Whitetail. Looks similar to the big, wide, and nasty 187 scoring deer just posted.

Whitetail, doesn’t fork out like a mule deer

Things aren't that cut-and-dried in far west Texas. 'Fools a lot of "experts."

Only real way is to check the length of the metatarsal gland or do a DNA test. The gland on the back of the leg is only about 3/4” long on a white tail and about 4” long on a mule deer. This is also how you tell if a hybrid deer is WT or MD.

Whitetail. Ears are too small and no black forehead patch.

White tail , now what do I win ?! 😁

WT not sure why this topic was posted or why I answered it

I'll play, same question.

Hint, hint

Wow. Can't believe 5 of you guys wiffed on that muley mount.

This, 100%. I do know that antler configuration, forks, etc are not the most reliable indicator sometimes.

I've got a hybrid doe running around on my place right now. She shows characteristics of both species, but the metatarsal gives it away. I think I've also shot a hybrid buck there about 10 or 12 years ago. Except for the jacked antlers, it looked very WT so I never checked the metatarsals. My wife's cousin did the Euro for me (he does a ton each year) and he called not an hour after I dropped it off saying he thought it was a hybrid due to the skull's structural differences he only sees in MD. Not that it matters much, but they are an interesting critter.

Here's the doe...

?

Yup, antlers are notoriously bad for determining species.

Cool.. I'd bet money that she's a hybrid just from that pic. If you get a chance try to film her running. In most cases hybrids look like an uncoordinated teenager because they incorporate a mule deer "hop" into the whitetail trot.

and not all mule deer fork out either. Ive seen Whitetails with forked G2s on both sides and mule deer who are slick 8 points like a WT. Antlers aren't the best way to determine the species.

That first pic is a whitetail buck skin on that mount. I don't know if the antlers are mule deer or whitetail. The other photos after that are of a completely different deer.

This big mule deer buck forked on one side and grew an inline point, but didn't fork at all on the other. You never know just by looking at the rack.

Will do. I need to take a doe or two this season, so I might get a closer look too.

never will forget shooting a MD at timber line in western CO one year back in the 1980s that looked like a normal WT 8 point antlers but about 22 inches wide, very tall and weighed about 230 field dressed (not big by CO MD standards). I left in cold storage in CO for the rest of our hunt before bringing it back to central TX with dry ice where we were going to process at my FIL place in a few more days. The guy at the central TX cold storage told me he wouldn't charge me for the cold storage if I would leave it a few more days so he could play with all the loud mouth city guys that brought in their "big" deer from central TX. My FIL thought it would be funny and said he would pick it up the following weekend and he would process it for me.

When my FIL picked it up, the guy that owned the cold storage told him he had a blast and ribbed a bunch of guys that brought in their "big" deer but they were shocked when they would drag into the storage beside my MD (everyone thought it was just a monster 8 point WT) and kept asking what part of the county that deer came from. He would tell them the NW part and let it go.

Thanks for the input! This mount is hanging in a friends house. He always refers to it as a mule deer. I told him I thought it was a whitetail. We may both be right…

Not all mulies fork on top. This is pure MD I shot in Dawson Co

Circling back around on this... I've got a young mulie-like deer that's been hanging around by itself the last couple of weeks. Probably some of the largest ears I've seen compared to its body size. It's also the lightest brown color I've ever seen on a mulie, especially the tip of the very wide whitetail-like tail. The metatarsal seems to be more of an intermediate length, which is admittedly easier to see in the original pic... possible hybrid, I'm thinking. Thoughts?

That’s a mule deer. I don’t think it’s a hybrid.