Kinda a dumb question about white tails

[Scvette]

So I grew up on Kodiak island and have never been around white tail deer. I now live outside of Olympia towards the coast. The other day I was almost to my house on a rural road where I see deer all the time, so there were 2 deer running down the road in front of me and one of them looked different, and had it’s tail lifted up and running and it was pure white, when it got off the road and put its tail down it was a little darker, but I didn’t see any black fur at all, the deer it was with I could see black. It wasn’t a big deer, but then again I don’t think it was last years fawn either, but could have been. I don’t recall seeing black tail deer running away with there tails up seeing that much white before, but maybe they do. So my question is, could it have been a white tail about 10 miles west of Olympia?  I should of took a picture, I had plenty of time.

[robodad]

It's possible, I grew up hunting Wisconsin and moved to the OP in 92 and have seen at least 3 whitetail out here over the years and almost took a shot at one very wary 3pt WT years ago !

[huntnfmly]

A little farther south there are Columbian white tail I don't see why some of those wouldn't wonder up and they are on the smaller size also

[Scvette]

Do black tails fan there tails out when they trot or run away? I don’t recall noticing them do that but could be wrong. The other deer that was there was running with it and it’s tail didn’t fan out. From what I’ve seen on hunting shows, a lot of the white tails on there the tail seems fanned out. I just ever recall seeing as much white when hunting black tail deer in Kodiak.

[TriggerMike]

It's definitely not impossible.

[lastmk8]

Everything you describe sounds exactly whitetail deer to me, everything except the location.  That would be pretty far north for them.  Possible?  I guess it could be, but that isn't the habitat they are used to.  They have been down south for many years, there is a refuge there for them.  A number of years ago they released (controlled or not I don't recall) a number of them, something to do with the high water levels or something.  That being said, and in conjunction now with a couple hundred of them "known" to be in the wild outside of the refuge is the reason we can't claim or salvage deer in the couple counties down south.  Regs state we can't because no one is allowed to keep a Columbia whitetail, guess they figure we can't tell the difference between the two. 

All that said, a picture would have been nice as you stated, but on the other hand if you had a pic and it was a whitetail, they might ban more counties from salvaging road killed deer.  Maybe we won after all. 

https://www.stateparks.com/columbian_white-tailed_deer_national_wildlife_refuge_in_washington.html

[Katmai Guy]

I live just East of Kent and leaving for work one morning a few yrs ago, I suprised a doe in my front yard.  She flagged and ran thru the neighbors yard, definitely a whitetail.  Everybody gets lost once in a while.😆

[bobcat]

Blacktail deer do have white on the underside of their tails. And, they do often hold their tails up when running away.

[7mmfan]

I have seen many blacktail deer flag when trotting away. When they're full tilt running they rarely do, but when on alert trotting or walking away, it's very common.

[trophyhunt]

Blacktail deer do have white on the underside of their tails. And, they do often hold their tails up when running away.

[Alchase]

Blacktail deer do have white on the underside of their tails. And, they do often hold their tails up when running away.

 

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Everything you describe sounds exactly whitetail deer to me, everything except the location.  That would be pretty far north for them.  Possible?  I guess it could be, but that isn't the habitat they are used to.  They have been down south for many years, there is a refuge there for them.  A number of years ago they released (controlled or not I don't recall) a number of them, something to do with the high water levels or something.  That being said, and in conjunction now with a couple hundred of them "known" to be in the wild outside of the refuge is the reason we can't claim or salvage deer in the couple counties down south.  Regs state we can't because no one is allowed to keep a Columbia whitetail, guess they figure we can't tell the difference between the two. 

All that said, a picture would have been nice as you stated, but on the other hand if you had a pic and it was a whitetail, they might ban more counties from salvaging road killed deer.  Maybe we won after all. 

https://www.stateparks.com/columbian_white-tailed_deer_national_wildlife_refuge_in_washington.html

A buddy of mine who used to live in Alaska is the Biologist who runs the Julia Butler Hansen Whitetail Refuge.  I remember the flood you are talking about.  It really knocked the population down on the refuge. At the time they weren't sure if the deer disbursed or if they died.  Pretty much the whole refuge was flooded including where the office is and around the house my friend lives in.   Now in a straight line, it's only about 60-70 miles from the refuge up to the area you're talking about so it is very possible.

On a side note, some years back they were capturing deer on the refuge and moving them to another island  up stream past Cathlamet to try to establish another population.  Haven't talked with him in a couple years so not sure what they are up to now.

[Scvette]

The thing is there was another deer running with it side by side, I could see black on its tail, it wasn’t fanned out like the other one, once it got off to the side of the road and relaxed it’s tail there was no black on it, same color or maybe a little darker than the body. I’m back up in Alaska fishing but I see deer all the time out there, when I get home I’ll try to find it again, and try to get pictures.

[lastmk8]

Everything you describe sounds exactly whitetail deer to me, everything except the location.  That would be pretty far north for them.  Possible?  I guess it could be, but that isn't the habitat they are used to.  They have been down south for many years, there is a refuge there for them.  A number of years ago they released (controlled or not I don't recall) a number of them, something to do with the high water levels or something.  That being said, and in conjunction now with a couple hundred of them "known" to be in the wild outside of the refuge is the reason we can't claim or salvage deer in the couple counties down south.  Regs state we can't because no one is allowed to keep a Columbia whitetail, guess they figure we can't tell the difference between the two. 

All that said, a picture would have been nice as you stated, but on the other hand if you had a pic and it was a whitetail, they might ban more counties from salvaging road killed deer.  Maybe we won after all. 

https://www.stateparks.com/columbian_white-tailed_deer_national_wildlife_refuge_in_washington.html

A buddy of mine who used to live in Alaska is the Biologist who runs the Julia Butler Hansen Whitetail Refuge.  I remember the flood you are talking about.  It really knocked the population down on the refuge. At the time they weren't sure if the deer disbursed or if they died.  Pretty much the whole refuge was flooded including where the office is and around the house my friend lives in.   Now in a straight line, it's only about 60-70 miles from the refuge up to the area you're talking about so it is very possible.

On a side note, some years back they were capturing deer on the refuge and moving them to another island  up stream past Cathlamet to try to establish another population.  Haven't talked with him in a couple years so not sure what they are up to now.

Oh there were a number of them that disbursed, I remember seeing a few of them up Elochoman Valley road while heading back and forth to camp.  They all had tags in their ears, standing around in a couple large yards just hanging out, probably enjoying time away from the "compound".  I've never seen one in the woods while out hunting, so often wonder how many may have made if after the floods, if they reproduced or not.  Remember it every year when we head back down to camp in the fall.

[Brute]

A buddy of mine who used to live in Alaska is the Biologist who runs the Julia Butler Hansen Whitetail Refuge. 

Is his name Paul?
Helped with the relocation project back in 2014.
Here is a shot of a blacktail and a whitetail along the Columbia River. You can see the difference in the color of their coats .
Yes blacktails will run with their tails up showing a white flag but no where close to a whitetails flag in highth and width.