I have heard of them and possibly shot a Whitetail with a bit of Mulie spice in him, but never until this last week have I seen a true WT/Mulie cross.

The deer I saw was the best example of a hybrid I have ever seen. He is truly 50/50

Gray body with Brown legs.

Large 6 pt rack that could go either way ... WT or Mule Deer.
His face just "looks" more like a Whitetail, until you get to the forehead.
Long ears, but not nearly long enough to call him Mulie.
Wide Black tail, (more like a Whitetail) with a large amount of white showing on either side, more like a Mule Deer.
When I spooked him, he did the Mule deer bounce for a while then ran like a Whitetail.

He frequents my alfalfa field. If I can get a photo, I will post it.

I called the game warden and described the deer to him. He was at a loss of what to do, so he said "Wait until Mule Deer season, then if you shoot him, call me and I will comeout and tell you how to tag him."

He is too young this year to shoot as he is probably a 2.5 year old deer. I hope he sticks around for another 3 years. Then he will be a nice "cross".

Anyone ever shot one?

[ 11-22-2002, 18:08: Message edited by: Buffalobwana ]

No, but I'd like to go for a good mulie someday. Wendell, you're lucky you have two deer species to hunt!

We have a real problem in N. central and NE WA with Whitetails puching out Muleys. Whitetails are alot more agressive and run off Muley bucks from the does. Lots of crossses.

Sika Deer due the same thing in N Z with Red Deer. And Red Deer will run off Elk Bulls also. Survival of the fittest eh!

My hunting partner of many years shot one a few season back that we suspect was a hybrid, though mostly mulie. Kind of a strange rack with very whitetail and very mule deer features in it. But the strangest part is that the meat we got from him tasted terrible! It wasn't tough, the animal was shot and on ice in a few hours, and butchered by a reputable game processor I've used for years and years. The stuff just tasted bad anyway you cooked it! We couldn't even disguise the flavor. Not sure what he did with the meat after he gave up on consuming it. My guess is his dog ate like a king that winter.

I shot a very nice 10 point Montana buck over 20 years ago (damn but I'm getting old!) just outside Glacier National Park on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River that displayed a mixture of whitetail/mulie traits.

The ears were slightly larger than normal for a whitetail. The G1 tine on each side of the rack rises from the main beam, then forks into two tines 4 " to 5" long like a mulie. The tail was shorter and darker than a typical whitetail's.

I had Mel Kastella of Kastella's Taxidermy in Whitefish, MT (sadly, Mel has passed on, damn I'm getting old!) do the shoulder mount for me. He had mounted hundreds of whitetails and mulies from that part of Montana, and he also noticed the hybrid features. He said that they were rare, but he had seen several that were obviously hybrids.

I read a magazine article a few years ago, where Russell Tinsely (I think) reported that game biologists in Canada had studied the DNA of deer that appeared to be hybrids and discovered that they did indeed possess identifiable DNA markers from both species.

I understand that hybridization is a major concern to waterfowl biologists as well. Black duck hens mate with Mallard drakes to produce hybrid ducklings. The concern is that the more abundant Mallards will eventually cross-breed the Black ducks out of existence.

I hope that we will not face the same concern of eventually losing clearly defined distinctions between the two deer species.

But, then again, that's evolution for you! I guess we can thank evolution for the fact that we are sitting on our asses at a computer keyboard instead of scratching our asses on a tree limb!

[ 11-22-2002, 19:21: Message edited by: Mark in SC ]

We have a major problem with Sika crossing with Reds in Scotland. One suggestion was that Sika themselves were not "pure" but the results of very early deer farming expiriemnets in China/Japan and hence more prone to cross the species bar.....

One of our national papers carried a "scare" story about muntjac crossing with either Reds or Fallow (can't remember which) which just goes to show how stupid the press really can be...

[ 11-22-2002, 18:54: Message edited by: Pete E ]

Wendell is located not very far from where I hunt in Northwest Texas. We have both Muleys and Whitetail with a few miles, but they don't seem to frequent each other's range very often. I have seen some deer that looked suspiciously like a cross, but can't say for sure.

The prevailing theory is that the Mule deer evolved as a separate species from crosses of Whitetails and Pacific Blacktails, probably post ice-age, which would make the species a very young one. Presumably, the Mule deer arose from a chance non-sterile offspring of the two species (most crosses between species being infertile, ie. mules from donkeys and horses). It is believed that most Muley-Whitetail crosses are infertile, but it stands to reason that if the Mule deer is more closely related to the Whitetail than is the Pacific Blacktail, that fertile crosses are possible, even likely.

In areas where both Whitetails and Muleys are indigenous, the pressure of human activity (farming, logging, hunting, etc.) seems to strongly favor the less-reclusive and more aggressive Whitetail. If we're going to have Muley's to hunt in the future, we'd better start looking at management and habitat strategies.

I shot a buck a few years ago that had a typical whitetail rack with a tail that was half and half. He had the face coloration of a muley with small ears. He had absolutely the most uncoordinated running style, neither whitetail or Muley, trying to jump and run at the same time.

I've only seen one, and he was so unusual, I thought he was a ghost.

I was young, and hunting mule deer near Silver City, New Mexico. I was on the crest of a rimrock watching a small herd feed when a spooked deer, off to the side, started running towards me from about 500 yards. If it held its course it would pass within about 50 yards of my position.

It was light colored for a mule deer but had the same basic markings; and at about 150 yards I could see he carried a whitetail rack, with five points to each side, main beam sweeping forward.

I missed him once, and he kept coming full speed but diverted a little away from me. I knew he couldn't escape that way because he would have to go over a 50' dry waterfall. I got in one more shot (that missed) and waited for him to pull up. Instead, he went over the falls.

I was speechless. I ran that way. He was simply gone. I worked my way to the bottom of the falls, and he was still gone.

He would have made a great trophy.

Sambar deer and Rusa deer will breed as well.

Waldog, I can't see any reason why hybrid's venison would taste "bad". Must have been another reason for the problem. Maybe the game processor did "mess up" even if they are usually good.

I have shot a number of Whitetail-Muley crosses, they are quite common in the simi desert area near Sanderson, Texas....I shot all my on the old Joe Brown ranch between Sanderson and Marathon, Texas....apparantly one finds them in the areas where the Muley and whitetail habitat meets, a sort of a buffer zone....Texas Fish and Game has studied these deer and recognize the cross.

Whitetail bucks can whip a Muley pretty easy as they have smaller spreads and can get to the Muleys head, and they are faster and quicker...meaner to.

Ray,
Maybe you have a little whitetail blood in you?

Bryan