windriverhunter

I know for a fact that they cross- I shot one near my home town a few years back and my buddy shot one two years ago while i was hunting with him about 15 miles up river. We call them muletails here. Now I have no idea if this is true or not, but I once heard that the muletails run slightly crooked sometimes.

windriverhunter

Also, in response to game4lunch saying that whitetails prefer living in a whole different area than mule deer and therefore crosses are very rare, mule deer inhabit river and creek bottoms all over Wyoming. I constantly see both species feeding in the same fields. And I have never gone on a deer hunt here on the Wind River when I did not see deer from both species in the same area on the same day.

AK Jeff

You have any pictures windriverhunter?

windriverhunter

No, I did not take any pictures of my deer and my friend has all of the pictures of his deer. Sorry. I wish I did, though, because it would make my argument much more viable.

*Hiker*

A Customer of mine who is a Wildlife Officer for Colorado, told me about a study that she was part of 10-12 year ago on this subject. She said in every case where Muleys & Whitetails cross-bred, it was the Whietail Bucks that caused the cross-breeding to happen. The Whitetail bucks would relentlessly chase the muley doe until she finely gave up and let him mount her. That being said, when a mature muley buck is in full rut, they are the most agressive deer and will often fight until death or until the other buck runs off, they will not quit until they win or die.

tangozulu

There is no argument, the Alberta Fish and Game confirmed by dna the existance of this cross back in the 80's.
This was the same lab that did most of the US dna work for a number of years untill the Americans gottheir own facilities set up.

stuckinthereeds

I don't have any proofbut I don't see why they wouldn't cross.

manboy

o.k. i wasn't going to get in this one but, i have seen it before. my father shot one years ago.
i am a part-time taxidermist, and i got one in this year to mount. it was shot in 1988. it was killed just south of DECKER MT. it was about 300lb body and was during the rut. the owner of the rack claims it had a mule deer tail and had the color of a summer coat (redish). he said he had never seen one before and didn't relize what he shot untill he was gutting it. here is a pic. of the rack.
p.s. no comments on the other mounts please they are not completed, they are drying yet. thanks

manboy

next pic.

BrutalAttack

Interesting pictures but still not proof. The only proof that can be considered would be genetic.