white deer in Ill.

[52 bow]

There is a white doe staying where I hunt in Ill.It is illegal to take a {all white} deer in Ill.I called the Dept. of conservation and talked to 3 diff. people about taking this animal since there is no such thing as an [all white deer].No one could answer my question and all agreed that the law is very vague.The doe has black nose ,hooves, and eyes.An albino has pink hooves ,eyes, nose making it 'not' all white either.Any one from Ill. had any experience with this law??? Thanks John

[oddan]

Yes. A guy I know located one and tried to put up the same argument. Best taking pics and not shooting it. The state needs the money and WILL take it to court. He passed on the one he seen also.

[adeeden]

Bad mojo to shoot an all white deer!

[ilarcher]

Yes it is bad (indian) mojo. Thats what they say.

Yes there is no such thing as an all "white deer" but in IL if all the fur is white you better not shoot it. If you do shoot one and a CPO finds out he will write a ticket and leave it up to a judge to decide.

I remember a couple years ago a guy shot a white buck that had brown fur between its antlers. A CPO wrote a ticket that came with a steep fine because the CPO said it was a albino deer(which is a BIG no no in IL). The guy fought the tickets and finially won after many court hearings. So if you thinking of shooting the deer it better have some brown "Fur" somewhere on it.

[waknstak IL]

Bad Mojo maybe, a big ticket for sure. It better have some brown fur on it. You can shoot a piebald but a deer without brown fur gets to walk.  

[Rick Perry]

bad mojo !!!


 I killed a partial white skwerl a couple of years ago  ........... my huntin has suked ever since  ,,,, 8^(

[DuffyRP]

On page 12 of the Illinois Digest of Hunting and Traping Regulations 2008-2009 It states..
 "White Deer Protected
It is unlawful to take any all-white white-tailed
deer at any time."  You can look it up at  http://www.dnr.state.il.us/publications/pdf/00000582.pdf   I hope this helps.

[Dick4bows]

There used to be all white deer around Argonne Labs.  They are Fallow Deer raised by a farm before the Feds bought the land for the lab.  They are very rare now days.  They have interbred with the native whitetails.  An albino deer has pink eyes.  the Fallow deer has brown eyes. Albinos are the ones that ,through the misguided push from the Animal Rights groups, are the intended focus of the law.      Dick

[52 bow]

Thanks for all the feedback.I was told that Ill. is changing its white deer law to "partially white" next year and that the law as it is will not stand up in court by an Ill. official.As far as 'bad mojo' goes I'd have to have some bad luck to have any luck at all!An all white hide would look good on my trophy wall but not worth the trouble plus was never sure I would take it or not- just wondered what the Ill.law really was and really never got an absolute answer from any official just thier interpetation of it except a 'shoot them all from one biologist'.Thanks again, John- by the way Ind. doesn't judge deer by creed or color!!

[Jeff Strubberg]

Why in the world would you protect a genetic recessive trait like white fur?

[Jodi]

Last year three days into bow season, I snuck up to 18 steps of an albino doe. She was bedded and stood up and gave me an excellent shot with my camera. I sent the picture to my local paper and it made the front page. Next thing I know every hunter in the area around where she lived was after her. I wished I had kept it hush-hush. I had taken a doe just two day before and have been hunting since I was a kid. But that white deer was one of most beautiful things I have witnessed. There is no way I could have shot that deer. Just my ywo cents.

[adeeden]

About 15 years ago or so there were a set of twin fawns in Parke County, IN both albino. I saw them reguraly all summer and fall. The following year the buck had a little 6 point rack but I never saw the doe fawn again. The buck I saw several times throughout the bow season. I never saw him after the general gun season again and never heard about anyone killing him either so I have no idea what actually happened to him. They were something to watch though!

Oh one more thing I'll add about the buck on his second summer (his first rack). The other deer seemed to avoid him, it was almost weird if there were deer in a field feeding and he would show up they would always leave and rather quickly. I'm not sure why but they seemed scared of him! I saw this happen quite a few times.

[GrnMtnTradNut]

I belive when we hunted there if the deer was 75% or more white you could not shoot it, they are off limits. They should be killed cause they are a genetic screw up and hurt the local gene pool, and most do not live long any how. They normally have a sight or hearing issue, and mostI have seen have some type of dwarfism in the legs and snout.

[Overspined]

Michigan finally did away with that insane law. We can now spread bad mojo with red stains on the white fur. They are genetic mutants and should be taken out. A deer is a deer. White is just so angle-like and pretty that it is apparently superior to brown and beautiful and is thus protected by back yard bird feeding residents who see them. How in the &&^%$$#$ does a law like that get passed???????

[ilarcher]

This has been a law in IL for as long as I can remember and I have been hunting for 25 years.

Not sure exactly when it became a law or why they thought it should be law. IMO, it was such a rare thing that the state thought they should protect them before they actually new it was a bad thing for the deer gene pool.

[jonsimoneau]

There used to be quite a few white deer hanging around in White county.  I cannot find it, but somewhere I have a picture of a Boone and Crocket class buck that is all white taken in that area.

[Jeff Strubberg]

The other deer seemed to avoid him, it was almost weird if there were deer in a field feeding and he would show up they would always leave and rather quickly. I'm not sure why but they seemed scared of him! I saw this happen quite a few times.

If another deer walked up to you yelling "Dinner!  Come get your dinner here!", I'm pretty sure you would be shying away, too!

[Ssamac]

There are so many "normal" whitetails in Illinios why would you shoot a protected one? If you get caught, they confiscate (and don't give back) your bow and any other hunting gear you might have. (I carry a pistol since we started seeing bobcats and mountain lions a few years ago. Sorry, but when it comes to the nasties and you're alone, I like my pistol. It's a black powder gun, however). Then there's a fine of around $4000 for breaking the hunting laws too.And you won't be able to get a license next year. Don't do it.

SAm

[waknstak IL]

I've only saw one, a buck that used to hang out in New Athens. Saw him in the woods along the highway. I pulled over and grabbed my binoculars another deer was 20 feet from it that I didn't even notice. Never have seen one in 20 years of huntin.

[Fletcher]

The "new" bill is SB202.  It passed the senate last year 57-0 and currently sits in the house rules committee.  It will probably come up early this year and if there is no opposition, will likely pass easily.  The bill basically firms up how the state will define what a "white" deer is.  I intend to keep up with this and let the committee and my Rep know how I feel.  It's a longshot, but it may be possible to kill this in committee.  I'll try to keep you posted.