layin on the smackdown Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Last weekend during the 2nd IL gun season, my girlfriend and i were hunting in central IL. It was the first evening of the season, and i had place my lady on a path that runs between two large thickets in a river bottom, and left her there while i went to another farm about 2 miles down the road. so there i am sitting on a log watching squirrels chase eachother and pondering the idea of a squirrel rut and its possible correlation with the whitetail rut and other dumb things when i got a text from my girlfriend. "I think i just saw a white deer" i freak out, and immediately text her back " if its all white DONT SHOOT!!! If it has any brown on it at all, drill it!" a few minutes go by, and she texted me again...the doe had walked over the path, then circled back and came out 20 yds away from her, facing her. She tried to get a picture of it on her phone, but it figured out what she was, blew, and bolted...It was hilarious...she called me freaking out, her voice was all jittery as if she just saw a 250 incher...I explained to her that she could retire now...she has seen it all. I know plenty of people who have spent thousands of hours on stand in their careers, including myself, and have never layed eyes on a true albino deer...she might have 200 hours on stand total, and she hits the mother load! She should have bought a lottery ticket that night... ANyone else ever see a true albino while on stand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowtech_archer07 Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 I have yet to see an albino deer in the wild, neither has my dad and that's over 40 total years of hunting... him for over 30 and me for just over 10. A good friend of ours saw a piebald while hunting with his son a few years ago though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Never have seen an albino. Have only seen one piebald, and that was while I was coming home from my brother's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brudaman340 Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 i have seen 1 piebald alive, and my friend shot one and got that mounted which was cool. I also saw one just the other day at the taxidermist that someone had a full body mount done. Another time i was driving and i could of swore i saw a full albino deer up on this hill top, but im not positive what it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tp793 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Never hacve seen aalbino, but I have seen one piebald while driving down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntermq32 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Yes near were I hunt but I was not hunting when I saw it. This spot had more then the one I saw. There was 3 total one was poached a few years back. One was found dead 2 years ago. The people who found it called dnr and confermed it died of natrual cuases. age was 8.5 or so. The other is a buck and no one knows if it is still around or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie234 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 we have a couple around here, I've seen pictures of them but I haven't seen them myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeNRA Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Seen piebald twins with momma last year when Dad and I were driving home from archery hunting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backwoods07 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 No, but I've sat in my stand for hundreds of hours during rut trying to figure out squirrel rut!!! Everyone laughs when I bring it up, but I'm convinced. And darn, those squirrels rut hard!!! My hunting buddy was doing some scouting with his video camera and claims he saw an albino on the farm, but "forgot to press the record button." You know how that goes.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NY_Bowhunter14 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 had a pie-bald that would show his face just about everyday during summer time... that was about 10 or so years ago... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Never seen an Albino...but saw 3 Piebalds on a hillside, among 12 other deer, in West Virginia one year while on our way to buy coolers for the deer we had already taken on that trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muzzy916 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 i have never seen an albino deer in the wild. i shot a half ass piable doe last year and my first year deer hunting i saw and all black doe but she was too far too shoot. it was on of the coolest things i have ever seen in the wild. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Not all white deer are albinos. There is a recessive gene in all deer that occasionaly comes out as a piebald or even an all white deer. A true albino is different. It has pink eyes and semi clear colored hooves. Not the same thing. NYS has a whole herd of white deer (not albinos). They are located on the old abandoned Seneca Army Depot which is a huge chunk of land that was used to store military ammo. The whole place was surrounded by a huge fence to keep "bad people" out. It also kept the deer in, and sufficient inbreeding occurred to allow this recessive white gene to become semi-dominant. Not all the deer are white, but a large percentage are. This same phenomenon can occur in the wild although it is rare. So the presence of a white coloration is not indicative of albinism. