saw some WT (3) mixed in with mulies (~10) on a hillside near canim lake...when we disturbed them the mulies hopped up over the hill but the WT's ran to the timber/creek
saw some WT (3) mixed in with mulies (~10) on a hillside near canim lake...when we disturbed them the mulies hopped up over the hill but the WT's ran to the timber/creek
I have seen a couple occasion where WT/MD were hanging out together.
Both in the same area around Cache Creek and a few years apart.
One time, it was 2 WT does and 4 MD Does all bedded together. (side by side)
Other time it was 2x 2point bucks.
1 was WT and other MD and they spent the whole day together (spotted them several times that day)
And another group saw them together on a different day.
So, they do seem to intermingle.
Maybe in some areas they adapt to doing this while other areas they avoid each other?
Thus the mutations and hybrids in only a few areas??
Hybrids are not always sterile, but there is a decrease in fertility within these offspring.
Even when fertile hybrids survive the lower survival rates due to compromised predator escape physiology...
Reduced reproductive abilities of hybrid deer is still one of the main causes of WT dominance over Mule Deer.
Who's your Daddy?
It's almost always the WT.
WT deer not only outcompete and potentially replace MD by simply having higher reproductive rates (greater number of twins and triplets),
MD end up with even lower reproductive rates where hybridization occurs as it is female MD that are producing the majority of these young *******s.
Humankind has known and followed this strategy in war for eons.
If you can't kill 'em, F' em.
And the WT's don't seem to stop to look back until they are far away or in cover, if at all. BT's often won't even run if they don't think you have seen them, or sometimes even when you obviously have. When they do run, they pretty much always look back within 50-70 yards. Mule deer seem similar in that regard. Different strategies for sure. I can see how the WT method works better in semi-open areas.
A region 2 WT season would be awesome!!