white deer

[Texas Ranger]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=inwi10s22a3q81f

[Burlkraft]

Thanks TR  8)

I have seen white deer up north.

Mostly you see them in people's yards because they do feed them.

It's really strange to see them in the woods.

They are beautiful  ;)

[fishpharmer]

Some white deer must have moved south for the winter.  I have seen some that were harvested.

Thanks TR.

[ErikC]

 There has been a strain of white deer in Hayfork valley as long as I can remember. One or two at a time, but certainly not the same one the whole time. They stay right around town most of the time, but this summer one made her way out toward my place for a while. They sure jump out at you amidst a herd of brown ones :D

[CX3]

I know of one pretty large farm that I used to hunt there was always a white deer killed there.  Sometimes two or three a year.  I saw three of them, two at one time.  It was really neat, and to think albinos could just pop up in any deer herd.  Beautiful animal. Brown ones too.

[tyb525]

Technically they aren't Albino. White-tailed deer have a recessive gene for "leucism", which apparently is different from albinoism.

Here's an article (it has some good info, despite that fast that it's from an animal advocacy group).

http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2008/12/the-white-deer-at-the-seneca-army-depot/

[ErikC]

 That's right about them not always being albino. But there could be albino deer as well, they are pretty easy to tell if you can see the eyes. Albino deer usually have red or pink eyes. The species here are Columbian Blacktail, but they must have the same condition as those in Tye's article.

[Chuck White]

There are a few of them about 15 miles from here.

They stay pretty-much in the woods right behind a few houses and it seems no one bothers them.

When we go by, we don't always see them, but we see them once in a while.

As far as I know, they are fair game just as any other deer here in NY, but I couldn't bring myself to shoot one.

It's not like there are lots of them.

A rare sight to behold.

[treefarmer87]

my friend has a big albino doe in his freezer waiting to be mounted

[CX3]

I have also heard that they are not really albinos.  But the guy in the video said they dont have to have pink eyes to be true albinos???

[tyb525]

"Leucism is a condition that results in an absence of cells capable of making pigment. That condition turns their coats white instead of the usual brown color. They are not albinos. In albinism cells fail to produce melanin, whereas with leucism there is total cellular pigmentation failure."

I thought they had to have pink eyes to be true albino. I could be wrong though.

[Ianab]

The pink eyes is usually the give-away that indicates a true albino, as opposed to an animal that's Leucistic.

Both are related to loss of pigment, but via a different mutation that shows slightly different effects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucism

Ian