Monster blacktail shot

[Silvertip]

This buck officially scored 143 3/8 net at the Sportmans Show.  It fell into the Columbian blacktail category and definitely made the book.  The gross score was 153.  There was a nice symmetrical blacktail there that was taken near Ashford that scored 143 7/8, so I took second place.  No matter how big your buck is or fish is..there is always someone who got one bigger! 

[bobcat]

Thanks for letting us know the score. What a great buck!

[GrainfedMuley]

 Sivertip... I too had my Muley scored at the Sportsman show. While I was there I ask about the big Blacktail from Packwood and the guy knew exactly what I was talking about. He went over and got your rack for me to see. VERY impessive! The mass on the right side is incredible. While your rack was on the table in front of me. With my Muley rack next to yours. I noticed something that got me to thinking about an interesting question. My Muley rack is also a 5x4. By coincidence, The right side of my rack is dominant like yours. The left side was just a little weaker, just like yours. Then to top it all off, the same tine on the left side forks at the top, just like yours. My buck scored 139 7/8's. Not nearly as much mass as yours. I shot my buck in Lincoln county north of Davenport out in the wheat fields. Maybe 250 miles away. I relize that this is a very long shot, but because of the simularities in the racks(almost indentical) except for mass, could these two bucks be somehow geniticaly related? I honestly don't think so, but I have that question. I took a picture of both racks side by side with my cell phone but I have to firgure out how to get that to my e-mail so I can try and post it here. I sware on my mothers grave stone that I am not making this up. Lets hear what everybody else thinks... As soon as I can get a pcture posted I will

[bobcat]

Aren't ALL mule/blacktailed deer genetically related somehow, if you go back far enough?   

[Silvertip]

GrainfedMuley, that is interesting that your buck was so similar.  I have taken another buck in this same area (Randle) with a similar antler configuration to the one I got this year, except for the mass.  I would like to see your pictures, sounds like a nice one.  I actually hunted just a hair west of Davenport last year with my son.  It sure is a lot different hunting wheat fields from the big timber around Packwood and Randle!!! 

Just for fun I attached some pictures of my 2007 blactail and my kid.  This was just outside of Packwood.  The buck was 19 inches wide but just a 2 pt.  Pretty country but a long ways from the road.

[coastalghost]

beautiful pics silvertip....got some good genes up in that country.

[Houndhunter]

beautiful pics silvertip....got some good genes up in that country.

nope, stop posting top secret scenery pics

[bow4elk]

Aren't ALL mule/blacktailed deer genetically related somehow, if you go back far enough?   

Yes, the Columbian blacktail is a cousin of the Mule Deer.  Technically, it is classified as a sub-specie of mule deer.

[coastalghost]

other than the fog, I wish I could say it looked familiar 

[WOODS]

The 5x5 buck I took with a bow in 2007 in Clallam county looks similar to the packwood buck however my deer has 5 inch eye guards. The green score was 142 5/8  and dry score is 137 5/8 official Pope and Young. State biologist agree that blacktail blood lines have been mixed with muley lines in eastern washington, however some are still dominant in western washington. The eye guards are a dominant gene in horn mass in western washington blacktails as for eastern blacktails width is the dominant feature.

[PolarBear]

Aren't ALL mule/blacktailed deer genetically related somehow, if you go back far enough?   

Yes, the Columbian blacktail is a cousin of the Mule Deer.  Technically, it is classified as a sub-specie of mule deer.

Actually the mule deer has been genetically determined to be a sub-species due to the cross breeding of the white tail and black tail.  This came out a few years ago when they started looking closely at the DNA from all of these species.

[Red Dawg]

 

[bobcat]

Aren't ALL mule/blacktailed deer genetically related somehow, if you go back far enough?   

Yes, the Columbian blacktail is a cousin of the Mule Deer.  Technically, it is classified as a sub-specie of mule deer.

Actually the mule deer has been genetically determined to be a sub-species due to the cross breeding of the white tail and black tail.  This came out a few years ago when they started looking at the DNA from all of these species.

Right. I think I read that in a book by Dr. Valerius Geist. Smart guy.

[PolarBear]

The Columbian Blacktail Deer
By Dan Gibson

For many years the Columbian Blacktail Deer has been considered a subspecies of the Mule deer, however recent DNA testing has proven this not to be the case. In Valerius Geist's informative book Mule Deer Country he explains that by testing the mitochondrial DNA (the mothers DNA ) of the three species (blacktail, whitetail and mule deer), researchers have now determined that it was the mating of Whitetail does and Blacktail buck's that gave rise to the Mule deer and not the opposite as was once suspected.

It is now believed that millions of years ago the Whitetail deer expanded its range down the east coast of the United States, across Mexico, and then back up the West coast, where it eventually evolved into the Blacktail Deer. This may help to explain the strong resemblance in appearance and psychological characteristics between the two. Thousands of years later as the recently evolved Blacktail's range spread eastward and the Whitehall's range again expanded westward, the two deer again met. At this point the Blacktail bucks, displaced the Whitetail bucks, and bred the Whitetail does. Researches now believe that it is this hybridization that produced what is now know as the Muledeer.

[bobcat]

Yep that's the book I've got (Mule Deer Country.) I'll have to read it again, it's been a while. Interesting stuff, thanks for posting that.