Common Ground

A young whitetail buck jumps a fence to chase a mule deer doe in the rut. This exact scene is described in the opening paragraphs.

In the Texas Panhandle, whitetails and mule deer share common ground.

Article and photos by BRANDON RAY

It was early December, so the scene just outside my country home should not have been so unusual. A mule deer doe in heat was twitching her tail and running in bursts. A buck was nearby, nose to the ground. In that county south of Amarillo, the mule deer rut tends to peak in December.

The buck started following her, then it turned into an allout chase. My camera was nearby, so I steadied the lens for a few shots. The buck and doe chased around my barn, jumping fences and running in circles. Other deer nearby just stared. I watched the young buck eventually chase that doe across my neighbor’s pasture.

What makes that story so unusual? It was a white-tailed buck chasing a mule deer doe!

Increasingly in the last 20 years, I’ve seen whitetails in places where I used to only see mule deer. Multiple times I’ve seen whitetail bucks trying to breed mule deer does, but I’ve never seen a mule deer buck pursuing a whitetail doe.

WHY MORE WHITETAILS?

When I was a kid, Panhandle mule deer were found in rocky, arid, canyon country. Crop fields like wheat or milo were nearby. Mule deer preferred open landscapes with minimal brush, so large Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields of endless grass near rough country were also their home.

Back then, whitetails were common on creek bottoms and along rivers. The riparian habitat was their preference. They preferred brush over open country.

Today, those lines are more blurred. Brush encroachment, mostly mesquite but also juniper, is to blame. As the brush has gradually thickened, the habitat has become more favorable for whitetails and less desirable for mule deer.

“Mule deer evolved to thrive in rough, rugged terrain with little brush cover,” said Texas Parks and Wildlife Biologist Todd Montandon of Canyon. “River breaks, canyons and rolling plains hold the best mule deer habitats in the Panhandle, especially if there aren’t brush encroachment issues.

“Whitetails are more of an 'edge' species; they thrive where two habitats come together, making them adaptable to more habitat types. This is why you see overlap of the two species, whitetails are able to thrive in more habitat types.

"Since settlement, habitats have been changing throughout the panhandle. Fire suppression, confined grazing, and farming changed the landscape drastically. Our two problem brush species (red berry juniper and honey mesquite) spread throughout the canyons and up onto the plains because of fire suppression. Historically, periodic wildfires would keep both at bay resulting in more 'open' habitats. This change has happened pretty slowly over the years resulting in more favorable habitat for whitetails.”

There is this misconception that whitetails are running the mule deer off.

“Whitetails aren’t running mule deer off,” Montandon said. “The habitat has just been favoring them which is why we see more and more. Because of their adaptability, once they are in an area, they can move into adjacent habitats. We have seen this on the High Plains as whitetails are becoming more prevalent there as well. Both species are becoming more prevalent in more places in the Panhandle.”

Over the last 30 years, whitetail seasons in the Panhandle have gone from no doe days to two doe days to six doe days to taking up to five does at any time during the season. There is also a whitetail season in every county of the Panhandle now, whereas 30 years ago the season was restricted to mostly the eastern Panhandle counties. Over the last 15-20 years, mule deer seasons have been added to all of the western Panhandle counties as well.

The Rolling Plains currently has the most overlap, because the whitetails moved in from the east and southeast and have been there longer.

“Long term, I don’t think overlap is necessarily bad for either species,” Montandon said. “They have been around together for a long time. There has always been overlap where habitats transition. Changing habitat conditions caused by brush encroachment definitely favors whitetails, but land managers are addressing this by increasing brush removal efforts (red berry juniper and mesquite) throughout the Panhandle over the last 15-20 years.”

Peak breeding and fawning are slightly different for the two species. For whitetails on the Rolling Plains, most does were bred from Oct. 8 to Dec. 30 in the three years studied, according to Montadon. Study areas showed a peak date of Dec. 3 in the north and Nov. 20 in the south.

The Rolling Plains had the highest incidence of pregnancy, with 97 percent. Biologists found an average of 1.7 fawns for each doe examined. The majority (90 percent) of the fawns are born by July 2 in the northern area and by June 26 in the southern area.

The breeding season or “rut” for mule deer in Texas takes place at almost the same time every year, usually from midNovember through mid-February peaking during mid to late December. Following a 7-month gestation period, most fawning occurs in late June and early July.

