Comparison of Mule Deer & White-Tailed Deer

Buck, or male, white-tailed deer and mule deer have antlers. White-tailed bucks' antlers consist of a main beam with tines growing out from that beam. Mule deer bucks' antlers fork from the beam and then fork again. The result gives a very different look.

Both white-tailed deer and mule deer have large ears to allow them to hear predators as they approach. However, mule deer ears are larger and tend to be set at about a 30 degree angle on the head, versus the white-tailed deer ears, which stand more erect.

White-tailed deer have brown tails with white fringe. When alarmed, they raise their tails, revealing all-white undersides. Mule deer have white, ropy tails with black tips. They do not raise in alarm.

White-tailed deer and mule deer are about the same size. They can weigh between 80 and 400 pounds, depending on sex, age and geographic location. Both stand between 3 to 3 1/2 feet tall at the shoulder.

Both species are reddish-brown in the summer time. In the wintertime, their coats change to gray.

Mule deer inhabit western North America from northwest Canada all the way south into central Mexico. White-tailed deer inhabit all of the United States except for three Western states. The white-tailed live in most of southern Canada, all of Mexico, all of Central America to Bolivia in the south.

White-tailed deer and mule deer have slightly different reproduction and mating cycles. Mule deer mate from mid- to late November; white-tailed deer breed from late November to early December. Gestation for mule deer is seven months, for white-tailed deer 6 1/2 months. White-tailed deer does, or females, can breed at 6 months of age. Mule deer does must be older before they can breed.

Mule deer have stiff-legged, bounding hops that other deer do not have. They use this hop to escape predators. White-tailed deer gallop rather than hop.