Mule Deer Management and Aging!

[Chuck S]

Has anyone any ideas on best practices as far as management of Mule Deer herds go? Any favorite links? Has anyone ever found an aging deer on the hoof writeup similar to those available on Whitetails?:confused:


I figure that most of the whitetail age indicators will apply to Mule Deer what do you think? http://www.1atexasdeerhunting.com/bodyagingdeer.htm

Good Hunting
Chuck S

[txm]

Tooth wear aging is about the same with both.
Due to the limited number of Mule Deer harvested in a given area, not much has been studied.
The basics of letting the bucks get older is the same for all deer.
Population control is rarely needed for Mulies, because there reproduction rate is less than for Whitetails.
In most unhunted Mule Deer populations 3 does per buck is normal and three does per buck for Whitetails is not a good ratio.
In Texas and New Mexico the habitat is such that just keeping the population at a good level is the major problem in most areas.
While the two species will cross breed, there are many differences.
The diet is similar, but the Mule Deer will eat things that Whitetails don’t like.
One example is that Mule Deer eat Junipers and if you see Whitetails eating them it indicates serious food shortage.
Another difference is that spike Mule Deer at 18 mo. is the normal thing, while Whitetails should have multiple points in a healthy herd.

[Chuck S]

Good points txm. "Tooth wear aging is about the same with both." I agree except for the differences in wear caused by habitat/conditions. Even within Mulies, differences occur between deer in an area with more or less abrasive forage conditions. With both Mulies and whitetails teeth as an indicator grows less useful after about 5.

Along with the differences in reproductive rate I wonder what effect that coyotes and other big predators have one fawn populations respectively?
For those who don't know, " The mule deer's reproductive rate of 94 fawns per 100 does is low compared to the whitetail's 140 fawns for every 100 does. Sexual maturity is slow in mule deer and only seven percent of the does breed when they are fawns and only 68 percent of yearling does become pregnant. About 65 percent of pregnant mule deer does carry twins compared to 82 percent of whitetail does having multiple births."

Literature shows huge disagreement on how to adjust seasons/limits to grow big antlers with Mulies as most Muley states can't seem to agree.

As far as eating preferences, I'm sure that Mulies, versus Desert Mulies, Blacktails, etc versus Whitetails will show several outstanding examples of dislikes such as the Juniper mentioned. I'm betting that Whitetails have a couple of favorites also that Mulies usually do not touch.

As far as the spike deer at 18 months go perhaps that's an area thing?? http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:in3wyWApiw8J:www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_0303.pdf+18+month+mule+deer+antler+gr owth&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a page 12.

[txm]

You are right on about tooth wear; it just like population estimates is just an educated guess.
The predators seem to hurt Mule Deer more than Whitetails.
Lions hit Mule Deer hardest because the habitat preferred by both is the same.
Coyotes hurt the mulies more because the population is lower and the more open country the mulies like makes the fawn easier to find.
I managed a ranch that had a population of both and lots of lions.
The lion was a major problem for the Mule Deer and not so much for the Whitetails.
A lion eats about one deer per week and three when raising cubs.
They can be a help in controlling Whitetails but the Mule Deer don’t need the loss in most cases.

[Chuck S]

Latest research has managers looking a lot more closely at lions as they do kill when hungry and feed on a carcass for a couple days unless in coyote country. With abundant coyotes they drive the cat off the kill and then it kills again the next day or so upping the deer lost considerably. Without coyotes the cat can feed for a few days but with the yodel dogs it's a day or so and then kill again.

[Chuck S]

The trouble with tooth wear againg is that usually that deer is dead and the average hunter needs a better way hence the question as I asked it using body characteristics. Since I asked I've noted that many hunters are now using the self same above method on deer, antelope, elk and more.