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 ANyone else ever see a true albino while on stand? Nope, not even a piebald. Don't know of any ever seen around here either. Think some areas of the country like Michigan there are more deer with genetic pigmentation flaws. Seems there are a couple members here from Michigan who have posted numerous pics of true ablino deer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layin on the smackdown Posted December 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Not all white deer are albinos. There is a recessive gene in all deer that occasionaly comes out as a piebald or even an all white deer. A true albino is different. It has pink eyes and semi clear colored hooves. Not the same thing. NYS has a whole herd of white deer (not albinos). They are located on the old abandoned Seneca Army Depot which is a huge chunk of land that was used to store military ammo. The whole place was surrounded by a huge fence to keep "bad people" out. It also kept the deer in, and sufficient inbreeding occurred to allow this recessive white gene to become semi-dominant. Not all the deer are white, but a large percentage are. This same phenomenon can occur in the wild although it is rare. So the presence of a white coloration is not indicative of albinism. Doc Out of Curiosity, if what you are saying is in fact true, is it legal to shoot a white deer if it is not a true albino? i believe the regs state that you cannot shoot albinos, but says nothing about shooting white deer....hmmmm? The one my girlfriend saw had very pink ears, and a pink nose....evidently there are 3 or four white or albino deer in the same vicinity that she encountered this one...Coles county IL, near Charleston... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layin on the smackdown Posted December 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 No, but I've sat in my stand for hundreds of hours during rut trying to figure out squirrel rut!!! Everyone laughs when I bring it up, but I'm convinced. And darn, those squirrels rut hard!!! we can't be the only idiots who have ever pondered a squirrel rut....or wondered if there is any correlation between deer rut and squirrel rut...if this has never crossed your mind, your not sitting long enough... anyone else want to add to this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Out of Curiosity, if what you are saying is in fact true, is it legal to shoot a white deer if it is not a true albino? i believe the regs state that you cannot shoot albinos, but says nothing about shooting white deer....hmmmm? The one my girlfriend saw had very pink ears, and a pink nose....evidently there are 3 or four white or albino deer in the same vicinity that she encountered this one...Coles county IL, near Charleston... State regs will vary from state to state. Here it is illegal to kill any white deer period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 13, 2008 Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 Out of Curiosity, if what you are saying is in fact true, is it legal to shoot a white deer if it is not a true albino? i believe the regs state that you cannot shoot albinos, but says nothing about shooting white deer....hmmmm? The one my girlfriend saw had very pink ears, and a pink nose....evidently there are 3 or four white or albino deer in the same vicinity that she encountered this one...Coles county IL, near Charleston... I'll bet that what she saw was a true albino.That pink nose sounds like it. As far as legality for shooting white deer, each state handles it differently. Here in NY there are no restrictions on shooting any of the color phases of deer. In fact they have hunts at the Seneca Army Depot for the white deer. I'm not sure what is the rationale behind outlawing harvesting of white deer in some other states. They outlaw killing off an animal that exhibits recessive genetic qualities that are non-typical of the breed. That's like protecting faulty genes. It's funny they will get all upset about killing off a white deer but say nothing about the rarer black deer or piebalds. Sounds like the law is not based on any kind of scientific principles, but rather based on some kind of back-woods religious beliefs or some kind of notion that killing a white deer is "bad medicine". At any rate, it probably would be a good idea not to shoot a white deer even though they don't make the distinction. I think their terminology may be a bit flawed, but their intent is clear. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unioncountyslayer Posted December 13, 2008 Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 I have seen one, while on stand, about 6 years ago. I saw her during bow season at about 100 yards. Hunted the area pretty hard the rest of the season and never saw her again. The buck I shot this year was a piebald (he had a lot of white on his legs). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazylegz70 Posted December 13, 2008 Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 I have seen 1 albino in the wild and the city where I live in Illinois has a full body mount one in the Library. The one that I spotted was an 8 point.... I think in the Illinois rule book it says that it is illegal to harvest a "all-white deer" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly Posted December 14, 2008 Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 I have never seen a deer with any white on it while in stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricF Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 I've seen only one myself, alive. My friend and I had just left our hunting area and turned onto the hardtop road. I spotted a white animal in the headlights on the roadside...then it steps into the road...and stands there. We stop less than twenty yards from a pure albino doe...pink eyes, nose, inside of ears appeared pink, etc. We couldn't believe it...a ghost deer!! She stood there for several seconds before just walking on across the road. Less than a quarter mile from our hunting area, but we never saw her again. This was in the Trenton NJ area in 2002. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aksheephuntress Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 ...that would be awesome to see....-I would of been excited, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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