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How did he get this far east?
A rare mule deer sighting near Alexandria

Whitetail deer are prevalent around the Alexandria area, but Kevin Kotts of the Department of Natural Resources in Glenwood can think of only a couple of cases where a mule deer has been seen in the area. Now he can add another one to the list.

Alexandria's Jeff Klug sent a photo to the Echo Press Newspaper on Nov. 15 of a spike buck muley.

"We saw this photo last week, and it sure looks like a mule deer," Kotts wrote in an email to the Echo Press. "I guess a hybrid is always possible, but this deer has a mule deer tail and mule deer ears. Mule deer seem to have more of a gray color than the brown of whitetails."

The photo sent by Klug was taken at Country Blossom Farm just west of Alexandria. Klug lives in that area and says he saw the deer a couple times, always by itself.

Many others in the area had witnessed the deer too over the course of about a month as it became the talk of the area. Unfortunately for those who enjoyed spotting the deer, Klug recently sent another photo showing that the deer had died after getting hit by a car on Highway 27 near the public access on Lake Mary. This photo shows the deer up close with the gray coat and whiter face of a mule deer.

"It had been seen by I don't know how many people out here," Klug said. "I've never heard of them being here. I've heard of moose and seen moose tracks on my property a few years ago, but I've never seen a mule deer this far."

Mule deer are generally found in western North America. States like Montana and Wyoming are popular hunting destinations for the deer, while opportunities also exist in Minnesota's neighboring states of North and South Dakota.

Seeing mule deer in Minnesota is not unheard of, but it is certainly not a common occurrence in this portion of the state.

"In my work area, mule deer are very rare," Kotts said. "In the 1990s, I saw a small mule deer buck that was shot near Hancock. I've also heard of mule deer being taken in Traverse County near the South Dakota border, so seeing a mule deer in West Central Minnesota doesn't happen very often."

Kotts figures the deer probably moved here on its own in the wild and not from a game farm. The fact that it is a young buck also fits the mold of other big game species that sometimes wander outside of their normal home range.

"There doesn't appear to be any ear tags or other external markings on the deer," Kotts said. "We have occasional wild elk and moose pass through our work area, and these are almost always younger males."

I've been hunting mulies for well over 50 years and I've only seen a handful of spikes in my life. Normally a yearling will have a small 2x2 rack

That's true but there is nothing about that deer that resembles a hybrid.
I'm searching for more photos.
Alexandria is pretty deep into central Minnesota, not where one would even imagine a hybrid. Something tells me he didn't get there on his own.

A Mule deer with a respectable rack was shot in western Wisconsin last year.

There are few around here on the western side of the state. I've personally seen one doe and a buck was shot by Ulen a few years ago.

In South Western Washington I saw a muledeer with spikes at least ten inches long. I watched it for several minutes.

It's not all that far from the hills near Watertown-Roshholt SD, and while Mule Deer aren't common there, there are a few. Plenty of rolling hilly country around Glenwood to hold Mule Deer.

I saw a mule deer buck, probably in the mid-20"'s wide, size-wise at least, on the Iowa-SD border and that was in the late 80's.

If you look carefully at the picture, you will see that he is at least a very small 2x2 and he may even have 3 points on the right antler.

i'd bet that herd started from the bunch that escaped from Kenny's game farm back in the late nineties. A storm knocked down the fence on one of his pastures near Summit, and about a dozen got away.

Couple of years ago we had an antelope in gatzke mn.

I wish we had mule deer

Keep us posted if any Elephant show up!

In the room, standing right behind ya. Sorta pink lookin'

I think you're right. I hadn't seen the photo before. It does look like a small forky rather than a spike. He just looks like a typical yearling.

Definitely a mule deer. It looks like the buck has small forks but I've seen a number of spikes over the years. It would be nice to see mule deer expand their populations a bit so I look on any possible range expansion as positive.

The home of the famous Viking sword!

I hunt northwest Traverse County and shot my deer about 30 yards from the South Dakota border. I've thought I've seen mule deer but upon closer inspection they turned out to be whitetails. I don't doubt that there are 1 or 2 out there but most of the sightings are from someone's imagination. The deer run big out there

I don't think Alexandria is too much of a stretch to find a lone mule deer.




Dave

They show up in the sandhills of Southeastern North Dakota from time to time and I saw a doe this year about an hour Northwest of Fargo. Alexandria doesn't surprise me all that much, animals wander.