Mule deer or whitetail

[Hunter Dug]

WT 

[hunter-4-life]

That is clearly a WT.

[iRem]

Whities!

[Big P]

looks like WT's to me

[BOWHUNTER45]

Blacktail .... ............just messin .....WT

[huntiholic]

yeah def WT

[gonehuntin68]

100% whitetail      sorry to be a jerk but how can you not tell

[daydreamn]

100% whitetail      sorry to be a jerk but how can you not tell

[baldopepper]

Well gonehuntin68 I take no offense, I was actually pretty confident on the first two, obviously the one taken in the semi daylight and pretty sure about the first one taken in the dark.  Last picture of the buck going away I am also very confident about (as i have seen the deer several times) and it is in fact a mule deer.  My point is that, at least in my area, there is now almost an equal mix of mule deer and whitetails and in low light situations with the new horn qualifications a hunter would do well to take a second look before shooting (or not shooting) .  I can't say for sure that they are inbreeding but this last couple of years I have seen bucks that show characteristics of both species in their antler branching. Pretty much have to see a rear view to say for sure what they are. Earlier this year there would be 100-150 deer on the big field aroudn my cabin with an almost equal mix of both species-they stayed pretty much seperated but occasionally you'd see mulies and whiteys running together. I'm no biologist so I don't know what the long term results of this mix will be (mulies have really only started to make a a big presense in the last 4-5 years ) but could make things interesting if one were to shoot a 3 point crossbreed in a 4 point whitetail area.

[Alan K]

First picture is of a WT butt, the second a mule deer.

From your trail camera picture there is absolutely nothing in it to indicate it being a mule deer. Whopping eye guards (a rarity on mulies) along with all points coming off a very long forward swooping main beam in combination with color running all the way up the tail into the back.  I don't know how anyone by looking at that picture would think for a second it might be a mule deer.  Maybe it does have some black in the tail like you say it does when you've seen that deer with your own eyes, but even the WT in the picture below has black in it (and it's from Pennsylvania). 

I know I wouldn't be shooting it as a mule deer if it was somehow an area only open to mulies.

 

[baldopepper]

I think again the point is, some of the deer (mostly near the lake) in area 121 are crosssbreeding-I spend a lot of time over there and I'm finding myself doing double takes lately to make sure what I'm seeing. (Maybe I'm a rookie, dont know-started deer hunting in 1959 and would'nt even want to try to count how many I've shot over the years, but still don't consider myself an expert by any means) Usually when the whiteail take off the "flag" goes up, but I've seen several lately that certainly appeared to be whitetails not only take off with no raised flag but also "bounce" with the charateristic mule deer bounce. Last nighttime pic is off a deer that hangs around the cabin a lot, and I think if I can get a good daytime shot you'll see immediatley that he's "mostly" mule deer.  Guess I"m saying that going by the antlers may not be 100% accurate in that area .