Had to drive my wife to work this morning. We live 10 miles out of town on a farm. The highway department is chipping the road so to prevent damage to windshield, took the backroad. Just to the north and a few miles north of home, came upon three bucks in the ditch. Hit the brakes in case they decided to cross the road. I had a good look. One was a wall hanger, the other two, respectable. I slowed to a crawl and watched them jump the fense. They put on the pogo stick jump! Mule deer on the east side of the Missouri River. I have seen herds of mulie does on the east side of the river while fishing trhe river, but not this far east. The mulie is expanding its range.

PS: My wife can't understand why I get so excited at seeing deer, even whitetails when we go out walking. This morning I think she thought I went a little more crazy.

Roger: I'm not sure what part of ND you live in, but it appears the Muleys are on the comeback. I've seen lots the last couple of years where I usually hunt near New Zeipzig. I've seen several east of the River south of Bismarck the last couple of years as well.

In the 50's and 60's mule deer were the more common in south west Sask but were scarce by the late 60's. At that time a deer license simly read "One Deer" and they werethe choice of many hunters. In the later 60's seperate tags were issued and many areas had whitetail only seasons. By the later 80's mulies were once again common and in many areas outnumbered whitetails. It is common to see them running or even bedding together in one area I hunt.
Certain winters seem harder on mulies, others seem to bother the whitetails more. In the 90's many areas had draws for both 1 either sex tag and double antlerless tags, suddenly mulie numbers tumbled and hunting was cut out entirely in some zones but in the last few years they are back in good numbers.I don't feel in is competition from whitetails but either weather or some other natural cause that can cause swings in the mulie population.

Thats good news and something to get excited about. I'm a mule deer fanatic. I kind of get worried when I actually see Whitetails arriving in country that historicly has been mule deer habitat. I've seen how they can push the mulies out. I don't feel that way when its reversed though.

Whitetails first started showing up in southeast Alberta in the fifties, that was unusual and we soon learned that our "Mulie" population was shrinking. There were a few whitetail/muledeer crosses also, odd lookers that confused more than one hunter. Mostly happened on the "Prairie" never saw any in the mountainous or wooded areas. There were never any whitetails in the mountainous areas, east slope of the rockies until the late sixties. Now they are common, unfortunately!