Large and probably in charge

Marlan Woodside took this photo in the Tehachapi Valley of a very robust California Mule Deer buck.

Marlan was working on property that he owns in the Golden Hills area when he spotted this prime specimen of a deer. Several weeks earlier on his property, while the autumn rut was still underway, he had discovered a young buck that was badly injured, and neighbors had reported that they had seen two bucks fighting and jousting.

If the buck in this photo was the other combatant, it’s no wonder that the young buck came to harm, for this is a male deer at the peak of his physical powers.

The deer in the Tehachapi Mountains carry the genes of both California Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus californicus) and Blacktailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) in a process known as intergradation. Black-tailed Deer are a subspecies of Mule Deer.

So what are the differences? Well, they are similar in appearance, but in the case of California Mule Deer, they generally have a white tail that ends in a black tip, like a black tassel at the end.

In the case of pure Blacktailed Deer, not only is their entire tail black, but a dark stripe extends up the tail and all the way along their back. Also the backs of Black-tailed Deer ears tend to be dark, and these deer tend to be smaller and darker overall.

Because these two deer are subspecies of the same deer, they can readily interbreed. The Coast Range tends to have purer Blacktailed Deer, and the Sierra Nevada tends to have purer Mule Deer. Since the Tehachapi Mountains serve to connect the two, with help from the Temblor Range, deer in our mountains show characteristics of both, though the California Mule Deer genes seem dominant.

NATURAL SIGHTINGS is a regular feature of the Tehachapi News edited by Jon Hammond which showcases photos of the natural beauty that enhances the quality of life in Tehachapi. If you have a good quality image of plants, animals, insects, trees, birds, weather phenomena, etc., taken in the Tehachapi area, you may submit it to the Tehachapi News. Submissions can be dropped by the News office in the form of a print or CD, or sent by email to: editorial@tehachapinews.com.