Just an FYI. B&C now has a seperate category for blacktails taken east of I-5. They WILL be scored as Cascade Blacktails. I had my four point officially scored this way.

Hello- I thought I would leave a little info for ya. I know that blacktails really have a "blacktail". most muleys tails are tipped with black not the whole tail. also like everyone else has said they have BIG ears (muleys) and they normaly have a bigger "crown" on their forhead than a blacktail. at least up here in washington

Welcome aboard you new guy's. Good stuff. Hope the blacktails really understand what side of I5 their supposed to stay on! I've never paid that close attention to the tails. But then I don't doubt it either.

Are you planning on hunting muley or blacktail. And I agree I dont get to pay much attention to their @$$ either I am more interested in the antlers. but also check the "crown". thanks for the welcome!!!

The ears on mulies allway give them away. Blacktails will wait you out. They have ALOT of patience if they feel safe. Mulies are more skitish and will flight faster and run to top of a hill and stop and look back, your last chance at a shot. Not to metion, mulies tend to have wider spread racks. Just my $.02

This is a quote from Deschutes & Ochoco NF Website located at http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/wildlife/species/mammals/hoofed.shtml "IN CENTRAL OREGON: Many Columbian black-tailed deer spend their summers with Rocky Mountain Mule Deer in the sub alpine parklands of the high Cascades, when winter snows blow in the deer must migrate to lower elevations, inevitably some blacktails migrate into Central Oregon with mule deer. These populations of mule and blacktails breed or intergrade to form a hybrid population. The resulting offspring resembles an exceptionally large blacktail, with careful observation differences may be noticed, for example, a dark vertical stripe extending down the entire length of a wide tail is typical of a blacktail/mule deer intergrade. Large populations of Columbian black-tailed deer can be seen at the White River wildlife area." Thought this may be of interest to some of you high desert hunters. I wonder if the hybrids taste better than the mulies.

Welcome, I live in SLO county inCA and Pope,BC, and the powers that be say these aren't Blacktails. Thats OK.I beg to differ and accept all 27 I have taken. Biggest 190lbs gutted. 20" 3x3 Most of mine could have passed for Nor Cal or OR bucks.And most of mine have been gray with black racks. All have BLACK tails. Not part or tips,black all the way to white tip. White under. Most racks I have look like Whitetails,Long fronts,lots of non-typicals. Good luck and good hunting.

Dr. Valerious Giest has published some great books on elk and deer and the discriptions he has in there will help you know what kind of deer it is you have. I got mine out to check my 07 Sierra buck,looked at the tail and saw it was an INYO muley, my first. But as those before said if it is important to be in some book, you have to be hunting the areas they accept. Good luck and good hunting.

I have entered a Blacktail as a Cascade Blacktail that B&C now has as an official category. Just an FYI. also, for Oregon, with the exception of Columbia Whitetails, as long you have a valid tag for either side you are hunting on, the actual species of the deer does not matter. In other words if you are hunting the high cascades on the western side and shoot a mulie that wandered over the crest, it would be perfectly legal, and same for if you shoot a blacktail on the eastern side with a eastern unit tag.

the easiest way to tell the difference between a blacktail and a muley is the tail.

a mule deer has a white rump with a skinny tail, tipped in black

a blacktail's rump is the same color as the rest of the body, and the tail is thicker, and all brown to black on the outside - the underside is white

where they live doesn't change that - but it will change how they are viewed by the record books

there are other differences, but that's the most obvious and easiest to determine