I feel dumb for asking this...

DAL

DAL

New member
I feel silly, dumb even, for asking this, but is this a mule deer or a whitetail? The buck that was near it, I could have sworn, looked like a classic whitetail deer, and this one's tail flew up after I shot her and it LOOKED like a whitetail's tail, but I'm not sure. The area of Colorado I hunted in has both species. The more I look at it, the more I think it may be a whitetail.
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Thanks for any help.
DAL
 
looks like a whitetail,best I can tell from the pics.
the best way to tell which mule deer,whitetail or hybrid is by looking at the metatarsal gland on the outside of the rear leg near the foot.
 
As a general rule of thumb in Colorado, Mule Deer are along and west of I-25 and White Tail are further east. Obviously there are exceptions. In places such as Elizabeth through Elbert you can get a mix of both species or a cross-bred.

Where was this deer harvested?
 
face and ears look like white tail but the hide looks like our mule deer. I have been seeing alot of hybrids here lately so maybe thats the case here.

coyoteman23
 
Looks like a Whitetail to me. Dont mean to contradict anyone but the only true way to tell a hybrid is with DNA testing. I think Yellowhammer could probably confirm that fact.
 
What makes you think they are bybirds? There are typically very few if any hybirds even where population greatly over lap. While the deer mingle together it just does not happen often. The true way to tell is through testing. Just looking at an animals characteristics is not enough. Different popultaions of mule deer show great variety in their specific traits. This is probably true of whitetails as well. For example, near here we notice that deer south of teh rive tend to have black tipped ears, while ones North tend to have white tipped ears.

I have seen several deer people claim were white tails, that turned out to be just 3 point mulies.

Looks like a white tail too me. No characteristics of a mule deer visible at all.
 
Good article although I dont see anything in there that states a hybrid will always be a male or that it would be sterile. Matter of fact the article talks about a hypothetical situation where the hybrid is a female. Regardless, hybrids are VERY rare in the wild and according to the experts would be a result of a Whitetail buck breeding a Mule Deer doe. I did also note that the article talks about looking at the Metatarsal for identification which is exactly what Glenn Guess stated although they do go on to say the only 100% reliable way is DNA testing.
 
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Pretty sure its a deer!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif



And tasty too. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Let's hope.

Speaking of that, is there any difference in taste between whitetail and mule deer venison? I've only ever had mule deer.
DAL
 
The only mule deer I've eaten was awful. Been eating whitetail my whole life and love it . The best IMO is sika deer. They are miniature elk that live around these parts and a few other places. I'd trade a truckload of whitetails for one of those little buggers. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Quote:
The only mule deer I've eaten was awful. Been eating whitetail my whole life and love it . The best IMO is sika deer. They are miniature elk that live around these parts and a few other places. I'd trade a truckload of whitetails for one of those little buggers. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



Like just about every other big game animal I have eaten their taste has much to do with where you get them, how you deal with them after you get them. Mule deer off the farm that live on a diet of wheat, corn and grains tastes a bit different than mule deer that live on pine seeds and mountain plants.
 
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Like just about every other big game animal I have eaten their taste has much to do with where you get them, how you deal with them after you get them.



I agree with that. Most of the deer I have taken (both mulies and our little Coues) have been desert deer and are somewhat gamey. I shot a little Utah buck last year that was living in the oak thickets and he was by far the best tasting venison I've ever experienced. Deeeeeelicious! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Yeah I thought of that skb. The mulie I tasted was shot in S.D. and ate whatever grows there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif The meat was well taken care though, just because of who killed it. I've had some whitetail venison that wasn't dressed or prepared right and it would choke a buzzard.
 
Look at the tail. Muleys have big white patches on their butt, with a smallish white tail with a black tip. Whiteys of course have that big white flag.
 
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