HYBRIDS?

As for interbreeding of white-tailed deer and mule deer, it does happen occasionally, but not a lot. There have been several

A close-up photo of a whitetail buck in the Texas Panhandle. Notice the tines come up off the main beam like a picket fence on this 10-point.

studies throughout North America over the years looking at hybridization of the two species.

“Based on those, a population could have anywhere from 1.5 percent to around 24 percent incidence of hybrids at any point in time, Montadon said. “But, overall, it is pretty rare. Most of the time when someone thinks they see a hybrid, it’s a 2- or 3-yearold mule deer buck that hasn’t fully developed both sets of forks (usually missing the back fork) so it superficially looks like a whitetail rack."

The only real identifying physical characteristic of a hybrid is the metatarsal gland on the hind leg, he said. In a mule deer, the gland is typically 5 to 6 inches long; and in a whitetail, it is only 1 inch long. "If you see a deer with a 3-inch metatarsal gland, it could be a hybrid," Montadon said. "Studies have shown hybridization can go either way; mule deer buck/whitetail doe or whitetail buck/ mule deer doe.”

I’ve seen at least two fawns I’m confident were hybrids on my family’s ranch south of Amarillo. In both cases, a herd of mule deer lived near a windmill and one mature whitetail buck was often with the herd. That buck hung out at that location for several years. He was the only whitetail I saw there.

Two of those mule deer does had fawns I believe were sired by that 8-point buck. Both of the fawns looked like whitetails but had black tails. Both fawns had roughly 3-inch metatarsal glands, a sign of a possible hybrid as mentioned by Montandon. I even snapped a few pictures at less than 20 yards from my bow blind.

In both cases, I got to watch the mother and fawn up close. The hybrid fawn would interact with other mule deer fawns, but mostly stayed close to its mother. When the mule deer mother and the hybrid fawn were spooked and ran away, the hybrid fawn did not lift its tail like a normal whitetail fawn but trotted with its tail down.

I’ve heard others who have witnessed hybrids say the animals appear confused as to whether they should run like a whitetail or bound and pogo-stick, stot, like a mule deer. Some say this lack of a good flight response also makes a hybrid more susceptible to predation.

On our family ranch, I have never seen an adult buck or doe that I thought was a hybrid. Hybrids can not only take on the physical traits of either parent, like ears, tail, antler configuration and hide coloring, but they can also take on a mix of behavioral traits of either species.

Writer and photographer Brandon Ray snapped this photo of a mule deer doe and what he suspected was a “hybrid” fawn. At that location, a windmill by a steep canyon, Ray said he has seen the same mature whitetail buck with a herd of mule deer for several years.

Specialized bulldozer-type machines can be used to mechanically “sculpt” juniper brush and create more open terrain.

MANAGING BRUSH

I love observing and hunting both whitetails and mule deer. However, because whitetails can be found far more places across Texas and the United States than mule deer, mule deer are special. Any place you can grow, observe and hunt mule deer is rare indeed.

Mule deer habitat should be treated as such, special and unique. For that reason, I personally look for ways to manage my land for better mule deer habitat. Opening up the landscape by removing brush is one way to do that. Limited cattle grazing, limited harvest of mature bucks, predator control, food plots like wheat for food in the harsh Panhandle winters and better water distribution are other ways to help.

If brush encroachment becomes a problem, there are several ways for a landowner to “open” the property or “sculpt” the brush. First, a prescribed burn might be an option. Check with local Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) offices for assistance in timing and executing a successful burn. Next, mechanical removal might be necessary. Bulldozer-type machines can be used to uproot and destroy large juniper trees, turning them into mulch.

Finally, chemical applications can work to open the landscape and knock back invasive plants like mesquites. Sendero herbicide is very effective at killing mesquites. It works best when applied in the summer, usually in July, when soil temperatures are up. For large pastures, applying the chemical aerially is most effective but also costly.

I asked Jason Davis at S&D Spraying in the town of Panhandle for current prices. His price to spray is approximately $35 per acre. That price includes about $27 for the chemical, $1 for oil and $6.50 application fee. S&D sprayed some of our land in July 2020. We got about an 80-90 percent kill. Today, there are skeletons of the dead mesquites in those pastures that were sprayed, but the landscape is more open and the grass and weeds are thicker than before. It’s better pasture for cattle grazing and more open for mule deer.

