Deer Experts, Help Please.

http://windmill12.com/2012/07/18/the-difference-between-mule-and-whitetail-deer/

Thanks for that helpful link. I did google, but that one didn't come up.

So it's a Mulie?

Rich

Yes, I believe it is.

Yes it's a mule deer, and a decent one too!

TL Mair
tlmair.com

And this is one of his friends, who was quite a bit more reddish in color. (There were three of them together, all bucks.)

And both of them together.

Loree...how spectacular to see and photograph! Quite beautiful for such a stodgy name!

They take their name from their big "mule like" ears, and they can be a bit stubborn, mostly when you want them to stand still, as a general rule the photograph you get right after Loree's
"Pair of Bucks" is their white butts heading over the sagebrush a warp 10!!

TL Mair
tlmair.com

Nice Shot Loree! Makes me want to grill out for dinner. :)

Yes, I have my share of deer butt pics. And eagle butt, and hawk butt, etc. These guys were pretty mellow. They did move along, but only after stopping to look at me a few times (thank you!) and not at the speed of light. (Thank you again!)

We have both species here, the most obvious things are the ears, the tail and the antlers. Mule deer have the big ears, the tail of the whitetail is unmistakeable if you've ever seen it. They use it as a warning when danger threatens. The antlers of the males differ - the mule deer antlers fork symmetrically, that is from the main branch it will fork and then those two branches will fork again while in the whitetail the main branch curves forward and from it smaller branches grow upwards.

I saw them in California too :).