Blacktail deer or hybrid?

[btridge]

The book says that there are no Blacktails in lots of areas where there are little pockets of Blacktail genetics, Hence the name of our Lodge is Blacktail Ridge Lodge and RV. Columbia Blacktails once populated the entire Columbia basin which covers a large part of BC.

[twoSevenO]

You cant go by the map .... especially if it's one of those border areas

[sako79]

It's in reg 3 so it couldn't possibly be a Sitka blacktail as far as I'm aware.

Sitka are only on queen charlotte islands

[ACB]

There are definite borders as far as trophy records go for Columbia Blacktails. I shot a beautiful 4 pt. buck deer east of Boston Bar that had all the characteristics of a blacktail buck, shorter snout, brown all the way down to the black tip on the tail but because of where he was shot he couldn't be classed as a Columbia Blacktail but a hybred.

[Dannybuoy]

There are definite borders as far as trophy records go for Columbia Blacktails. I shot a beautiful 4 pt. buck deer east of Boston Bar that had all the characteristics of a blacktail buck, shorter snout, brown all the way down to the black tip on the tail but because of where he was shot he couldn't be classed as a Columbia Blacktail but a hybred.

So that would make it a mulie, which is a cross between a black tail and a whitetail .
Personally the OP 's pics look like a whitetail , certainally not a mulie

[twoSevenO]

So that would make it a mulie, which is a cross between a black tail and a whitetail .
Personally the OP 's pics look like a whitetail , certainally not a mulie

How is a mulie a cross between a blacktail and a whitetail??

[twoSevenO]

There are definite borders as far as trophy records go for Columbia Blacktails. I shot a beautiful 4 pt. buck deer east of Boston Bar that had all the characteristics of a blacktail buck, shorter snout, brown all the way down to the black tip on the tail but because of where he was shot he couldn't be classed as a Columbia Blacktail but a hybred.

Yeah but that's only as far as accepting a species as such. Just because that deer walks back and forth along the reg 2 / reg 3 boundary doesn't make him alternate between mulie or blacktail. He's one or the other.

Records not accepting him into the books when he's on one side is a different issue.

[Salty]

Yeah but that's only as far as accepting a species as such. Just because that deer walks back and forth along the reg 2 / reg 3 boundary doesn't make him alternate between mulie or blacktail. He's one or the other.

Records not accepting him into the books when he's on one side is a different issue.

You got that right, plus deer come and go in areas through the years so if there is such thing as an accurate boundary between BT and mule deer its ever changing. Look at it this way no one would deny that its blacktail deer country in the Cascades along the Coq up to the snow shed, tried and true they're there. And if talk about say the Coldwater valley 30 or so clicks up the road its been known for years as mule deer country. Pretty short walk. Same thing happens on the transition out of the coast mountains towards the interior further north.

[Pemby_mess]

I'm in 3-16 and it looks exactly like the hybrids we have around here. They always have "dirty" dark patches on their shoulders and flanks. The pure Mulies seem to bee a much more uniform fawn color with a smoother texture to their coat. The deer on the East/west sides of the Fraser are quite stark in their differences, I find. The dividing lines seem to continue up through the West/east sides of Seton lake and again on either side of the Bridge River Glacier.

[Pemby_mess]

How is a mulie a cross between a blacktail and a whitetail??

ive always been under the impression that it's the opposite: a blacktail is a cross between a whitetail subspecies and a mulie. I've heard that blacktails were whitetails stranded on the west side of the ice sheets. After the retreat, they hybridized mulies infilling from the south and east.