Black Mule Deer

[MattM37]

Biologists spot rare, black mule deer in Texas, video show | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

I always like hearing about rare animal sightings.

Around here we sometimes get snowy owls down from the Far North. Black squirrels aren't exactly common but not at all unusual. I caught a tiger trout one time in a stream that holds both brookies and browns; a fisheries biologist told me it's possible that it occurred naturally.

[fitch270]

Never heard of a tiger trout. They must be extremely rare since brookies spawn in the spring and browns in the fall. Catch and release? Would have made a wicked cool replica mount.

[Danbo]

Never heard of a tiger trout. They must be extremely rare since brookies spawn in the spring and browns in the fall. Catch and release? Would have made a wicked cool replica mount.

I believe brook trout spawn in the fall just like browns and lake trout.

My friend that Matt shared picture of with a big lake trout has caught a few tiger trout out of a stream that flows through downtown Syracuse.

[fitch270]

I believe brook trout spawn in the fall just like browns and lake trout.

My friend that Matt shared picture of with a big lake trout has caught a few tiger trout out of a stream that flows through downtown Syracuse.

You’re right.

When I was a teenager I had access to a large pond that was full of native Brookies, in the spring they’d cluster up in the spring runs that fed the pond and I always thought they were spawning then.

Learned something new today.

[MattM37]

Never heard of a tiger trout. They must be extremely rare since brookies spawn in the spring and browns in the fall. Catch and release? Would have made a wicked cool replica mount.

The biologist said it's unlikely, but not impossible, that fertilization could occur from one species' spawning area to the other's. She said it's more likely, though, that somebody had a pond stocked with the hybrids and then floodwaters let them move into the stream.

I did release it. A very pretty fish, dark-bodied with neon-green markings. It was only about ten inches.