Mule-whitetail hybrid - what tag?

[Gateholio]

The answer to what tag to cut is in the tail. Antlers are not a reliable indicator of deer type.

[MOOSE MILK]

Several years ago, I shot what I thought was a four-point Mulie near Greenwood. It had a branched Mulie antler on one side and a typical Whitty antler on the other. The tail was bushy like a Whitty but the face tended to look like a Mullie. I cut a Mullie tag and am still not sure what tasty venison was on the table.
MM

[JoeSixPack]

I saw a hybrid 2 years ago. An area where I have only once seen a WT. Two fork bucks together. One very clearly a mule deer. The other looked like a mule deer, but had rather small ears, and slightly different colour than his friend. When he turned and walked away he had a whitish rump, but an excessively long tail with a brown stripe all the way down. I don't recall a black tip. As he walked away, he would lift his tail, almost as if flagging like a WT.

[HarryToolips]

I'm no where near reg2 where there are Blacktails, so I'm assuming this deer is strictly a MD/WT hybrid:

[IMG][/IMG]

[KootenayKiller]

I did some sleuthing, and found this informative document from the US forest service.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aai...a-848109999eb8

Some takeaways:

- Around 2-5% of deer were found to be hybrids in US states where their ranges overlap.

- male hybrids are infertile, but around 50% of female offspring are viable. This allows for F2 (second) and F3 (3rd) generation backcrosses, using either mule of whitwtail fathers.

- The hybrids typically have extra long tails that are black on the outside, white on the inside. They typically have ears that are bigger than WT but smaller than mule deer.

I'm even more convinced now of what I saw... I think it's funny, someone telling me what I saw was this or that, not that I really care anyways. Point is they exist and I was just wondering how I might harvest one. Having looked up photos, the deer I saw were dead ringers for what the hybrids are supposed to look like. I had to do a second take cause the tails were so long - they looked like dog tails and were solid black on the backside. I forgot to mention, but they had bigger than normal ears too. Basically, just looked like muley but with freaky tails that aren't normal for either species.

[KootenayKiller]

I'm no where near reg2 where there are Blacktails, so I'm assuming this deer is strictly a MD/WT hybrid:

[IMG][/IMG]

maybe? The ones I saw had bigger ears, bigger grey bodies like a muley, and the tails were around 2-3x longer and a lot bushier. You'd need a DNA test to know.

Apparently you can get F2 or F3s that backcross back to either of the species, and so they start to resemble it more with each generation. So that's also possible, this could be 1/4 or 1/8 muley for example.

[Walking Buffalo]

I'm even more convinced now of what I saw... I think it's funny, someone telling me what I saw was this or that, not that I really care anyways. Point is they exist and I was just wondering how I might harvest one. Having looked up photos, the deer I saw were dead ringers for what the hybrids are supposed to look like. I had to do a second take cause the tails were so long - they looked like dog tails and were solid black on the backside. I forgot to mention, but they had bigger than normal ears too. Basically, just looked like muley but with freaky tails that aren't normal for either species.

Why ask when you're too smart to listen?

I told you what you asked to be told.



Based on the long tails, they would be legally identified as Whitetails.


Your takeaways from that article reveals that you are expressing a confirmation bias, to the point of misunderstanding what you read.

[KootenayKiller]

Why ask when you're too smart to listen?

I told you what you asked to be told.



Based on the long tails, they would be legally identified as Whitetails.


Your takeaways from that article reveals that you are expressing a confirmation bias, to the point of misunderstanding what you read.

You suggested in your reply, that I saw whitetails. That's different from saying that what I saw would be legally considered whitetails. That latter seems reasonable, the former does not.

What did I convey from the article that is inaccurate? And, what is your expertise is on the subject. I'm inclined to believe the US Forest Service more than you, but open to hear where you are coming from. Anyways, I don't really care what you think I did see or not, the question was about how to deal with a hybrid from a tag perspective.

[j270wsm]

^^^^I believe he’s a retired biologist

[KootenayKiller]

Fair enough. I'm guessing with experience relating to this? I know a lot of what hunters think they see as hybrids are in fact not, so I appreciate the skepticism. Anyhow, it seems off-base to say it's not possible that I saw a hybrid just because they aren't common..