I know the all white is albino, and the patchy white is pibald, but I'm not sure if they have a "name" for the all black. I do know the all black whitetailed deer is the rarest. Some states have laws protecting these three rare deer. It's just a pigment problem in their skin tone. If a doe has twins, and has the black pigment gene, only one of the fawns will get it. Both the buck and doe have to have this rare gene though for it to come out.
"The trait is known as melanism and named after the pigment melanin. Melanistic animals produce excessive amounts of the pigment that causes their fur to be dark or completely black."
I've read a few stories of hunters taking "Black whitetail deer" Here's one story of a Youth hunter that got his first Deer, it was a "Black Whitetail Deer" <-see Deer
i believe it is the current "Deer and Deer hunting" magazine that actually has an article in it about this. Just read it the other day. I believe thats the mag
Yeah it's melanism, there have been a few melanistic deer (I read some place in Texas has a lot of them). The only melanistic animals I've seen in the wild in person are the longnose gar that live in our river...every once in a while there's a black one swimming around. Haven't caught one yet...the line always goes astray after multiple tries and then the fish is gone :ranting:
As for albinos I've seen 2 whitetails in person this year.
crazy looking deer! do you know if it's a male/female yet? would be cool to see it grow some antlers next year. I dont know if melanistic deer exist in Tennessee, but if I saw one I would try and shoot it since it's not illegal to kill black deer (only white ones) in TN.
Great pics, thanks for sharing. I've always loved unusual colors and markings on all animals. I don't know if I'd shoot it or not. We have some light gray turkeys here and our regulations say " wild turkey: any dark turkey" So we can't shoot the gray ones, but they are cool to see. Will try to get pics this year.
i think i would be so in shock that i actually saw one that i would forget to shoot it.... then again....
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