(http://i1033.photobucket.com/albums/a411/johnwhitten/PICT0420_zps42306b1f.jpg) (http://s1033.photobucket.com/user/johnwhitten/media/PICT0420_zps42306b1f.jpg.html)
(http://i1033.photobucket.com/albums/a411/johnwhitten/PICT0421_zps724a40be.jpg) (http://s1033.photobucket.com/user/johnwhitten/media/PICT0421_zps724a40be.jpg.html)
Tell me what you think. Piebald or Albino? I got a picture of this deer on my trail camera last week. He was seen during hunting season by my uncle. He came out on a green field right at dark and was pushing around another small button head. I finally got a up close picture of him. Im guessing he is a Piebald. The reasons why I think this is he is does not have a Pink nose and eyes. I've read where a Piebald can be Blondeish/whiteish, brown spotted with black nose... what are your thoughts?
I agree with you. I believe they have to have pink nose/eyes to be considered a true Albino.
Either way very cool. Have you asked yourself what you would do if you get a shot at him?
I agree it is not a true albino. I know what I would do if I shot it Tom!
TJ I am going to shoot him if I can next fall. Too many hunters around us that will shoot him if they get a chance.
this is a really neat deer
Going with Piebald for sure, great picture. I have never seen one in the wild, after 45 years in the field.
New York has a population of "Blue Nosed" deer with blue eyes and nose on the Seneca Army Depot. Look just like that one. Very cool.
The wife says it is leucistic...which is a white piebald. Very cool. Might want to check local game laws about taking that one. I'm pretty sure that here in TN it's illegal to kill an albino. That deer would be legal here but, from state, ya never know.
shag I will look do some internet surfing on Leucistic.. thanks
leucistic is what he is. similar to the white alligators. a true albino has no melanin, so you would see the pink eyes (actually the retina showing through a colorless iris).
leucistic animals have the primary coat/skin color replaced by white, but still have dark pigmentation in hooves (claws, etc.)
wikipedia actually does a pretty good job of explaining it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucism
It is a shame you can't give him several years to develop some horn growth before you try to take him.
Black hooves, piebald.
Nice, hope you get a chance at him in the fall.
Pretty cool deer. I'd really have my eye on that guy on the right hand side of the screen though!!
dark timber I killed a turkey on that field sunday
Is nothing protected? Even though it's legal. I wouldn't shoot him. I think he would deserve a pass from me.
not albino, I would go with leucistic, very cool and rare.
Hey John...what kind of antler growth did he have before he shed them? Just judging by the body he looks like a year and a half old deer.
I kinda share the same sentiments as others...I'd really hate to take that one. I'm not a horn monger by any means. But unless that deer was a 20 " 10 point, I think I would have serious reservations about killing him. The cape makes him a once in a lifetime deer. And I know what you mean about neighboring hunters killing anything that walks.
I let a big Texas long-horned spike walk all year because he had spots down his back like a fallow deer. He was clearly 18 months old, and in his winter coat, but i gave him the pass at 10 yards (many times) because he was so different.
I guess for me it would all come down to "THAT MOMENT." I have missed before (easy shots...with rifles) because my heart wasn't in it.
It may be myth but everyone I know of who has shot an albino or piebald had bad hunting luck for years after.
Cool looking deer, I was gonna go with Pie Bald but that Leucistic seems to fit.
Genetically speaking, being leucistic is likely not a great career enhancer, especially as a newborn and young deer.
Why should he get a break that others don't ?
ChuckC
Ive always heard its bad luck to shoot one. That the bad luck would follow you for all your future seasons as well. I think I would pass as well I already have plenty of bad luck to go around.
Shag my uncle saw him during the season said he had small spikes
QuoteOriginally posted by ChuckC:
Genetically speaking, being leucistic is likely not a great career enhancer, especially as a newborn and young deer.
Why should he get a break that others don't ?
ChuckC
x2!
QuoteOriginally posted by DarkTimber:
Pretty cool deer. I'd really have my eye on that guy on the right hand side of the screen though!!
Hahaha that's what i am talking about!!
Man I've got a special place on my wall for that deer...!
