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Piebald Deer & Albino Deer
What are Piebald & Albino Deer?
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Have you ever seen an albino deer or a piebald deer in the field? If you have, you know it makes for a great conversation around the fire at deer camp. What is a piebald deer and what causes it? Same for the Albino deer? Read on to learn more.
I am on a bit of a role with blog posts that are bit different than what has been standard here on 1st Rut. Hopefully you like these posts and they prove to be educational and entertaining. A note on the picture, his camo pattern is extremely effective…
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What is a Piebald Deer?
Lets start with what Piebald means. Piebald is defined as having irregular patches of two colors. In the whitetail deer the two colors are brown as you might have guessed and white. I have read reports that between 2% and 3% of deer are born with this genetic abnormality. It is a recessive trait, meaning both the male and female have to carry the recessive gene.
The piebald abnormality can range from severe to mild. With the milder cases the deer lives to maturity and in the sever cases, where other defects are visible the do not. If you have seen a Piebald deer in the wild consider yourself lucky.
What is an Albino Deer?
An Albino deer is one that is void of body color pigment. It will be solid white with pink eyes, nose and hooves. It is considered to be more rare than a Piebald deer. Albinism is also a recessive genetic trait in which the male and female have to carry the recessive gene.
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Wrap Up
Seeing a Piebald deer or an Albino deer in the wild is rare, so if you do, take the opportunity to snap a couple of pictures to share with your buddies at deer camp. Make sure you understand the laws in your particular state as some states protect Albino and Piebald deer. If you are looking for more whitetail deer information, check out our Whitetail 101 section. It is the most comprehensive whitetail deer hunting educational content available. The best part, it is all free so enjoy and let us know if there is a topic you would like to see covered in the blog.
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