White Buck- to take or not to take

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EatBugs

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On my way to the boat ramp yesterday I saw a white, white tail deer. well mostly white. he had brown on his head and a patch on his rump. I thought it was a really large goat at first untill I got to within 50 yards of him. Yep it was a buck. Not huge but not a spike or a fork. possibly 1 1/2 year old 6 point. I crept slowly buy in the truck and stared while he and a few other small bucks stared back. I know albino and piebald deer are out there in the world but I have never seen one in person and I throughly enjoyed the experience and told everybody about him.

Then I came up with a scenario.

What if that buck came wandering by while I was deer hunting. Would I take him? Part of me says, yes. Thats bragging rights, great story, and an awsome trophy. good food too.
Another part of me says, no.... He is such a rare oddity and I really enjoyed seeing him. Other people would get just as much enjoyment seeing him and resent any hunter who takes such a special deer.
But... If I don't take him, some other hunter will or he will get hit by a car and it was a missed oportunity.

Would you take the deer?
 
Decision's made for me here in Oklahoma: not without a specific permit from the state.

It does raise an interesting philosophical question, though. As hunters, predators generally go after the weak or injured, improving the lot of the gene pool. Human, as hunters, are predators, yet we go after the greatest of the species as our trophies (well, some of us; I do know people who will deliberately cull the the atypical antlers, and other genetic oddities). Albinos are a mutation, and (in strictly survival terms), a negative one. Consequently, wouldn't an albino deer be precisely the prey we should harvest?

Just a thought, mind you.
 
If he's legal, he's goin' down. That bring's up a new term in deer hunting, except it doesn't rhyme anymore. Instead of the old "brown is down" I guess it's going to have to be "I don't give a ^%$# what color it is, it's down".
 
I do believe that I'd let him walk on.
What someone else does is their own bidness. I'd just as soon like to think that he's still out there and I might see him again someday.
Biker
 
Albinism is a fairly common "birth defect" in whitetail deer for some reason. In other words, white deer aren't all that rare. In the area where I hunt, there's generally at least one spotted or bagged every year. I'd go ahead and bag him if he is otherwise legal.
 
Can't be true albino, otherwise he'd be completely white with pink eyes (no melanin present at all). Multiple (recessive) genetic combinations can produce various somewhat rare color combinations, but nothing spectacular or extremely rare. Shoot 'em, if you got 'em.
 
I agree with the majority. He's a genetic mutation and should be removed from the gene pool.
 
There are 2 white deer running around the grandparents land in WVA. Both does. No one has any plans on taking them. They have been running around for 3 years now.
 
I've got a friend back in West Virginia who shot a 7-point buck in Kanawha county that was completely white. Must have been... 5 or 6 years ago now, I guess. He paid about $1500 to have a really nice full-body mount made of it, then he took it to the Hunt Show in Charleston and sold it to a collector for nearly 9 grand.

You wave that kind of profit at me and I'd shoot pretty much any deer, even if the damned thing was fuschia.
 
I would. Great story, good eating, and it is a genetic defect that would help the heard to be weeded out.
 
In NH you have to let him walk they are protected.

They are called piebald and may be white or prodomenintly white. They are NOT albinoes.

I believe NY State has a herd of them by Ft Drum.
 
It is not legal to harvest or take all white deer in Illinois. (There are quite few of them running around Argonne National Lab in Lemont, IL.)
Check your state/local Hunting Regs. http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/huntguide1/HATG_0607/HATG0607_1-19.pdf
"If you have any questions about deer hunting regulations, call the DNR's Deer Hotline at (812) 334-3795 8:30 am to 4 pm Monday-Friday. This is not a toll free call."



But if they are not all white, then remove from the gene pool. I've never seen one in the wild other then at Argonne.

My family and I have been working the last few years to remove the offspring of a older spike buck that managed to avoid stepping in front of a arrow or shotgun for a couple of years. When we finally got him he was a 4 1/2 year old with 6" spikes.
 
piebald deer (mostly white deer) are inferior deer. so, yes, i would bust him to get him out of the gene pool.
 
I heard its bad luck, i dont need anymore if that. Still, i think i'd shoot it if it was big enough for me.
 
Um.......I'm colorblind? I thought he had just rolled in the snow? I thought he was so old he turned gray?
 
In Indiana, there is no regulation pertaining to white deer so it is legal to take.

I don't know about the whole taking it because it is inferior deer. When I think of inferior deer I think of management bucks, heafty 5 1/2year old 6 point bucks. Albino and piebald deer may be inferior in the nature point of view but we as hunters don't follow that point. We tend to take the healthy ones and sometimes the biggest and the best ones. I'm sure those white deer are healthy and robust, they just don't blend in well. If I take a white deer it will not be because it is inferior to the other deer, it will be because it's a "HOLY COW WHITE DEER!!!!!" But, if someone tries ragging on me because I killed a white deer, I may likely use the inferior deer spin:) .
 
I haven't taken the one near me, as it does a great job of showing me where a group is at a long distance. Where I hunt I'm not going to spot the deer until they are less than 50 yards from me, but when the local piebald deer is with them, I can spot him (though I still cant see the others) at more than 100 yards. He's helped me take a couple, by allowing me to figure out what direction the group is moving, getting up in front of 'em, and getting a shot at one of the normals when they move close. Perhaps that's the origin of the bad luck myth? So far he's brought me good luck by being alive.

LD
 
Hanging around the local checkin station one day I saw a couple albinos come through. The only one that there was a problem with was the one with the ear tag showing it belonged the the guy recording the kill.




one shot one kill
 
If it's legal and not a pet (as in buck that hangs in someones back yard), I'd try to shoot him.
 
He's a genetic mutation and should be removed from the gene pool
Click to expand...
.

Why? Yes, its an uncommon mutation, but just because the "coloring genes" are screwed up, doesn't mean there's anything else wrong with him. In all likelyhood, its a rare recessive trait, and unlikely to be passed on, if he mates with a "normal" female.
 
Try thinking "variant" instead of "mutant." Variety is good in times of change. Next ice age blows in, suddenly that mutation is an advantage. Unless there is something else obviously wrong with him, I see no reason to take him over any other deer except that it'd make for a good story.
I'm probably with Biker on this, unless maybe if the deer is getting old. Give him time to pass on his genes and make it a quick, useful death.
 
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