[chemist308]

My in laws are visiting for Christmas, and this morning my Father in law told me that he'd taken our dog out for a walk this morning and saw a black deer about the size of a button buck. I questioned him on it a bit, and according to him it wasn't dark, it was coal black, with a typical white underside of the tail. He also noted that it didn't appear to be with any other deer. Now the deer in my housing development are very prolific, so seeing a deer isn't a surpise. But I've never heard of a black deer. Anyone else ever heard of this?

[S&WKING]

cant say that i have but ive seen albino deer mabe there is one that is just the opposite that is very rare

[paintballdude902]

id shoot it just because of the rarity

it would be a good pelt to tan and hang on the wall

[Austinite]

Melanistic (black) deer occur in the Texas Hill Country region and are spotted with some regularity. Never heard of them occurring anywhere else until I stumbled upon this website.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/black-deer/

It looks like PA makes an appearance on the "Top 5 places to see a black deer" list.

[Lennyjoe]

My family up in Kingwood WVA have 2 albino deer running around. Both does. There was a 3rd one (a buck) but someone shot him last year.

[TexasChick]

(COPY) Melanistic (black) deer occur in the Texas Hill Country region and are spotted with some regularity. Never heard of them occurring anywhere else until I stumbled upon this website.

Interesting article. I've seen black deer behind my house. I was told that the black colored fur was a resulted from eatting acorns during drought seasons, instead of eatting grasses.

[mio]

i got an email a couple years back of a black fawn. the email stated that it was more rare than albino. its the only time ive ever heard of it.

[MudPuppy]

I think a couple have been taken just south of Austin over the past couple of years--I saw a picture of the most recent one in the paper (or the cabela's newsprint thing).

The hunter thought it was a calf at first. Nice link, good pictures.

[TCB in TN]

Here in middle TN there have been some black deer as well. When living in Morgan County TN back in the late 1980's, I saw several, including a nice big 12 pointer that my buddies and I hunted very hard for a couple of years with no success. Another buddy did kill a little 4 pointer that was as black as coal. Made a pretty mount.

[BIGR]

I have seen a few albinos, but never a black one. Guess I would do a double take if I seen one in the woods.

[1/4MOA]

Black deer are very much like albinos and piebalds(some people refer to them as calicos). i have heard of and read several articals on them.

I'm not 100% sure about the Black deer however the albinos and piebald actually come from a genetic trait in the parents. Two normal whitetails can produce a piebald or albino fawn. It has to do with dominant and resessive genes making up chromosomes (Pedigree as it is called in bio.) If it is common enough in the area i'm sure that two black deer would much more likely pass that dominant "black" color on to there spawn.

didnt mean to act intelligent(cause i'm not haha) but my dad has a degree in Wildlife Bio(and i listen well) and i have taking several bio courses in college. but dont quote me ont he black deer but genetics have everything to do with albinos and piebalds.

[Bezoar]

black white tail are COMMON in my area. Only a few ever get to be more then 70 percent black, but its spooky sometimes. They taste like regular white tail.