Big Game

How to tell them apart

One identification cue for each species, from its profile. Open a profile for the full description - and check your state's regulations, which set separate limits for some look-alike species.

Whitetail Deer

The whitetail takes its name from the broad, bright-white underside of its tail, which the deer "flags" upright when alarmed.

Mule Deer

The most reliable identifying feature is the antler structure: muley antlers fork and re-fork (bifurcate) rather than rising as single tines off a main beam like a whitetail's.

Elk

Elk are the second-largest member of the deer family in North America, behind only the moose.

Black Bear

Despite the name, black bears come in a wide range of colors: black, of course, but also brown, cinnamon, blond, and, in parts of the West, even a rare bluish or near-white phase.

Feral Hog

Feral hogs are descended from escaped domestic pigs and introduced Eurasian wild boar, so appearance varies enormously.

Pronghorn

The pronghorn is unmistakable: a tan-and-white body with bold white patches on the sides, belly, and rump, a white throat marked by dark bands, and large, protruding eyes set for panoramic vision.

Moose

The moose's sheer size is its most reliable field mark from any distance.

Coues Deer

The Coues deer is essentially a small, pale, big-eared whitetail. It carries the classic whitetail traits - a broad tail white underneath and flagged when alarmed, antlers branching as single tines off a forward-curving main beam - but everything is scaled down.

Columbia Blacktail Deer

The Columbia blacktail looks like a smaller, darker mule deer - which, biologically, is essentially what it is.

Sitka Blacktail Deer

The tail is the signature feature - broad, dark brown to black on top, white underneath, very different from the rope-like black-tipped tail of a mule deer or the broad white flag of a whitetail.

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

A mature Rocky Mountain bighorn ram is an imposing animal - 250 to 300 pounds, occasionally larger, with a muscular, compact body built for climbing.

Desert Bighorn Sheep

Desert bighorns are smaller and leaner than their Rocky Mountain cousins, an adaptation to heat and sparse forage.

Dall Sheep

Unlike the dark, blunt horns of bighorns, Dall ram horns are amber to yellowish, more slender, and they spiral outward in a graceful flare rather than tucking in tight - many full-curl Dall rams carry horns that flare wide of the face.

Mountain Goat

Distinguishing them in the field requires care: billies tend to have heavier horn bases, a more massive body and front end, a different urination posture, and often a solitary habit, while nannies are frequently accompanied by kids.

Caribou

Caribou are medium-to-large members of the deer family. A mature bull weighs roughly 350 to 450 pounds, sometimes more depending on the herd; cows run 175 to 250 pounds.

Bison

Bison are unmistakable and immense. A mature bull stands about six feet at the shoulder and typically weighs 1,000 to 2,200 pounds; cows are smaller but still formidable at 790 to 1,400 pounds (Wikipedia).

Mountain Lion

Toms are distinguished by their larger overall size, broader heads and necks, and proportionally bulkier build.

Grizzly Bear

- Smaller, rounder ears set well apart, and shorter ears relative to head size.

Roosevelt Elk

Roosevelt elk are stocky and dark. Mature bulls weigh 700-1,100 pounds, considerably heavier than Rocky Mountain bulls, with cows running 575-625 pounds.

Tule Elk

Tule elk are noticeably smaller than other elk. Bulls weigh 450-700 pounds and cows 375-420 pounds (Wikipedia) - far lighter than the heavy Roosevelt or Rocky Mountain elk.

Javelina

Both sexes carry short, straight canine teeth (the canines point straight up and down, unlike a feral hog's curved tusks).

American Alligator

The American alligator is a large crocodilian with a broad, rounded, U-shaped snout - the key feature that distinguishes it from the narrow-snouted American crocodile, which in the U.S. is restricted to a small part of south Florida and is not legal to hunt.

Stone Sheep

Stone sheep are thinhorn sheep, built lean and athletic for steep, broken mountains. Rams typically weigh 160-200 pounds, ewes considerably less.

Aoudad

The aoudad is a large, powerfully built member of the goat-antelope group - neither a true sheep nor a true goat.

Axis Deer

Because axis deer in mild climates can be on different breeding cycles, mature bucks in hard antler and bucks in velvet may be seen in the same area at the same time of year - a notable difference from native deer.

Nilgai

The nilgai is built more like a small horse than a deer, standing tall at the shoulder with a sloping back, long legs, and a deep chest.

Sambar Deer

The sambar is a big, dark, powerfully built deer with a shaggy coat that ranges from dark brown to nearly black, often with a rusty or grayish cast.

