If you are out early or late in Red River this month, watch the edges of meadows and the open ground in the Upper Valley. Mule deer are there, often in plain sight, feeding quietly before slipping back into the timber. They are the deer with the oversized, mule-like ears that give them their name, a white rump patch, and, on the bucks, antlers that fork and fork again instead of spreading from a single main beam like a white-tailed deer.
Click to see more photos of mule deer
November is a turning point in their year. According to New Mexico State University and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, the breeding season, or rut, for mule deer in northern New Mexico begins in late November and continues into winter farther south. Mature bucks that spent the fall in looser groups begin covering a lot of country in search of does, and deer that are normally most active at dawn and dusk may be seen moving at other hours as the season builds. There is usually little actual fighting, because dominance is largely settled before the peak of the rut arrives.
The mule deer around Red River are Rocky Mountain mule deer, the subspecies the Department of Game and Fish places in the northern two-thirds of New Mexico. The department notes that mule deer are the most common deer in the state and can be found from desert floors to high alpine country. Here that means summer in high meadows and broken timber, then a gradual shift to lower, more open ground as snow begins to cover food at higher elevations. They are browsers first, feeding on the leaves, stems, and buds of woody plants, with forbs and other herbaceous plants also an important part of their diet.
That seasonal move is part of what makes late fall such a good time to simply watch. Look for deer feeding along meadow edges, crossing open slopes in the Moreno Valley, or picking their way through aspen and conifers around the Enchanted Circle, always from a road, a trail, or another open public viewpoint. When a mule deer is alarmed, it may go bounding away with all four feet leaving the ground together in the stiff-legged gait called stotting. Bucks shed their antlers after the breeding season, and after a gestation of about seven months, fawns are usually born in June and July, hidden in cover while their mothers feed nearby.
Know before you go
Watch mule deer from a distance and never feed them. The U.S. Forest Service and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish guidance is to give deer at least 25 yards of space, stay on roads and trails, and let the animal change your plans if it changes its behavior because of you. Bucks deserve extra room in late fall, and does with fawns deserve extra room in summer. Exact locations for sensitive wildlife are intentionally not shared here, because these animals need room to feed, move, and raise their young without added attention.