I saw my first piebald in the woods last fall. Beautiful spike. I had always swore that I would shoot the first one that I saw regardless of size. The deer was well with in range and I passed on the shot. I took the normal colored mature doe that was with him. I only regret the decision on Mondays and Thursdays. ;)
John...yeah he was definitely 18 months old. Come next season he will be a 2.5 year old buck. He actually looks a little poorly to me to be that age but he may be like myself...pictures just don't do him justice lol.
Everybody is absolutely correct, being stark white and sticking out like a sore thumb does nothing for his own self preservation....BUT he did make it through his youth and has made it through two hunting seasons. I'd say he is pretty damn smart to survive, looking the way he does.
Most of the bucks harvested in North America each year are 2.5 years old. Most hunters will let a little buck walk nowadays...once they get over 2.5 they get too smart to be killed...generally speaking. I'm a logger, not a wildlife biologist, but I do ALOT of reading and observations. Most of the deer on my walls are only 2.5.
I think it would just come down to "THAT MOMENT" for me, like I said earlier. You may never see him again if you let him walk. But you will never have a chance at another one.
I'm sure glad he isn't on my place lol. I don't know what I'd do.
Shame he will probably never mature. He would be tough to pass up.
I've been seeing one here, all white but lacking the pink eyes like yours. A true albino would lack pigmentation in the hooves as well.
Beautiful deer. I guess if someone wanted to harvest it, and it were legal, that would be their decision.
There is no such thing as Karma, bad luck, whatever you call it.
Piebald would be white and black splotches. Skewbald is white and any other color (brown, usually).
The deer at Seneca Army Depot in NY are white. Truly white.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Seneca_White_Deer_On_Army_Depot_Grounds_1.JPG/799px-Seneca_White_Deer_On_Army_Depot_Grounds_1.JPG)
Cool looking deer. Like said above, I don't think it is albino. Just an awesome looking creature though!
Bisch
Other than the "isn't that cool" factor, piebald deer and albinism are genetically undesirable traits in several ways. Instead of never shooting one, the better option is to observe the rules for any deer and make some white chili.
A hunting party shot a white Moose here last Fall and lived to regret it. The local First Nations declared the animal sacred and there was quite a hullabaloo over it.
A local First Nations guy I know shot twin white Whitetail fawns and had his Elders proclaiming lots of bad luck.
I'd shoot the "pinto" type of Piebald, the ones with brown and white, but that all white guy - I don't know. A 10 point rack on him would seal his fate, though...
Dad shot one years ago while hunting in Pennsylvania. Had the head mounted along with the feet. Made a beautiful wall mount. Also had the hide tanned and when he got it back about half the hide was missing. Only the taxidermist knows where that went,LOL.
Bad luck shooting one is B.S. No such thing as luck ,good or bad. Dad shot at least another 50 deer after that one along with three bear and a couple of fox.
I would certainly shoot it and have it mounted with the hide tanned and made into a rug.
QuoteOriginally posted by Stumpkiller:
Piebald would be white and black splotches. Skewbald is white and any other color (brown, usually).
The deer at Seneca Army Depot in NY are white. Truly white.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Seneca_White_Deer_On_Army_Depot_Grounds_1.JPG/799px-Seneca_White_Deer_On_Army_Depot_Grounds_1.JPG)
I agree with the black and white comment made above,learned it in college about horses. I would have no problem shooting it,if it were legal.
(http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee458/jimavelis/1ae1bb99-5518-42b5-83b8-46d129dfc669.jpg) (http://s1228.photobucket.com/user/jimavelis/media/1ae1bb99-5518-42b5-83b8-46d129dfc669.jpg.html)
An albino from here in western Indiana.
That isn't a true albino. Beautiful deer, I would love to shoot one like that!
I just recently saw one very similar. Thought it could be an Albino until it turned and I was able to see a small patch on the shoulder. I am very superstitious when it come to white animals. No shooting them for me. I trust the Indians on this one.
Leucistic for sure. We had quite a number of those on Long Island. Remember seeing two together in the woods once and thinking at first glance "who the heck put a giant propane tank out here in the woods!"
That was until the gas tank split in two and started running ... had to sit for a seconds after that.
The deer is neither Albino nor Piedbald but instead leucistic. Another mutated phenotype.