White Deer ??

[Helena]

Husband mentioned the other morning while driving to work a white deer crossed the road. He thought it was a little pony at first but no..a deer !! I think I have heard of this before.. rare but not uncommon either. We live in north central PA very near the NY/southern tier border..In fact the deer was in NY state. Anyone know anything about these white deer ??

[james dilley]

There is A very large white deer herd in N Y state. And the deer do not obey State LINES. and there arewhite deer in LA. and they are in Ohio too. As A matter of fact there folks selling them legally in Ohio and P A.

[MELOC]

albino deer are normally the result of some inbreeding as it is a recessive gene. i have seen more albinos in areas like farms or orchards where the deer tend to stay local.

[big rockpile]

I have seen two Albino Deer in my life,but never while I was out hunting.Had a neighbor that shot a Whitetail that had Fawn Spots but had a Rack

big rockpile

[jross]

We have them here in New Jersey, but they are mostly piebald. Old Indian legend has it that it is bad luck to shoot one.

[Ardie/WI]

I remember that, about 15 years ago, there was running aorund the outskirts of Appleton,WI.

[cowgirlone]

We have a couple of albino deer in our area. They are white tail and they sure are beautiful.

[AngieM2]

We need photos if anyone sees them again.
Angie

[TedH71]

In Central Texas there is a herd of deer that can be black or almost black apparently its suspected that its from food and certain minerals in that area but no definite proof. Scientists are still working on that. Melanisitic I believe that's what it's called. I heard that this doesn't happen much else in the US.

[Rowenna7]

There used to be an albino doe near Dickeyville, WI, where I grew up. I never saw it myself, but my dad saw it once, and there were other sightings as well by people in the area. I'd love to see one sometime! They seem to be pretty rare around here, it is also illegal to kill a white or partially white deer here in Wisconsin.

[MELOC]

i almost hit a piebald albino on the way to work one morning. i got to see it several times. the poor thing had a brown spot on it's "target area".

[Bearfootfarm]

Ive seen some white deer around here but they arent albinos. They are just white with normal colored eyes and noses. A true albino will have pink eyes and noses, and white hooves also. I saw some good pics of a few on another forum and as soon as I can find them again Ill post a link here

[RoyalOaksRanch]

We have a white mule deer buck on video I THINK its eyes are dark though, not albino.. Ill have to watch the tape again to be sure.
Hubby shot the video in Colorado. Gorgeous deer. Had a nice rack too LOL...

[tooltime]

I remember as a kid seeing pictures of a true albino deer that was photographed near St. Ansgar, IA. Albinism is a recessive trait (true albinos occur with a frequency of 1:30,000) and they tend to have a built-in disadvantage in terms of concealment.

Here is a link to the Seneca white whitetail deer herd in New York. They are not true albinos, and the herd came about when they got fenced inside the Seneca Army Depot. I think there was an article about them many years ago in Field and Stream or some such magazine.
Seneca Whitetail Deer

I have seen very dark (almost a dk-brown/black deer) in the woods on a farm we used to work, but this type of color variation is not the same thing as a true melanistic black deer. Melanism is again caused by an extremely rare recessive trait. Here's a link to several whitetail buck pictures, including true albino and melanistic deer:

Link to pics of albino and melanistic whitetail bucks

I've always heard piebalds referred to as pinto deer. Supposedly, they are less rare than a true albino.

[Helena]

Thanks for the information..interesting. The army base isn't too far from us in fact. Remember it was quite a big deal that base back in it's day.