Blacktail, Whitetail, Mule Deer

[dak0ta]

Which of these 3 deer species are the hardest to hunt and taste the best?

I've only hunted the blacktails, and now that I've moved to an area with monster Whitetails, I'm thinking that I had it really easy when hunting the black-tails. The Whitetails are much bigger here, and it's so cool when they go bounding off and you see their tail flip off.

I've also seen some Mule deer, and I've read that they're related to the black-tail.

Anyways, would appreciate your guy's stories and comments.

Oh btw, I'm thinking of hunting whitetail with a slug out of my Benelli Nova. Will the slug get the job done out to 50-60 yards with a bead sight as long as I do my part and get it into the vitals? I've taken a black-tail at 20 yards, and I thought it was overkill for the deer, but I guess it ran about 20 yards more and then expired, less suffering with the massive caliber and 1 oz weight.

I used Federal Truballs managed recoil last time, do I need the extra 300 fps from a regular recoiling slug to get a whitetail?

 

[Coltdriver]

I think terrain determines how hard anything is to hunt. Hunting pressure makes everything spooky.

I think what they are eating determines what tastes best. But the last guide I talked to said all things being equal that white tail was the best tasting.

And a shotgun slug is a sporting way to hunt as you are not likely to take anything at a long distance. None of the deer are particularly tough.

This year I am going for some grass fed elk with a 45 70 and I am going to get within 100 yards. At least that's my plan right now I got a week in December to try before I have to resort to a longer distance caliber.

Last year I snuck up on a whitetail and got within 100 yards then shot the deer with a 6.5x54. Bang flop.

 

[witchhunter]

Whitetails are much better tasting than mule deer. We don't have whitetails out here, they are probably illegal in California anyway. (like everything else)

 

[Davek1977]

We have about equal numbers of whitetail and mule deer on my parent's ranch, and I've harvested a good many of each over the past 20 years. I couldn't begin to tell you which was better, or that I've ever even noticed the slightest difference between the two. When both are eating the same things, and handled the same way, one would have to have far more sensitive of taste buds than I do to ever detect the difference. Granted, a mule deer thats eaten nothing but sage brush won't taste like a corn fed whitetail....but a whitetail thats eaten nothing but sagebrush won't taste like a corn fed white tail either! All things being eqaul, I doubt most people could tell the difference in a blind taste test

 

[jmr40]

A slug will work, but I wouldn't use one unless rifles were outlawed where I hunted. If they were I'd have a shotgun set up with good sights to hunt with. You can make do with what you have. The range you can kill one will be determined by how accurate you are with the bead sight on your gun. 50 yards would be pushing things in my opinion, but if you can consistently hit a deer sized target at that range with those sights the slug will kill any of them.

Generally speaking whitetail and mule deer live in very different habitat and require different tactics. Never hunted blacktails. They are probably more closely related to mule deer, but live in habitat more like whitetail and probably behave more like them.

I find mule deer easier to hunt because they live in more open country. Shots tend to be longer so a slug gun is more of a disadvantage. But that can vary a lot. Every place you hunt is a little different.

 

[Patocazador]

Having hunted all three, I think the terrain and weather makes the blacktail the most difficult. I had three hunts to Western Washington and only saw a decent 3x3 once. I came home with nothing so can not add a comment to the taste.
I think a whitetail from agricultural land tastes better than a muley.

 

[DM~]

I have shot a truck load of blk.tails, i've also shot truck loads of whitetails... There's NO question to me, if you are actually hunting wild deer, the blktails are easier to get.

I'm NOT talking about whitetails around farms, those are easy to get, just shoot one off crop land. (read food plot)

DM

 

[wyohome]

Blacktails are the easiest to shoot, the hardest to hunt. Mulies are easy to see and sometimes require longer shots. I don't mess with whitetails much, not worth the trouble for the small size.

 

[dak0ta]

I had to go to an island to hunt my Blacktails, camped overnight and went out with the 12 ga. Even on a small island they were pretty elusive, but when found were in bunches.

 

[montanaoffroader]

I've hunted all 3, and find that mule deer are the easiest to hunt, whitetails are next in line, and blacktails are the toughest.

Where I was hunting blacktails in the Coast Range of N California, large portions of Humboldt and Trinity counties are straight up and down making for some pretty tough hunting. Lots of hiking, not many deer.

