# What do you think Mule Deer or Whitetail? LOOK



## txsnyper (Feb 8, 2007)

My buddy just got back from his lease that is just out of Ft. Stockton. They seem to have a lot of whitetail and mulies out there. Certainly they are cross breeding, but how do you tag the "hybreds" are they mulies or whitetails.
This buck he killed is/was clearly a mule deer by looking at his head, body, and tail, but look at the antlers...they are not very mule deerish.


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## fire_chair (Dec 20, 2004)

White tail


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## catchysumfishy (Jul 19, 2008)

Inbred cross!


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## bohunk1 (Nov 12, 2006)

*Mule Deer *


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## Tiny (Dec 19, 2006)

I didn't think mulies and wt's would cross... but if it where my judgment, just because of the antlers I would say wt, but I would also know the difference before I shot either one. I have a white tail that has a prodominant crown like that one does, but you can clearly tell it was a whitetail deer...


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## RockportRobert (Dec 29, 2006)

Muley


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## albert white (Feb 3, 2008)

I took a muley near Fort Stockston a few years back, the antlers are just like whitetail, 8 pt. The body was a muley, no doubt. When I went out there the rancher told me that some of the mulies had whitetail antlers, he was right. There were also whitetails in the area.


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## activescrape (Jan 8, 2006)

I firmly believe they cross. Too much first hand observation in Floyd County, in the panhandle. I think the buch you have there is a result of a whitetail daddy and a muely doe. Or even down the line a ways from that first interbreeding. I have seen them run together, eat and play together and crazy mix ups of ears, faces, tails and antlers.


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## farmdude (Mar 25, 2008)

catchysumfishy said:


> Inbred cross!


 x2


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## Saltstalker (Jun 6, 2008)

Hybrid , We have a lot of them here in S. Colorado , check out the tail too .


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## Redfishr (Jul 26, 2004)

Hybrids are quite common where the WT, Mule deers ranges cross.....


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## drred4 (Aug 12, 2005)

Hybrid


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## txsnyper (Feb 8, 2007)

Yea I agree with the rest of ya, he is a cross.
Where this buck was shot they do have both WT's and mulies.
This buck DID have a mule deer tail, body, and certainly has the ears.

It's just funny to me, I am used to seeing WT with the mule deer forks, but I have never seen a mule deer with WT antlers. I would really like to know what his years past antlers look like...I assume he carried the WT antlers from the get go.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Looks like a plain ole white tail to me..

Charlie


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## tokavi (May 6, 2006)

Here's a little tip you can use to determine if it is a cross breed and yes they will cross. Check the outside lower portion of the rear leg. Mule deer have a large gland that runs most of the length of the lower leg. Whitetails have the same gland but it is very small, about the size of a silver dollar. Most hybrids will have a gland that is about half the size of the gland found on pure mule deer. You can see the gland I'm talking about in the picture of the muley on Tiny's post. As far as antlers are concerned I have seen a lot of muley's with antlers that look like whitetails, mostly 3x3's that look like 8 point whitetails. These are deer that live in areas where no whitetails exist. I also have a 12 point killed I in Kimble County years ago that is forked like muley. Heck I even have a picture of a mule deer this season that is a typical muley 4 point on his right but has 6 points coming straight up like a whitetail on his left! The deer in the picture looks like a muley to me. He has good brows but that is fairly common in the Ft. Stockton area. He doesn't fork on his G-2's but a lot of deer in that country don't. Doesn't really matter, he's a nice deer, enough said.


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## davidb (May 10, 2006)

TPWD did studies on this and it is less common than reported. The conclusion was about 2-3% hybrids in the study area. Tarsal gland is the indicator, the tail less so and the antlers not at all.

The report concluded that most of the incidences occurred because a hunter had an extra tag they wanted to use.

If you put a white tail tag on that one just hope a GW doesn't read this.

Some Mule Deer don't branch until five years old, others at three. Texas desert Mule Deer may never bifurcate (double branch).


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## wampuscat (Jun 30, 2009)

In Brewster county we do not have any white tails, but we still have a lot of mule deer with eight point racks that look like a big whitetail rack, they can be pure mulies and still have a eight point rack, with out any forks.


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## Joker74 (Aug 19, 2009)

WHITEMULE!!!!!!!!


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## ElJefe (Jun 1, 2004)

*Young muley*

young muley.


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## Sea-Slug (May 28, 2004)

Hybrid.


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## Gwill (Sep 6, 2007)

Mule deer can have typical, whitetail'ish antlers...

Don't judge the species by their antlers. That face is a muley for sure...

Here's a typical mule deer rack from this year...


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## Mikeyhunts (Jun 4, 2007)

Hybrid or young muley


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## KIKO (Oct 24, 2006)

Hybrid definetly... I heard that you can use either a WT or Mulie tag on them.


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