By Joe Bell
Coues deer have always been my struggle. I just couldn't seem to kill one, probably due to lack of focus. For more than 15 years, I hunted these tiny desert deer off and on, mainly by spot-and-stalk methods. I'd drawn my bow back on only one good buck during that time, missing him cleanly from 50 yards. That was more than a decade ago, when I ventured from California to Arizona with a friend to backpack a little-known wilderness area. I'll never forget that adventure. I carried a 90-pound pack up a steep hillside for at least three miles before finding the only flat spot on the mountain to pitch my tent. There were no creeks or springs nearby, so I had a large, collapsible jug filled with water, in addition to other camping essentials, to lug up the rugged cactus-mesquite hillside.