Here in central Montana, mule deer can be pretty easy to find as they tend to hang out in more open country. Even if you don't get a shot, you usually see some deer at least.

Montana whitetails you have to work a bit harder for, as they tend to hang out in brushy areas that can be difficult to hunt.

Just my personal experience, curious to see how others rate them.

 

[dak0ta]

Might as well add some photos:

 

[wyohome]

I was next door neighbors with bowhunter Larry D. Jones (Wilderness Sound Productions) for a number of years. He has made videos of just about everything he has ever hunted. When I moved to Wyoming he was in his 5th year of trying to make a blacktail video, and had made little progress. They are just that hard to pattern.

 

[Bobson]

In Washington state, everyone always told me blacktail were the hardest to hunt. Here in Arizona, they call the coues deer nature's ghosts. I'm inclined to believe both are equally difficult or equally easy, depending on know-how and technique.

I know people who hunt every year and have for decades, and never killed a deer. I know others who hunt every year and harvest every year, as surely as going to the grocery store. These two extremes only strengthen my hypothesis. I've never met any hunter who "gets a deer some years."

 

[Davek1977]

I guess I never really thought about that before Bobson, but thats more or less right in my experience as well.....the same people shoot deer every year. Sure, there's the odd year where someone who "always" puts a deer down doesn't, and the guy who never fires a shot gets lucky....but those are usually exceptions to the rule. Good hunters who know their game and know their geography tend to put deer down year after year. If I recall correctly, there's been one season since I've been legal to hunt that I didnt harvest a buck. Then again, I was raised on the ranch I hunt, it has more than adaquet numbers of deer(whitetal and mulie, in bout even numbers), and I know every nook and cranny of the 1ok plus acres, because I've hunted it every year since I was old enough to hike. I took my largest mule deer to date last year not more than 1.5 miles from my parent's doorstep

 

[Gunnerboy]

Been hunting blacktails 10yrs coming this season and so far im 6 for 9 seasons. The other 3 seasons i didnt even see a buck thats how illusive blacktails can be, one minute your in a swamp the next you gotta climb over this mountain haha oh coastal washington what fun it can be.....

 

[The Bushmaster]

Ain't that the truth, Gunnerboy. Hunted Blacktail in the Snoqualmie National Forest for many a year.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I've taken a black-tail at 20 yards, and I thought it was overkill for the deer

Beats the hell out of underkill.

 

[MCgunner]

The terrain I've hunted mulies in, Guadalupe Mtns of New Mexico, was a lot harder on ME than hunting whitetails from a stand. The way my knees are from all the flat track racing I've done, I doubt I'd hold up to mulies out there anymore. My left knee, especially, one that has the steel shoe on it when racing, has been caught in ruts and sprained multiple times. I think I don't have much cartilage left in the joint. It pops something fierce sometimes, and hurts. Walking, still hunting the woods isn't bad if I take my Aleve, no uphills/downhills on rocks, but I'd still rather sit in a stand or box blind now days.

I'm not sure what "hard" you're talking about, but whitetail involves passive sitting on a trail or on a food plot or feeder for me. You see him, you shoot. Mulies, well, the spot is easy, but they have ears like giant satellite dishes. They can hear you coming from a long way. They're very hard to get within muzzle loader range. The only one I ever shot was 350 yards across a canyon with a 7mm Rem Mag.

Trophy hunting, I'd say whitetail are tougher to bag than a trophy mulie simply because they'll avoid the common trails, won't come to the food plots or feeders in daylight hours. I'm not a B&C type hunter, anyway. I don't have the money for it. ANYone can shoot a B&C buck in Texas if he or she has 6 or 8 Gs to spend on it on a managed low fenced ranch. On my small places, if I don't shoot it, my neighbor will. That's not very good management. So, by default, I'm a meat hunter on whitetail. Yeah, I'll take a B&C buck if ever one presents itself, but I also play the lotto once in a while. I'm used to the odds and not winning. Those managed ranches also often have breeding programs. They'll measure in the sections, not acres. The deer never leave the ranch, it's just too big.

 

[AABEN]

Blacktails are the easiest to shoot, the hardest to hunt. Mulies are easy to see and sometimes require longer shots. I don't mess with whitetails much, not worth the trouble for the small size.

Here in In some of the whitetail will go 200+. I killed a 9 point that went 212 Lb after it was gutted.