Piebald Feet on a Deer

[Patocazador]

I shot a deer on Tuesday that weighed 125 lb. and had piebald feet. No other piebald features were present. Even though the deer was 2 1/2 y.o., his antlers were thin and really worn down, almost like he didn't shed them last spring. His cojones were both present.

Does the piebald or albino trait cause a buck to keep his antlers and not shed them?

 

[FL-NC]

That's weird. Probably good you removed him/her/"they".

 

[buck460XVR]

Does the piebald or albino trait cause a buck to keep his antlers and not shed them?

No. Not from what I have seen. We have a large herd of albino deer in northern Wisconsin and the bucks grow new antlers every year. We also have a large population of piebalds at the local military base just down the road. It's claimed it's the inbreeding due to animals sticking around the buildings for safety. They too drop antlers although they do have some other peculiar attributes, like short noses.

Hard tell from the picture, but the antlers seem to have normal color. Something you wouldn't expect to see on a deer that has carried them outside for two years. Around here, a typical year and a half buck would weigh in at around 125# and have antler bases similar to the ones in your picture. Maybe just a very late fawn or it has some other issues due to inbreeding that has caused it to just have small antlers.

 

[Patocazador]

Around here, a typical year and a half buck would weigh in at around 125# and have antler bases similar to the ones in your picture.

Around here (Florida) a 1 1/2 y.o. buck will weigh about 95-105 lb. The does weigh about 85-90 lbs even when they're older.

Thanks for the input.

 

[troy fairweather]

Probably not possible in Florida but frostbite on skin can cause hair to come in white.

 

[Patocazador]

You're right, Troy ... not possible here. Some years we don't even get a frost. It makes the oranges sweeter if we get a frost.

 

[J-Bar]

Sounds like a question for the conservation agent.

Congratulations on filling your tag!

 

[jmr40]

In my opinion that isn't enough white to qualify as "pie bald". Whitetails typically are white on their underside and on the insides of their legs. At least around here. Whitetail deer can vary quite a bit in other regions of the country.

Back in the 1970's GA had virtually no deer. The trapped live deer in Wisconsin and Texas to release here. You can tell huge difference between those with Wisconsin DNA and the Texas deer.

What I see might be a little unusual, but to be honest I've never really paid that much attention to how much and where the white started and ended. I googled "photos of whitetail deer" and found several photos of deer with a fair amount of white on the lower legs showing on the sides and front.

I doubt if the pie bald trait has anything to do with antlers not falling. There have been reports of deer not dropping old antlers but most cannot be proven. This one was.

The Buck That Never Shed Its Antlers | MeatEater Wired To Hunt (themeateater.com)

 

[Speedo66]

We had a piebald deer around here for many years, large buck with a huge rack, walking around a suburban neighborhood. Acted like he owned the area and was in no danger, which he probably wasn't.

About middle to the back of his body was mostly white. Don't know his shed history.

 

[Thomasss]

Either the girl deer love spats or the guys hate them.
You may just want to mount the feet...make them into a gun rack.

 

[Patocazador]

Either the girl deer love spats or the guys hate them.
You may just want to mount the feet...make them into a gun rack.

I did that with one I killed 25 years ago. He had white feet and clear hooves like very light tan color. I've got a muzzleloading long rifle hanging on the gun rack.

 

[Speedo66]

Then there's these guys, a herd of white deer, not albino, in upstate Seneca NY.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_white_deer