"Continuing subscribers will remember that Tucson-based outfitter, Dan King, planned to hunt several large ranches in northern Sonora this past year. Turns out he ended up hunting on five, with a combined total of over 25,000 acres. He had also hoped to be guiding 10 to 15 hunters, but ended up taking down six for seven days of hunting during the middle of January. The weather was unseasonably warm (the story in many places during the 1999 deer season), so even though King saw rutting activity every day he was in Mexico, he believes he would have seen far more of it with cooler temperatures.
"King describes his Mexican hunting areas as running from flats of mesquite and cactus (both organ pipe and prickly pear) up to scrub-oak and yellow grass slopes, with wild palms down in the bottoms of some of the draws. From high points in the hills, vast stretches of country can be glassed until a buck is spotted and a stalk planned. During the hunt his clients are bunked and fed in houses on the ranchos, and if a hunter tags out early on his deer, then he also has excellent hunting for quail, as well as for javelina and even lion (King spotted two this season) to occupy his time.
"All of his hunters except one took a deer; the one who didn't take one missed shots at several bucks. Of the five deer taken, all were definitely trophy-class, with two large enough to qualify for Boone & Crockett. King calls this hunting area the "heart of Coues country"; and taking everything into consideration, he considers the odds of killing a trophy buck here far better than anywhere in Arizona. Further, he is convinced that it........(continued)
