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Author Topic: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?  (Read 22500 times)

Offline boneaddict

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #15 on: November 22, 2013, 03:16:09 PM »
Muledeer if comparing animals in relativly the same area. IMO.   Only exceptions that I can think of would be Saskatchewan or some of the northern Canadian states.   I am unfamiliar with the muleys there, but I bet they run larger as well in physical stature. 

Offline janttihunter

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #16 on: November 22, 2013, 03:21:36 PM »
In Maine there have been a few 350-400 lb dressed Whitetail Bucks, and some 200 lb+ does, and its not uncommon to see a bunch of 250-300lb every year. But it does seem Muleys average size is prob bigger nation wide.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2013, 03:31:34 PM by janttihunter »

Offline RadSav

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #17 on: November 22, 2013, 03:33:48 PM »
I will have to do some digging to see if I can find the study.  Can't remember if the information was footnoted in a past B&C record book or in a Tom Brakefield book.  I'll try to dig through my material this weekend.  As I remember the study found that while Ohio, Minnesota and some Canadian provinces produce some monster bucks each year the muledeer species as a whole is considerably larger than the whitetail species as a whole. Further...as feed will certainly allow each deer species to add and carry weight accordingly the larger bone structure and muscle structure of the muledeer would surely allow for a much larger body size if all feed and nutrients were equally shared.
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Offline oneshot12

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #18 on: November 22, 2013, 03:35:57 PM »
 :twocents:  got to say its the muleys that are the bigger of the  two deer   .have seen and shot a few 200 lb plus  wt  on the east coast   but  by far the mules are much larger .

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #19 on: November 22, 2013, 03:46:17 PM »
Not a lot of 'small' muleys that I can think of; but with being outnumbered by a bunch and much larger territory, I think Whitetails have areas where they average larger than mule deer.

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #20 on: November 22, 2013, 04:03:17 PM »
Biggest bodied deer I've seen on the hoof have been corn fed whitetail pigs in Iowa and South Dakota,The buck in Iowa had wrinkles on his sides and farted with every jump and was actually kind of a slow mover as compared to the rest of the deer in that herd we spooked off of a terrace eyebrow while birdhunting.

Offline stevemiller

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #21 on: November 22, 2013, 04:09:42 PM »
Not a lot of 'small' muleys that I can think of; but with being outnumbered by a bunch and much larger territory, I think Whitetails have areas where they average larger than mule deer.
This is what I was gonna say.I realize Mich. was not in your list of states but Michigan white tails are huge,and abundant.  :twocents:
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Offline bobcat

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #22 on: November 22, 2013, 04:18:42 PM »
Basically what I'm trying to get at with my question is which species, where they occur in the same areas, would weigh more, on average.

So if you were to kill a mature animal in the same GMU, would the mule deer be bigger than the whitetail, and by how much.

Offline snowpack

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #23 on: November 22, 2013, 04:30:33 PM »
Basically what I'm trying to get at with my question is which species, where they occur in the same areas, would weigh more, on average.

So if you were to kill a mature animal in the same GMU, would the mule deer be bigger than the whitetail, and by how much.
I think mule deer, maybe 30 % or more.  I can think of a few areas they share along the rockies and it seemed a big whitetail buck would be around 220-230 lb and a big mule from the same basic area would push 300 lb.

Offline Curly

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #24 on: November 22, 2013, 05:28:31 PM »
http://www.monstermuleys.com/cgi-bin/stories/site99.pl?page=art-toddblackwhitetail
Quote
* White-tailed deer will out compete mule deer for available resources (food, shelter, etc.) in most habitat types. They occupy the same habitats and have similar food preferences (they are almost identical). They are similar in size, however, their ears, face, antler configuration, running (gait), etc. are different.

Quote
As I’m a Utahan born and raised and I’ve noticed the recent influx on Whitetail deer in a Mule Deer range so I thought I’d compare the two cousins for everyone.

Whitetail deer could be described as having a reddish-brown coat in the spring that becomes more of a grayish-brown during the fall and winter. They got their name for the white underside of it’s tail. They stand about three feet tall with the buck weighing in around 130-220 lbs. and the doe coming in anywhere from 90-200 lbs. The mule deer is generally a grayish brown year round. The mule deer gets its name from the size of its mule-like ears. Mule deer have a white rump patch around tail, which is thinner than the broad tail of the whitetail, and has a black tip. The mule deer stand three to three and a half feet tall at the shoulder, with bucks weighing 125-250 lbs. and does weighing in between 100 and 150 pounds.
http://therealoutdoors.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/whitetail-vs-mule-deer/


http://windmill12.com/2012/07/18/the-difference-between-mule-and-whitetail-deer/
Quote
Body size: mules weigh in a little heavier, but obviously there’s a lot of overlap, and age/nutrition play a big role in determining a specific deer’s size.

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Offline Karl Blanchard

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #25 on: November 22, 2013, 05:34:19 PM »
Basically what I'm trying to get at with my question is which species, where they occur in the same areas, would weigh more, on average.

So if you were to kill a mature animal in the same GMU, would the mule deer be bigger than the whitetail, and by how much.
  Kind of an impossible question to answer considering genetics also comes into play.  Two mule deer eating exactly the same amount of food and being exactly the same age can have very different weights.  All depends on who your daddy is!  I guess on average your muley will come out on top though.   
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Offline boneaddict

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #26 on: November 22, 2013, 05:39:49 PM »
 :yeah:

Offline bobcat

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #27 on: November 22, 2013, 05:45:56 PM »
Okay, I realize there is variation between individual deer. Let's put it this way- say you're going on a meat hunt to Wyoming. Two people, with four doe tags each. The tags are good for either species.

If you came home with eight deer, would you be likely to have significantly more boned out meat if you killed eight doe mule deer versus eight doe whitetail deer?


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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #28 on: November 22, 2013, 05:59:09 PM »
Basically what I'm trying to get at with my question is which species, where they occur in the same areas, would weigh more, on average.

So if you were to kill a mature animal in the same GMU, would the mule deer be bigger than the whitetail, and by how much.
  Kind of an impossible question to answer considering genetics also comes into play.  Two mule deer eating exactly the same amount of food and being exactly the same age can have very different weights.  All depends on who your daddy is!  I guess on average your muley will come out on top though.

I agree, but theres also mama to consider! ...big does also have a say-so in big kids!

Offline stevemiller

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Re: Which is bigger- whitetail or mule deer?
« Reply #29 on: November 22, 2013, 06:03:20 PM »
In Wyoming most def. mule deer is gonna fill the freezer more.
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