MULE DEER

        Deer are the most abundant big game animals in North America. Grass and forb form most of the deer's diet in summer. Key winter foods include shrubs as well as the foliage of Douglas Fir trees. Mule deer and Black Tailed deer are members of the same species, yet are quite different from one another. In British Columbia the Coast range largely separates the ranges ofBlack Tailed and Mule deer particularly in winter.

        Mule Deer are the largest of the sub-species of the Black Tailed deer and have the widest distribution in British Columbia. They range as high north as the Liard River Valley, throughout the interior of the province, and as far west as the Coast Mountains.

        Mule deer have a reddish-brown coat that changes from tawny brown in summer to dark grizzled brown in winter. They have a dark brown forehead , a whitish face with a black muzzle, and a white throat patch. Their ears are large, about two thirds of their head, with distinct black borders and white hair on the inside. Mule deer have a large white rump patch with a narrow black-tipped tail. The metatarsal glands on the outside of the lower hinges are 4-6 inches (10-15cm). The bucks' antlers have two main beams, each which forks again into two beams. Older bucks have four, five or more points and a small tine or eye guard near the base of the antler. Weight varies from 110lbs(50 kg) to 470lbs(210 kg).

        Black Tailed deer are smaller than Mule deer and slightly darker in color. They have a small rump patch and a tail that is brown or black for most of its length. Weight varies from 88lbs(40kg) to 150lbs(68kg). Black Tail deer occur along the entire coast of British Columbia., west of the summit of the Coast and Cascade Mountain ranges, and on most Coastal islands. Visible difference between the Columbia Black Tail (coastal) and the Sitka Black Tail is slight. The Sitka Black Tails are slightly smaller and darker. The Sitka Black Tail deer are found on the Queen Charlotte Islands, on other islands of the Hecate Strait and along the coastal region from the northern tip of Vancouver Island .Columbia Black Tail deer are found on Vancouver Island and along the coastal territory from the International Boundary to Rivers Inlet.