whitetail in utah

[300wbyfan]

what is the deal with all the damn whitetail poping up across the state, is there someone planting them or is it the dwr. does anyone have pics have any pics of utah whitetail and what is the dwr stand on them are they regulated or are they like coyotes and kill every one that you see? weatherbys rule

 

[HillbillyNnevada]

Take it from a guy that grew up back East, if there are really whitetails in Utah it is because the whitetails want to be there. I doubt anyone helped them get there. They are like illegal aliens, you wake up one day and there are 12 of them living in a space big enough for 3 and you can't get rid of them no matter how hard you try.

A mature whitetail is 3 times as smart as a muley. He doesn't mind living in your backyard eating your grass and rosebushes, his offspring will be twins and triplets, he will watch muleys die of winter kill while he lives behind the 7-11 on main street and he will be here long after we are gone. I like to analogize them to roaches after a nuclear holocaust or bums on the freeway exit. Whitetails are like marines, they will adapt and over come! Not trying to step on the muley lovers (myself being one of them) but whitetails will displace muleys.

If whitetails are really in Utah, get used to them because they are not going anywhere even if you put a wide open season or bounty on them. You might decrease there numbers but they will always be there.

 

[REDDOG]

"A mature whitetail is 3 times as smart as a muley"

why would you say that on a site called monstermuleys?

 

[Randy11]

Because it's the truth?

 

[HillbillyNnevada]

Reddog, I mean no disrespect but if you have spent much time in close quarters with a muley and a whitetail, I tend to think that you would agree with myself and Randy11.

 

[gb22]

As for whitetails being more adaptable than mule deer, there is no question of that.

Smarter...about 40 years ago that was true; hasn't been true in a LONG time (when it comes to hunting). Yes, I've hunted them both and on public property.

A mature mule deer buck is MUCH more difficult to acquire for a couple of obvious reasons. First, there are so MANY fewer of them and the hunt is more physically challenging.

Aside from the differences of their reespective favorite living areas, the mature bucks both become (almost) nocturnal and very secretive during the hunting season.

IF one is shooting either of them on food plots or hay fields (any place on property with very limited access) there is much less challenge and mule deer do live a more visible existence.


Within the shadows, go quietly.

 

[nochawk]

The whitetails have been entering t for years now, they started coming in from Idaho thru the Bear River valley I believe, some have been seen as high as Tony Grove up Logan Canyon and as low as Bear River Refuge.

I think it was last spring 08 that one was road killed in Ogden around 31st street exit of I15. so they are in teh Weber river valley as well.

As for DWR position... your deer tag say's "1 deer" it do's not say Mule deer. so if you see him and like him...pop him and post pic's.

They are here so we will just have to deal with it.

 

[Prism]

First whitetail I saw in Heber Valley was probably 8 years ago. First whitetail I saw in Utah was in the Echo Canyon area about 15 years ago.

Still not many of them around, and I don't imagine there will be many in our lifetimes but down the road I imagine there will be quite a few.

Strangest place I've ever seen one is in Central Colorado in one of the best muley units in the world at timberline.

As for whitetails being smarter I think all things being equal muleys and whitetails (smartness) is more a product of their environment.

I've seen some pretty dumb big whitetails-especially in Texas when the feeder comes on;-)

 

[luv2hunt]

I would have to agree with hillbillynnevada Whitetails are very smart - the smartest animals I have hunted and I have Hunted both Whitetail and Muledeer Dont get me wrong I love Muleys I would rather hunt them than Whitetails anyday

 

[MULEYSTALKER]

I saw a whitetail doe hanging out with some muley does over by the Middlefork WMA a couple of years ago. I agree whitetails are smart but muleys are just as smart and they live in more rugged areas making it even harder to get one. Big muleys are one of the hardest game animals to harvest now days they are so few of them.

 

[arch3614elk]

I just got done building my spacious 8 person tree stand with carpeting and drink holders in my front yard... I got the deer feeder near the hotub set to spill out the C'MERE DEER every six hours..I also have the neighborhood kids wearing the DOE IN HEAT... I am ready for those cunning very smart whitetail's to enter my food plot....And for added measure I made sure the neighbor two houses away is a marine....

 

[alp75]

>I just got done building my
>spacious 8 person tree stand
>with carpeting and drink holders
>in my front yard... I
>got the deer feeder near
>the hotub set to spill
>out the C'MERE DEER every
>six hours..I also have the
>neighborhood kids wearing the DOE
>IN HEAT... I am
>ready for those cunning very
>smart whitetail's to enter my
>food plot....And for added measure
>I made sure the neighbor
>two houses away is a
>marine....

LMAO!

 

[Dikndirt]

Arch36 Dont be fooled by what you see on t.v. A mature whitetail on heavily hunted public land is as tough to kill as any muley. I have hunted both species out here in the west for over thirty years and each species present their own unique challenges. Hunting a big whitetail is like playing chess more of a technical mind game. Big muley hunting is typically more physical because of the more rugged terrain they inhabit. I really don't care which one i hunt as long as I can hunt both.

 

[Randy11]

LAST EDITED ON Aug-09-09 AT 07:43PM (MST)[p]It's definitely harder to kill a big muley than a big whitetail. Mainly because there's so many more more mature whitetail than muleys, it's so hard for mule deer to reach an age where they're really something special. It's definitely not because all of the big muleys are outsmarting the hunters.

Also, saying that an animal's dumb because they come into bait is just plain nonsense. Look at bear hunting, one of the smartest animals we hunt, and baiting's the most successful way to hunt them.

 

[arch3614elk]

Dikndirt.... By no way am I fooled by what I see on t.v, or any where else in the the wild. I too have done my share of hunting, like you said every big game animal has it's own unique way of being hunted or stalked..What you may not know was that I was being fecicious about the comment of how a whitetil deer is smarter than mule deer. Thats like saying a hunter that wears green socks is a better than a hunter who wears purple socks...Personally I am a spot and stalk type of hunter I like to play the wind and I feel like it's more sporting to me. In my own opinion I don't think it's that sporting to sit a fixed blind and wait for an animal to come along... I have been in a ground blind as a hunter and as a photographer, but when I sat in fixed blind(A SHACK ON STILTS) fifteen feet in the air with a feeder in the middle of a field that didn't feel like true hunting to me. I had to remember that I was being paid to be in that "treestand" to tape this guy shooting his deer.

 

[REDDOG]

hillbilly, i really wasnt disagreeing with you ,just knew it would start a chit storm!

but i do not think they are "smarter", how can anyone know that? i've seen both species pull off some amazing stunts, especially big muleys. i will however give the wiley whitetail credit for being more spookey. they will spook much easier than mule deer. some times that works against them tho.

 

[Daxter]

I am torn on Whitetail. I have been places in WY in the Buffalo/Shridan area where the WT were almost exclusively in the agricultural areas and river bottoms and weren't in the uplands where the mule deer were. With that kind of a situation I think it would be nice to have WT in Utah. If the WT stayed in the ag areas and river bottoms and didn't mess with the muleys. However, I have also been to areas in Northern Idaho where the whitetail are everywhere from river bottoms clear up to the higher forests. With that kind of situation I think WT would just be another competitor for the mule deer, and it would be another unneeded challenge fighting against mule deer. I don't know why the WT seem to behave differently in different areas.

Also, if we did get WT in any kind of numbers in agricultural areas, landowners would have a fit in UT. There are lots of landowners in UT that are not tolerant of wildlife on their lands (other than maybe right during the hunting season).

WT have been poping up in UT for years, but the numbers don't seem to be increasing, or at least not very quickly.

Dax