerous 180-class bucks last year that will be a lot bigger this year.

We’ve set up these two hunts in the first two weeks of January for a reason. The rut seems to kick in right near the beginning of this period and ends right near the end of it. We should hit it perfectly and with luck, hunters should do well. Again, it is hunting, weather is a factor, so time alone will tell how well we do. The bucks are there, though, that you can count on.

We have cat tags on the ranches, puma and bobcat. I’ve seen both there, and there is a trophy fee if you want to take one of these cats home. The price is around $500 but Ubaldo will tell you when you are there if you ask him. Ubaldo will likely have javelina tags as well. It’s up to you, but you don’t want to scare a monster mule deer buck.

Bringing your animals into the USA is usually no problem as long as there is time to boil and bleach the skull. We look forward each year to this hunt, as we’ve been hunting Mexico for years now, and this hunt is an opportunity to share the experience with a few of my best clients and meeting new friends! There are only four hunters in camp at one time.

PASSPORTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO ENTER THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, STARTING IN JANUARY EVERYONE entering the United States by sea or air, beginning Jan. 8, 2007, INCLUDING US CITIZENS, will need a passport. All American hunters, planning to hunt in Canada or elsewhere in the future, should apply for a passport right away. The resultant rush for passports will possibly cause delays, so the sooner you apply, the sooner you will get your passport. Please note that as of Jan. 1, 2008, the passport rule will apply at all land border crossings as well.

PRICING INFORMATION:

Mule Deer: $9500 plus $500 (tag and license) - Total $10000
Coues Deer: $4500 plus $500 (tag and license) - Total $5000
Trophy Fee:There is a trophy fee if you want to take a Coues’ deer as your second animal. Please note that if you shoot at and wound an animal efforts will be made to recover the animal, but the hunt is considered to be over.
NO HIDDEN COST!! THIS IS AIRPORT AND BACK TO AIRPORT AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN!!