Blacktail in Montana

[macnshana]

Anyone ever seen Blacktail in Montana? I was scouting trails into the Bob yesterday and going through Condon on 83 I swear I saw a blacktail doe.

 

[p_ham]

In not saying impossible, but blacktail are more coastal. I also don't know if mulies and whitetail hybridize but the offspring could look blacktaily.

 

[257 Wby Mag]

Haha seriously?

 

[joelweb]

I'll say impossible.

 

[Highground]

This is crazy, but I could swear I also saw one in the Missions. North of Lake Elsina about 4 miles. Nobody ever believed me and I dont blame em. Was a little buck.

 

[marshman]

If it was a Blacktail the tail would be nearly as large as a Whitetails, black on the back, very distinctive.
Seems like Western MT is a bit far from home though. Cascade crest is as far east as I've seen em.

 

[Ben Long]

Hybrid whitetail-mule deer is my best guess. Never say never though...

 

[Nameless Range]

As I understand it, the difference between a blacktail and a mule deer is a continuum, as their genetics are not isolated from one another. I have heard Rinella reference an arbitrary dividing line - some north-south highway, as the accepted boundary between a mule deer and a blacktail. They are both Odocoileus hemionus, but each is a subspecies - columbianis being the "blacktail" variety.

What are typically considered "blacktail" are not even as far east as Idaho, so I highly doubt you saw one in Montana. Just a blacktail-looking muley or hybrid.

 

[Ben Long]

But then again...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/11/05/rare-mule-deer-harvested-in-wisconsin/75238868/

What's closer, mule deer habitat to Wisconsin or blacktail habitat to the Swan?

 

[zachthebowhunter]

Probably just a gene that turned on in a mule deer that is usually off in these parts and on in blacktail areas. But I am an engineer and not a biologist so I'm speaking waaayyyy out of my lane!

 

[Addicting]

We have had an alligator in MI. You never know who will get a “good idea” and release what. Anything is possible. I would think a deer is more adaptable than the alligator that had to get rescued from freezing to death.

 

[joelweb]

I've seen whitetails with black on the outside of their tails. I imagine that's what you saw. If a caribou migrates to Nevada I might change my opinion on this. Mule deer are known to migrate long distances, so it doesn't surprise me that one would end up in WI.

 

[Hunting Wife]

I grew up and my family still lives in blacktail country (SW Oregon), and over the years when they have visited us in Montana we'll see a deer and they swear it's a blacktail. They are always whitetails, though with a distinctly darker brown color on the tail than the body. Not sure if it's an artifact of shedding or just genetics, but I would guess that's probably what people are seeing. Body size should be a dead giveaway. Whenever I go back home, I'm shocked all over again by how small bodied those blacktails are compared to what I'm used to seeing in Montana.

 

[406LIFE]

Not a blacktail, but probably a hybrid. There have been docuemented cases of those over the years.

 

[HUNTNNW]

watched a herd of muley does once and within that herd was a funny looking deer.. it look like a whitetail with giant ears and had tail like a whitetail, but it was almost all black. figured it was a crossbreed and there was lots of both in the area

 

[Highground]

Man I wish I had a picture. I agree was probably a hybrid or whitey with real dark tail. Didnt help it was a small buck made it look more suspect. Ive also seen a couple pure white deer in the same area. Maybe just weird genes around there?