piebald deer....pics

[Woodduck]

Originally posted by Zbone:
"Biologist will tell you that they come from inbreeding and are bad genes for your herd."

Not exactly true.... A piebald is a degree of albinism which is caused by a recessive gene.

My understanding is that this deformity is caused by a recessive gene that all deer carry in their make up. Inbreeding increases the likelihood of having piebald deer.
 
Piebald deer have skeletal deformities like short front legs and arch back, and short lower jaw. This makes them bad for your herd.

Game Wardens told us that we should harvest them and more does on our lease. We've killed six or seven on our club land.

[Liquid Amber]

I've collected a large file over the years on piebalds; killed two, one with bow and one with rifle; observed 6 in the wild.  

According to an old college friend, Joe Hamilton, biologist, whom many will recoginze from his long involvement with QDM, piebalds result from a matching of two recessive genes.  This gene naturally occurs in about 3% of the population.

Kill them or let them walk, they will not influence a wild population due to the recessiveness of the gene.

[Dave2old]

I have similar pics of a mule deer doe from SW Colorado ... darn good camo out there in the sagebrush! Ain't nature great? dave

[rbaustin]

Oleno State Park on the Santa Fe River, N Fla, has a fairly large herd of piebold deer.....our scout troop camped there at least twice a year.....have seen up to 6 at a time.......they are smaller than the regular whitetail at Oleno

[Zbone]

Woodduck – Not exactly true, from what I’ve gathered, not “all” deer carry the recessive gene. If that was the case and they “all” had it, then in that theory more deer would have “skeletal deformities like short front legs and arch back, and short lower jaw”.


Also, many or most have normal skeletal structures.


Liquid Amber has it right, although I don’t know how they could estimate a percentage because it will be different in various areas. It all has to do with genetics.


As stated, piebalds carry the recessive gene of albinism and both parents must carry the recessive gene before it can occur in their offspring. An albino bred to and albino would have only albinos. An albino bred to a normal pigmented animal without the recessive gene for albinism would only produce all normally pigmented offspring, but in turn, these offspring would carry the recessive gene. When carriers of the recessive gene breed, there is about a one-in-four chance they will produce an albino offspring.


Once the recessive gene enters a deer herd where previously nonexistent - as the herd grows, generations of the gene becomes prevalent. That’s why in some areas piebalds and albinos maybe be absent and in some areas more common.


Not an expert on heredity or know exactly how one gene dominates over another, but have witnessed and studied this piebald/white deer phenomenon enough to have somewhat of a grasp of it.

[Forester]

Liquid Amber - it's a small world as our paths indirectly cross once again...I just spent last weekend with Mr. Hamilton and heard the same information.

Good pics of an interesting specimen.  I have seen a few over the years and they are unique.  There is currently one on a neighbors farm that we have seen for over two years.  And there is a "blond" deer just up the road fom me - very uniform coloration.  I hope to get some pictures of either one this year.

[Dave2old]

"Alleluia for regressive-albinistic aleles!" --Jose "Peabrain" Mandel    dave

[Zbone]

Forester - Those blond deer are very unique. Have a friend who has a small exotic animal farm and he had a set of blond twins a couple years or so ago. Have photos, but no way of posting them. I've also seen a blond/carmel colored one once in the wild.