Piebald (spelling)deer?

[lpcjon2]

I had to drive to Cape May,NJ (south of me 45 min) for my wife the other night and it reminded me of a deer I saw on the road side eating. It appeared to be a Piebald deer.
 I was wondering if any members have seen or have harvested or photographed one. Any pics would be cool.
 I dont think I could shoot one if it came in to my stand, they are pretty cool looken deer.Thanks Tim

[magnus]

I have seen a buck that was piebald. I got pics of him but don't have a scanner. I had a friend who shot a doe and had her caped for a wall mount. I would shoot.

[4 point]

I have some trail camera pic's of a piebald fawn. I will post them later if I can find them.

Travis

[Benjy]

This is a trail camera picture from this year. I saw her on 2 different occasions. She was very spooky and almost blew my cover. I would have shot her because of her disposition!

She is very cool!

[A.S.]

Piebalds are just have a genetic defect. You would be doing your deer heard a favor to shoot one if given the chance. If you ever get the chance to inspect one, you will notice they usually have stubby legs from the knees down.

[mikebiz]

Piebaldism is a fairly rare occurrence in White-tailed Deer.  However it is a genetic trait, which becomes more common as populations grow.  Piebaldism is a recessive trait that must be passed on by both the buck and the doe.  Individuals with varying degrees of white are not albinos.  That is a different genetic condition altogether.  

I certainly wouldn't call piebaldism common in New Jersey, but I have seen it a handful of times.  I hunted a property in Somerset County a few years back.  Very high deer population in this area.  There was an all white piebald fawn that was seen and it was agreed by the guys hunting the place that nobody would shoot it.  She lasted at least 9 years if I recall correctly.  Maybe more, I stopped hunting there.  Looked like a four-legged ghost walking through the woods.  Pretty cool.  Glad you got to see one lpcjon2.

[oldskool]

I shot 2 of them, 1 buck and 1 doe, have the doe mounted. ODNR told me I should shoot every 1 I can because it will genetically effect the body size of the herd, make them get smaller.

[owlbait]

Saw a 5 pt buck years ago that had a white crown on top of his head and had white front shoulders and the speckled white hindquarters. Saw a nice big doe with similar markings(minus the crown) in the same area several years after that. Tried to hunt one in Ohio on a short hunt, and had the privelege of seeing her up close, just not close enough. I'd shoot!

[horatio1226]

[horatio1226]

She's skewbald (white & any color other than black). Piebald is black and white.

[Jeremy]

I spent two seasons chasing a family of piebalds around.  The first year I passed up a shot on the mother doe (she only had a little white on her) and nearly had a shot on her young one... her entire back half was white.  That shot opportunity was spoiled by another group of deer running in on me from behind (and nearly hitting me).  I played cat and mouse with that group of deer for two years before they moved off the property due to a drought drying up the stream and a really poor acorn crop.

(skewbald vs piebald is in horses.  For deer it's just piebald)

[Dave Pagel]

We had a nice piebald or skewbald as Horation put running on the farm we hunt.  He was about a 130 inch 8-point at 3 1/2 and he got missed twice with a bow and once with a muzzleloader.  He was a very aggressive rutting buck.  We never saw him after 3 1/2 and we never heard of him being taken.  The 4 1/2 year we had a very late corn harvest and a lot of our bigger bucks were scarce, but we didn't see him at 5 1/2 either. He would be 6 1/2 next season.

D.P.

[Liquid Amber]

I've seen six in the wild.  I shot over a 1.5 old piebald doe the first evening of the hunt [Columbia county, GA] during which I killed the spike piebald on the last evening of the hunt.  I believe them litter mates.

The doe came off property I leased and managed as a hunting club on the out skirts of Savannah, GA.  During a two year period we identified six different piebalds.  Ray Hammond was a member and I believe he saw one or two while hunting there.  I killed one and I-95 took care of another.

Both these deer were taken in the late 1980s.

[Earl Jeff]

Saw this one a few time a couple years ago.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I saw a piebald or skewbald deer at exit 16 on the NYS thruway by Harriman 5 years ago.  Never saw it again but just this year one of my drivers saw one n the  same spot on 4 different occasions this year.

[recurvericky]

There seems to be two different variations of piebal. You will see them that have short legs and their lower jaw is extremely short, then their is the other variation that only affects hair colorations. When I used to do taxidermy in NC, their was an area that I usually got a few really nice bucks in every year that were physically normal except for their hair coloration. Surprisingly, they made really cool looking mounts.

[Bud B.]

Originally posted by recurvericky:
There seems to be two different variations of piebal. You will see them that have short legs and their lower jaw is extremely short, then their is the other variation that only affects hair colorations. When I used to do taxidermy in NC, their was an area that I usually got a few really nice bucks in every year that were physically normal except for their hair coloration. Surprisingly, they made really cool looking mounts.

Of the ones I've seen here in NC none were physically deformed. Only the color variation was the difference. Many years ago I had to hit the brakes on my car to avoid hitting a piebald 4pt buck. He walked slowly across the road and I got a good long look at him. Other than the color he was normal.

[bretto]

The only one I've seen was down near Destin Fla. A doe that was just standing on the side of the road.

I was excited and asked My wife. " Wow did You see that Piebald Deer? and she said " What Deer " LOL

I'm sure there are some color phase deer in this area of Kansas but I don't ever hear of any being killed for some reason. I have a couple of friends who do Taxidermy also.

[4 point]

[Mojostick]

Piebalds should not be protected by hunters.

From a quick search, the Virginia DNR has a FAQ on piebalds and here's their answer...

Unlike true albinos, piebald deer have brown eyes and black hooves. The piebald condition is frequently associated with other harmful physical conditions, including skeletal deformities (e.g., dorsal bowing of the nose, short/deformed legs, curved spine, short lower mandible, etc.) and internal organ deformities. Piebald deer are rare, typically occurring at less than one percent of the population. Piebald deer can be more common on a local basis, especially in areas where deer hunters protect them. Piebald deer are not afforded any special protection by Department regulation, and the Department does not recommend these animals be protected.


The other kind of white deer are true albinos. Unlike piebald deer, these deer are normal except for lacking the gene(s) for color. True albinos have pink eyes and white hooves. These deer are rare with just a couple killed annually by deer hunters in Virginia. Like piebald deer, albino deer are not afforded any special protection by Department regulation, and the Department does not recommend these animals be protected.

From another quick search...

A piebald deer is a deer with a brown and white spotting pattern which is not caused by parasites or diseases. They can appear to be almost entirely white. In addition to the non-standard coloration, other differences have been observed: bowing or Roman nose, overly arched spine (scoliosis), long tails, short legs, and underbites.

Piebald deer (partially white) are from a recessive genetic trait and the deer usually become more prevalent due to overpopulation of a deer herd.