Government assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is available to cost share the spraying of mesquites. All that is required is completing some paper work, have someone from NRCS survey the pasture and then wait for the right conditions. The plant canopy must be above a certain minimum requirement, thickness, for the government to cost share the spraying.

For smaller pastures the Sendero chemical can be applied by hand with a spray rig. Consult with a local TPWD biologist for his recommendation on which brush control method might work best on your property.

HUNTING BOTH DEER SPECIES

Before you can hunt either deer species, you should be able to identify what you are looking at. Identification is important since seasons do not always overlap for both species. In other words, you don’t want to mistakenly shoot a mule deer buck when it is whitetail only season.

A mule deer in the Texas Panhandle will have a mousegrey colored hide, large ears and a short, black-tipped tail. Mature bucks will often, but not always, have bifurcated or “forked” antlers.

Whitetails tend to have a brown-colored hide, smaller ears and a long tail with a white underside that they wave or “flag” when they run. Whitetail bucks tend to have antlers that grow up off the main beam like a picket fence.

When hunting common ground counties, it’s just an exciting bonus to find the opposite deer species when you are focused on the other. Another interesting aspect of hunting deer in “overlap” counties is reading sign. Was the track, droppings or rubs you found made by a whitetail or a mule deer? I see whitetails make more rubs than mule deer on our ranch; but unless you actually see the buck making the sign, it’s hard to say for sure if it was made by a whitetail or a mule deer.

Last fall, I had both whitetails and mule deer visiting one of my feed sites in a small canyon dotted with juniper and yuccas, flanked by level ground thick with mesquites. My blind sits on the level ground on the edge of the canyon.

I had bucks of both species under 20 yards, but never a buck of the size or age I was looking for. Interestingly, it was like the two species took shifts visiting the free corn. Rarely did I see the two species at the feeder site together.

The older whitetail bucks visited mostly in the dark, showing up on my trail camera at midnight or later, but the mule deer bucks were often visible in shooting hours. I didn’t shoot a buck there last season. However, the year before I shot a 153-inch, 9-point mule deer on Oct. 31 from that blind. A week later, on Nov. 6, as the whitetails were getting rut-crazy, I shot a 157-inch, 11-point whitetail from the same blind.

Both of those bucks were later aged by tooth wear at only 4 1/2-years-old. Imagine what they might have been at 6 1/2? It’s proof that if bucks get the chance to age, Panhandle bucks of both species can reach impressive rack size.

Traditional hunting tactics for the two deer species are slightly different. Mule deer hunting usually means lots of glassing and hiking. Quality 10x40 binoculars, spotting scope and tripod, backpack and lace-up boots are tools of the mule deer hunter. You find the deer mostly in rough country.

Crops like wheat and milo will attract mule deer, especially if those crops are near rough canyons, but often, the older bucks only visit such fields at night or during the rut's peak in daylight. Mule deer tend to rut later than whitetails in the Panhandle. I see the most rut action in December and early January.

For whitetails, hunting from blinds is common. Rut action tends to peak in November. Calling, both rattling and grunting, can pull a buck within range. I have the best luck rattling the week before and after Thanksgiving Day.

Last fall, my daughter Emma shot her first-ever white-tailed buck. We sat in a natural brush blind built out of cedar branches and tumbleweeds. We were guarding a corn feeder near a creek in the bottom of a large canyon. Cottonwood trees towered over the creek bank and patches of mesquites, juniper and prickly pear cactus covered the flatter ground.

A week later, bow hunting from the same blind, I harvested a mature 8-point whitetail. On the way back to the ranch headquarters, my white-tailed buck riding in the back of the truck, I passed a herd of 12 mule deer quenching their thirst at a windmill pond. Two bucks were in the herd, but they needed more time to age and be their best. I just watched from close range with my binoculars.

Certainly, the opportunity was there if I had wanted to fill my mule deer buck tag.

That to me is one of the coolest aspects of hunting common ground. When your hunt for one species ends, it’s time to go look for the other.

You can follow the author Brandon Ray on Instagram @brandonrayoutdoors.

A mature mule deer buck bedded in thick mesquites and tall grass.