Ohio piebald buck

[Jack O'Conner]

My cousin sent me this older photo. The buck was taken with a 12 gauge smooth bore shotgun in Van Wert County near the Indiana line. Distance was about 50 yards or so.

I have never seen such a buck anywhere!

Jack

[Brian Pfleuger]

Cool looking deer!
I worked with a guy ~15 years ago in upstate NY that shot one similar... they stopped at the local diner for breakfast, locals ran them out. Apparently that deer was off limits.
There’s an area between Syracuse and Watertown that’s famous for various piebald/albino variants.

[buck460XVR]

I live about 10 miles from a large military installation. While hunting is permitted on most of it's 60,000 acres, it is not permitted around the buildings and main base areas. Deer in those areas have learned they are safe and stay put. This leads to a high incidence of inbreeding and thus.....Piebald deer. Many of those deer have short/stubby noses, like the buck in the picture. Seeing them is pretty easy.......just a short drive around the buildings.

About 180 miles to the north of me, there is a well known established "herd" of pure albino deer near a popular Northwoods Vacation area. Photographers and animal lovers alike flock there hoping for the chance to see what is otherwise considered a once in a lifetime sight. It is thought that these deer have lessened immune systems and senses, thus making them less likely to survive in the wild, yet these deer are truly wild, altho they are protected by law and the locals help them out in the winter. Piebald deer are not protected in the state tho.

[big al hunter]

I have seen 4 piebald deer in the past 25 years. 2 we're bucks that were living in a new subdivision, off limits to hunting. There is a piebald doe living near the high school in town. She is 2 1/2 years old. She had a twin, also piebald, with a different pattern. The twin was hit by a car last year.

Last year a bowhunter tried to put the sneak on the piebald doe when she was grazing near the school. It is an open field next to the main road into town. Someone called the police. It is illegal to hunt within 1 mile of a school.

I would love to harvest a piebald buck...chances are I will never see one while hunting

[Drm50]

I have seen several around my area but only one was a buck. Word gets around and all the locals know where it's being seen and usually some bow hunter will
set up on it and get his picture in paper. I only know of one killed in gun season and guy that shot it was not popular. It was near town and people were feeding it. It became programmed to where they were feeding it and could be seen there
daily. He just waited for it and shot it outside of town limits. Legal but not cool.
I have never seen a true albino in my area. There is a old legend that shooting a
albino deer causes bad luck to Hunter.

[T. O'Heir]

White colouring does not mean Albino. Albinos have pink eyes and skin shade. White is just a colour phase. Most white deer exhibit a condition commonly known as leucism. A recessive genetic trait. Just like having a blond in a mostly dark haired family. A Viking in the wood pile. snicker.
There was a white cow and her calf moose filmed near Sudbury just last week. Just north of London there's a wee town that boasts about their white tree rats too. Made 'em into a tourist attraction.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbu...iral-1.4882827
"...have lessened immune systems and senses..." Not likely. They'd be killed PDQ by assorted natural predators as fawns if that were true.

[buck460XVR]

Originally Posted by T. O'Heir

White colouring does not mean Albino. Albinos have pink eyes and skin shade. White is just a colour phase. Most white deer exhibit a condition commonly known as leucism.
"...have lessened immune systems and senses..." Not likely. They'd be killed PDQ by assorted natural predators as fawns if that were true.

Albino eyes may look pink because of the lack of pigments in the eyes allows one to see the blood in the blood vessels. Even true albino eyes can take on other colors due to lighting and other pigments. Albino eyes are always light colored, not always pink. Leucism is caused by a different process that does not affect pigment in the eyes and those animals have normal colored eyes. Pie-balds are caused by a recessive gene and both parents must possess the gene to produce pie-bald offspring. This is why it is common from inbreeding in animals in small compact areas such as I stated above. Those same genes also carry other genetic defects such as bowing of the nose (Roman nose), overbite, short legs, arching spine (scoliosis), short lower mandible and internal organ deformities.

Whitetail fawns survive their first few days mainly because they have little or no scent and they are very well camouflaged. Being white takes a big part of that away. True Albino eyes have very low resistance to sunlight and can develop permanent damage when exposed to it. Those same eyes are also shown to be under-developed compared to their normal brethren, resulting in poorer eyesight.

https://boulderjct.org/the-great-white-wonder/

[Brian Pfleuger]

Piebald and albinism are not directly related but often occur together in closed or semi-closed populations. Both do indeed produce various physical abnormalities. Albinism is especially associated with vision problems, while piebald often produces physical defects of legs and joints.
In many places, there are few if any natural predators. This has historically been true in upstate NY where hunters and cars account for the vast majority of casualties. This is less true now with exploding red wolf/coyote hybrid populations spreading across the Northeast.

[Scorch]

There is a herd of piebald deer near here, right along a river where it runs through town. I have seen them several times. Not sure what causes the coloration, but it looks unusual.

[Hawg]

We have a lot of them and some solid white deer but they're not albino.

[MarkCO]

Took this photo of a Mule Deer on the range in 2006.

[Dano4734]

All my years in the woods never saw one.. way cool looking deer