I was out last night and seen a white tail buck (3 point) in the company of a muley doe and 2 point buck. I am not an overly experianced deer hunter and was wondering if this is a common occurance? To answer the obvious question I had no deer tags and my ethics got in the way of the shot. Also no camera.
white tail & muley together?
- Thread starter ranger7x
- Start date
- Location
- Prince Albert, Sk
If is happening more often around here as well, The mulies are moving into more northern areas and beginning to settle into typical white tail territories.Nothing abnormal at all.
I was talking to a CO last week at work.
He was from the Princeton Office and heading to Vancouver Island.
I was asking some general questions about lic. etc...
He asked me if I had seen any whitetails on the Island or in the Lower Mainland areas.
I mentioned the WT on Herrling Island, but had not seen them, his next comments where do to with breeding.
He says that Whitetail bucks have bred with Mule Deer does creating the hybrids that are seen.
The other part going the other way is that Mule Deer bucks will try and breed with WT Does, but they do not have offspring.
Go figure??
The WhiteTail may eventually over run the Mulies....
Rob
He was from the Princeton Office and heading to Vancouver Island.
I was asking some general questions about lic. etc...
He asked me if I had seen any whitetails on the Island or in the Lower Mainland areas.
I mentioned the WT on Herrling Island, but had not seen them, his next comments where do to with breeding.
He says that Whitetail bucks have bred with Mule Deer does creating the hybrids that are seen.
The other part going the other way is that Mule Deer bucks will try and breed with WT Does, but they do not have offspring.
Go figure??
The WhiteTail may eventually over run the Mulies....
Rob
No, this is fairly common. I used to hunt quite a bit with a retired, high ranking biologist. He also said the same thing about how they cross. He showed me more than one cross, We were once driving back to our camp from a morning hunt, and fifty yards away around a curve in the trail was a nice buck.
The conversation went, "Do you want him?" "No, you can have him." "I don't really want him."
Then the biologist stated it was a hybrid, so we stared at it, as he pointed out why it was a hybrid.
Eventually, the luckiest deer in the Monoshes hopped away.
In Alberta I came across Mulies feeding with White tails often in the foothills north of Rocky Mountain House. We past on a few shots because we weren't sure what species we looking at... Never did get an official answer, but a lot of locals believed there were hybrids, myself as well.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
All over here... we've spotted what we thought were hybrids as well. Whitetail rack with a mule deer body, tail and rump.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
That's been the debate around here. The one CO we spoke with told us that there is no such thing and his tone of voice quickly ended the conversation.
I don't like it when people *hint* that I have no clue what I'm talking about.
I don't like it when people *hint* that I have no clue what I'm talking about.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
This thread sparked my interest a little this morning... found this interesting article.
www coueswhitetail.com/coues_biology/hybrids.htm
www coueswhitetail.com/coues_biology/hybrids.htm
- Location
- St. Paul AB
One of the guys I used to shoot silhouette with told me that years ago he had shot one. It had the right colour, but ran like a mulie. The hopping-running thing. Everyone seemed in agreement it was a whitetail. So he puts a bullet into it and takes loads it in the truck. Through the day, it kind of bugged at him as to what this really was. So later that day, he phones the C.O. for the area. The C.O. (who shall remain nameless) comes to his house the next day, looks the beast over and determines it to be a mule/whitetail cross of some sort. C.O. gives him some new tags, tells him the animal should probably be confiscated, and further tells him to find some new hunting partners. One of them reported him for taking the wrong species.
Now my question is; are these hybrids sterile, or can they bear young?
- Location
- Saskatchewan
Some reports, state that they can reproduce but don't live very long. The article above says they do not have the survival instincts since they are a cross breed. They might think like a white tail (run fast and far) but run like a mule deer... or vice versa. They really don't interchange. However, there have been reports of some surviving according to a few sites I found this morning.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
Actually, the reading I did this morning spoke to that as well, but in the reverse order. Researchers believe the whitetail and blacktail crossbred to create the mule deer.
www blacktailcountry.com/html/blkpage.htm
