I have only hunted mule deer. My son took his first onethis year, just a small fork. When we took it to be processed, cleaned, skinned, legs gone below the joints, backstraps and tenderloins removed, without the headit weighed 70lbs. A small one in CO but I have nothing to compare it to for a whitetail. He asked about their size and I do not know. What is an average fork (two points each side) whitetail dressed weigh?

Mulies in general are usually a lot larger bodied than a white-tail. As far as eating goes, I like the whitetails a whole lot better. A mulie is usually somewhere in size between a whitetail and an elk.

Bobby

ya and an elk is somewhere between a mulie and an elephant....ha nice comparative animal. there's quite a bit of difference between a mule deer and an elk. don't go thinking the mule deer is that much bigger than whitetail deer.

I can only relate to the mulies and whities around here, there is just no compiarasum(sp) between a 2 yr old whitetail and a 2 yr old mulie. The mulie is a larger animal. They are smaller than an elephant though, or at least the ones I have encountered are.

Bobby

rem600,
Your question usually is easy to answer. I agree with previous replies to your post. Generally whitetails are smaller. IMO, Hard topredict body size from horns. I personally have shot some huge whitetails w/very small racks.

On average a whitetail a mulie and an axis deer are all about the same size.
I know whitetails up north can go 300 lbs while down south can go 200 lbs.
I dont think I have ever heard of an axis going 300 lbs, and that would probably be tops for a mulie also.

"White-tailed Deer Vs. Mule Deer"

Thanks for the input, I just have never seen a whitetail and did not know how it compares to a mulie, size wise. In reading some of the posts, it looks like some areas allow multiple whitetails to be taken. Since you are limited to one in CO (with exceptions) I was trying to figure outhow big a whitetail was if you are taking multiple deer (2-7?) in a season.

rem600...I looked in Jack O'Connor's book "The art of Hunting Big Game in North America"....he says "The mule deer averages larger than the whitetail, but from all I can find out the largest mule deer are no heavier than the biggest whitetails found in Maine, Michigan, and favored localities elsewhere. I have seen many mule deer weighed, and I have never hunted in an area where a 175-pound buck wasn't a good buck, and a buck that went 200-225 wasn't an exceptionally big buck"....He does mention that he has heard of bucks as big as 400 pounds....but states that he has never seen any....

In NC...an average 2 1/2 year old buck will weigh about 125-140....at 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 he will go 160-175...an average doe at 2 1/2 will go about 100-110...I have had guys tell me that they killed a 200 puond buck....but the were guessing on the weight....In NC we can kill 6 deer...season lasts from mid Sept until Jan 1st in most of the state...this includes bow, muzzleloader and gun...Now.. if you own farms...you can get crop damage permits....I have killed as many as 15 deer in a season...now that my nephews and nieces are getting older I help them get their deer....that being said, I kill at least 6 deer a year.

Up here in Saskatchewan I would say in general a mule deer will weigh in 10% heavier than a whitetail. A mature whitetail buck here would average 250lbs while a mature mulie buck would tip in around 275lbs..this on the hoof. Of course they can be larger and smaller. Personally have seen several mule deer bucks would be well over 300lbs on the hoof and a number of whitetail bucks that would top the 300 line as well. I shot a mulie buck 8 years ago that we estimated would be 350 and 3 years ago shot a whitetail buck that we just had to weigh. FD he tipped the scales at 307 without any guts....so I'd say without question this buck was 350+ on the hoof.