mix breed
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Amarillo, TX
Posts: 456
mix breed
have any of you seen the mix breed? my dad shot a buck last season that had a mule deer body with a whitetail rack. i've heard that the whitetail bucks were more aggresive than the mule deer bucks but i don't know. this may have something to do with it. the whitetail population where i hunt use to be none! now we regularly see the whitetails and very very few mulies. their spreading like wild fire.
#3
RE: mix breed
In the case of whitetails and mule deer, courtship and breeding behavior is different enough that body language and scent cues given off by a female mule deer during rut are not "understood" by a male whitetail and vice versa. Also, in many areas where their range overlaps, the rut peaks at slightly different times for the 2 species. This system of species segregation has worked remarkably well throughout their evolutionary coexistence. However, in rare cases this system breaks down and genetic material slips across the behavioral barrier, resulting in a deer that is half whitetail and half mule deer. This hybridization between the two different deer species is extremely rare but does occur throughout the West where their ranges overlap.
#7
RE: mix breed
here's a link to a full story on the issue as well as some pics.
http://www.deertracking.com/library/dec2001_tails_dark_side.html
http://www.deertracking.com/library/dec2001_tails_dark_side.html