Albino Deer... protect or not...

I haven't encountered a true full albino deer yet, but there have been several of the partial albino/piebald deer killed on our property over the past decade or so. They all seemed to be relatively healthy deer, but just not quite right. No glaring abnormalities like 5th legs growing out of their backs or anything :eek:, but still enough to know that they were deformed in one way or another.

All of them have shared certain attributes though:
1--bent/crooked necks.
2--bent/crooked hoofs and the lower portion of their legs.
3--underdeveloped antlers, often being nothing more than long spikes.
4.--relatively small overall body size

All of them were alone when seen and/or killed. I don't know if they are effectively social outcasts or something, but I can't remember seeing one that was really mingling with other deer. Several years ago there was a piebald doe that was hanging around here, don't know what exactly happened to her but she only had 3 legs. She seemed perfectly healthy otherwise when we'd watch her, didn't seem to have any problems going about her daily activities. No one ever took a shot at her, just didn't seem fair. She was observed pretty often for about 3 years or so and then vanished.
 
All of them were alone when seen and/or killed. I don't know if they are effectively social outcasts or something,...
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I've heard that the other deer are aware of how badly the whities stick out and therefore avoid them. Don't know if it's true or not or even how we could ever know the real reason, unless someone were telepathic.
 
I've heard that the other deer are aware of how badly the whities stick out and therefore avoid them. Don't know if it's true or not or even how we could ever know the real reason, unless someone were telepathic.
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Right. Folks who claim such reasoning or anthropomorphizing the animal's behavior with post hoc rationale of what they believe is going on.

As for them being spotted singly, I see lots of deer singly. It doesn't mean there is something wrong with them. No doubt that if a hunter spots a rare albino deer (which are about half as common as ablinism in humans), he will note the circumstances. If the deer is alone, he may attribute the loan animal being that way because of the color when in reality, deer may spend a good deal of their lives solitary, depending on the season, population characteristics, and individual behavior.

Here are a few shots of albinos and regular deer together...

http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2007/03/04/albino-deer-captured-on-film/
http://blog.kb3lzv.com/2007/11/26/albino-deer-from-maryland-paper.aspx
http://www.caverun.org/images/Albino_Deer_Large.JPG
http://urngarden.com/cremationblog/tag/albino-deer/
http://www.nobodyasked.com/2005/12/19/whiter-shade-of-pale/
http://www.pbase.com/quailpointer/image/15646280
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rickarr/2327730694/
http://shewhoblogs.typepad.com/she_who_blogs/2009/02/twin-albino-deer.html
http://www.canpages.ca/blog/?tag=albino
http://www.arizonaandpacificrr.com/spot/attnw/attnw.html
http://localism.com/wi/boulder_junction
 
They probably aren't very challenging to hunt, so folks who worry about what's "sporting" might not want to hunt them for that reason. The lack of pigmentation has a bunch of negative effects, apart from coat color.

ZeroJunk said:
We had an albino deer on the lease. It was not completely blind, but I could get within 30 yards of it most any time from down wind.
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Yep, that's one of them. Albinos of any species (humans included) usually have really poor eyesight. They also tend to go deaf very early in life, or just to have poorer hearing. Don't know how true that is of albino deer, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were. So, hunting sight- and hearing- impaired game...? It seems sort of silly to protect them, but I'll pass on hunting them, myself.

Oh and yeah... there's a lot of research showing that people with very little skin pigmentation are a lot more susceptible to noise-induced hearing loss, so if you blond-haired, blue-eyed folks are gonna hunt them, wear yer E-muffs. :D
 
true albino deer are protected in Illinois. as well as ablino squirels in one town in southern IL. see a brown spot on the albino deer and its on the wall though.
 
They're not protected here. First I've heard of them being protected anywhere. Interesting. I do not agree with it personally.

I've seen one albino dead in the road. It was freshly killed and the hide was not messed up and I thought for a moment about skinning it out and tanning the hide. I didn't though. Came back through about an hour later on my way home and someone else must have had the same thought as it was gone.

I've seen one alive and on the hoof in a field on the side of the road. I've seen one piebald doe during hunting season. My father in law missed it on the run with a muzzleloader. I killed the buck she was running with. He was stupid enough to stop and look, she kept running......
 
Have never seen an albino. Have seen a few piebald but never when hunting. They`re not protected here and IMHO, nor should they be.
 
Heeeeehheheheheh....I'm sorry but at face value, a thread about coloreds vs whites and which is genetically superior is just hilarious.

And no, I'm not racist. I know lots of white people. Continue on with your entertaining thread!
 
Spiff, That was a funny way to look at it...
My albino school buddy would laff his butt off when I would tell him my dark hair and skin made me the genetically superior human...:D He did know he faced many obstacles due to his recessive gene.
But he was as sharp as any other person...
Brent
 
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