Fallow Deer

The signature feature is the antlers of an adult buck: tall beams that flare into broad, palmated "shovels" with points along the trailing edge, unlike the tined racks of native deer.

Blackbuck

They carry long, ringed horns that twist in elegant spirals, often with several turns in the oldest animals, set in a distinctive V. Bucks are small compared with deer, typically weighing in the rough range of 50 to 90 pounds.

Gemsbok

The gemsbok is a large, robust antelope with a horse-like build and unmistakable markings.

Muskox

The muskox is a stocky, powerfully built animal that looks far larger than it stands, thanks to a long, dark, skirt-like guard coat that hangs nearly to the ground over a dense undercoat of qiviut wool.

Red Stag

The defining feature is the antlers: unlike the simple forks of native species, a mature stag carries long, sweeping, heavily branched beams with multiple points, and the very best old stags develop a cluster of points at the top called a crown or "royal" formation.

Scimitar-horned Oryx

Telling the sexes apart takes a careful eye because both are horned - cows' horns tend to be longer and more slender, while bulls' are heavier and thicker at the base, and bulls are generally more robust through the neck and shoulders.

Addax

Telling the sexes apart is tricky because both are horned - cows' horns tend to be more slender, while bulls' are heavier and thicker, and bulls are generally larger and more robustly built.

Mouflon

The mouflon is a medium-sized wild sheep with a compact, muscular build and a striking coat.

Greater Kudu

Cows are smaller, lighter in color, and have no horns at all, which makes telling the sexes apart straightforward.

Sika Deer

Sika are compact and stocky, standing lower than a whitetail, with dark chestnut-to-nearly-black winter coats.

Roe Deer

Roe are among the smallest of the true deer, standing only about two feet at the shoulder and weighing roughly 35 to 65 pounds.

Himalayan Tahr

The tahr is stocky and immensely strong, built for near-vertical rock. Its most striking feature is the bull's dense, flowing mane - a cape of long, coarse hair over the neck, shoulders, and chest that lengthens and pales toward a rich blond or golden ruff in prime winter condition, contrasting with a dark body.

Ibex

The ibex is a robust, powerfully built wild goat superbly adapted to precipitous rock. The signature feature is the billy's horns: long, curved, backward-sweeping scimitars, heavily ridged or knobbed along the front, that grow more massive with age and can reach impressive length on an old animal.

Hog Deer

The hog deer is compact and heavily built, standing only about 24 to 30 inches at the shoulder with a body that seems long for its short legs.

Rusa Deer

The rusa is a medium-sized deer, taller and rangier than an axis deer, standing roughly 40 to 45 inches at the shoulder.

Barasingha

The barasingha is a large, graceful deer standing roughly 44 to 46 inches at the shoulder, with a rangy, long-legged build suited to soft wetland ground.

Wildebeest

The wildebeest is a large antelope with a stocky, front-heavy build - a deep chest and shoulders tapering to slimmer hindquarters, topped by a horse-like mane and a beard.

Eland

An adult eland bull is unmistakable - a fawn-to-slate-gray colored animal standing up to six feet at the shoulder and usually weighing 1,100 to 1,300 pounds, with the biggest bulls past 2,000, with a heavy dewlap swinging beneath the throat and a distinctive tuft of dark hair on the forehead.

Sable Antelope

The adult sable bull is dramatic: a glossy black coat set off by a white belly, white facial blazes, and a stiff, dark upright mane along the neck.

Impala

The impala is a medium-sized antelope of clean, striking lines. The coat is a glossy reddish-brown along the back that fades to tan on the flanks and white on the belly, throat, and chin.

Chamois

The chamois is a compact, sure-footed mountain animal weighing 55 to 130 pounds, with rams heavier than ewes.

Cape Buffalo

Bulls are near-black, thick through the neck and shoulders, and topped with a fused horn boss that hardens with age.

Asian Water Buffalo

Water buffalo are slate-gray to black, heavy-bodied, with a low-slung head and long crescent horns that sweep back and up.

Warthog

Warthogs are gray, sparsely haired pigs with a long mane, facial "warts," and upward-curving tusks.

Burchell's Zebra

Zebra are horse-sized with bold black-and-white stripes, a stiff upright mane and, in Burchell's, faint brown "shadow" stripes between the black.

Nyala

Bulls are charcoal-gray with a long fringe of hair along the belly, a crest down the spine, white facial and body markings, and yellow-tipped spiral horns.

Bushbuck

Bushbuck have a light brown to chestnut coat with white stripes and spots that vary by region - up to seven stripes on the sides - and white patches on the ears, chin, tail, legs and neck.

Waterbuck

Waterbuck are gray-brown and coarse-coated with a white throat patch, a white ring around the rump, and heavily ridged, forward-sweeping horns on bulls only.

Springbok

Springbok are small gazelles, cinnamon above and white below with a bold dark side-stripe, and a fold of white hair on the back they "pronk" open when alarmed.

Corsican Ram (Ovis aries (feral hybrid))

Corsicans vary widely in color from brown to black-and-white pied, with a mane on the chest and neck of mature rams and heavy horns that curl back and out.

Banteng

Bulls are dark chestnut to black with white stockings, a white rump patch, and short forward-curving horns; cows and young are tan.

Red Hartebeest

Hartebeest are rich reddish-tan with a long narrow face, high shoulders sloping to a lower rump, and thick, sharply angled horns rising from a bony pedestal in both sexes.

Blesbok

Blesbok are purplish-brown with a white face blaze, white belly and rump, and ringed lyre-shaped horns carried by both sexes.

Black Wildebeest

They are smaller than the blue wildebeest and told apart by the tail and horn shape.

Tsessebe

Tsessebe are chestnut brown with a black face and tail tuft, greyish or bluish-black forelegs and thighs, brownish-yellow lower hind legs and a white belly.

Common Reedbuck

Reedbuck are light to greyish brown with white underparts, a white underside to the short bushy tail, whitish rings around the eyes and dark lines down the front of the forelegs and lower hind legs.

Klipspringer

Unlike most antelopes they have a thick, coarse coat of hollow, brittle hairs.

Steenbok

Steenbok look like a small oribi: fawn to rufous, usually rather orange, with a white underside, chin and throat and a white ring around the eye.

Grey Duiker

Grey duikers are grizzled grayish-brown with a dark facial blaze, a tuft of hair between the ears, and short straight spike horns on the rams.

Roan Antelope

Roan are large and horse-like, reddish-brown to gray with a black-and-white face mask, long tasseled ears, an upright mane, and backward-curving ridged horns in both sexes.

Sitatunga

Sitatunga are shaggy and grayish-brown to chocolate, with faint body stripes, a white throat, and greatly elongated, splayed hooves for walking on soft ground; bulls carry gently spiraled horns.

Red Lechwe

Lechwe are golden brown with white bellies; rams are darker, with blackish markings down the front legs, and carry long, spiral, loosely lyre-shaped horns that ewes lack.

Bontebok

Bontebok are deep glossy purplish-brown with a broad white face blaze, white belly, rump and lower legs, and ringed lyre-shaped horns in both sexes.

Mountain Reedbuck

Mountain reedbuck have a grey coat with a white underbelly and a reddish-brown head and shoulders, and a bushy tail.

Vaal Rhebok

Vaal rhebok have a soft, woolly grayish-brown coat, a long neck, large ears, and straight, upright, spike-like horns on rams only.

Oribi

Oribi have a slightly raised back, a long neck and long legs. The glossy coat is yellowish to rufous brown and contrasts with the white chin, throat, underparts and rump; the short bushy tail is dark on the outside.

Cape Grysbok

Cape grysbok are stocky and reddish-brown flecked with white hairs, giving a grizzled look, with large ears and short sharp spike horns on rams.

Suni

Suni are reddish brown, darker on the back than on the sides and legs, with a white belly, chin and throat, black rings around the eyes and above the hooves, and prominent red nostrils.

Puku

Puku are uniform sandy to golden brown, a little lighter on the belly, with a rougher coat than a lechwe, reedbuck or impala of similar size.

Lichtenstein's Hartebeest

Compared with the red hartebeest the horns are shorter and more sharply hooked, and a dark saddle often shows on the back.

Blue Duiker

Blue duikers are tiny, with a flat forehead, large eyes and small ears; the coat varies by region from blue-grey to brown.

Bushpig

Bushpigs are heavily built and reddish-brown to blackish with a pale mane and facial markings, a blunt snout, and sharp tusks on boars.

Markhor

Markhor are large, powerful mountain goats with long shaggy coats, a flowing beard on bucks, and spectacular spiraling, corkscrew horns that can exceed a meter.

Argali

Argali are huge, long-legged mountain sheep, grayish-brown with a white rump and neck ruff, and massive, wide-sweeping curled horns on rams - the Marco Polo form famous for extreme horn length.