More Black Deer Spotted in Texas
BuckManager.com | Deer Coloration
While “black” deer, more accurately referred to as melanistic deer, are very rare across North America, it seems they are being spotted more frequently in central Texas. A few weeks ago I posted some photos of a melanistic buck in Austin, Texas, but it seems that animal is not the only white-tailed deer in the area with a color abnormality. Just check out the photos of these twin white-tailed deer fawns that were taken in the Northwest Hills area of Austin.
Dr. John Baccus, director of the wildlife ecology program at Texas State University, has been studying melanistic deer for over 13 years now. And as it turns out, Texas is a good place to study the dark colored deer. That’s because there just happens to be more black deer in eight Texas counties than in the rest of the world combined!
And as staggering as that statistic may be, most Texans still haven’t seen one! There may be more abnormally dark white-tailed deer in the central part of Texas than everywhere else combined, but don’t go there expecting to see one. Dr. Baccus had this to say about Texas’ melanistic deer:
“Even though we have more melanistic deer here than in the whole world, they’re still extremely rare. It’s the rarest of the white-tailed deer, even rarer than the big-antlered deer. I get the harvest records every year from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and generally, there are fewer than five of these melanistic deer that are harvested in any given year.”
Related Posts:
I saw a black fawn with a white tail, brown spots and blue eyes today in North Bexar County. 9-9-08. I got a picture of it with my camera and will try to download it.
Michele Petty | Sep 9, 2008 | Reply
there’s a very nice,nearly all black eight point that lives here in Lakeway. We see it three or four times a week in our side or back yard, usually at dusk. I’ll see if I take a picture. He runs with a ‘pose’ of eight doe and several fawns, one each of which has some melanistic coloration but they are not nearly as dark as the buck.
lloyd miller | Sep 20, 2008 | Reply
My wife and I saw a black (melanistic) white tail deer yesterday in Kendall County Texas. He was stopped by the side of the road, and we were about 50 feet away from him for almost 30 seconds. We had a clear view as the buck stopped and looked at us prior to going onto a ranch next to our turn. It is the first I’ve ever seen and was very exciting.
Ray Hancock | Sep 30, 2008 | Reply
I live in Tupelo, Mississippi, and around 9:00 a.m. this morning I spotted a black deer down the street from my home. This was surprising because I amm not in a rural/country area.
Tiffani | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
I LIVE IN THE DES MOINES IOWA AREA AND WE SEE MORE OF THEM THAN “NORMAL” DEER. HUGE HERDS OF BLACK DEER, NOT JUST ONE OR TWO. PEOPLE USE TO MAKE FUN OF ME AND TELL ME THERE WAS NO SUCH THING, BUT NOW THEY ARE SEEING THEM ALL OVER, TOO! I THINK SOMEONE NEEDS TO DO A STUDY HERE!
MEGAN | Feb 14, 2009 | Reply
Driving home from lunch today, I almost ran over a white doe with black spots in the Birmingham, Alabama area south of town down Highway 280. The deer turned and went back down the shoulder of the road though. Thank goodness, because it was really big. It looked just like a dalmation! At first, that’s what I thought it was until I realized it was a deer. There were several other cars behind me that stopped too when we saw it. Usually, I have my camera with me but did not this time. The deer was in between two large subdivisions, but not too far from some heavily wooded areas. Is a white deer (albino I’m guessing?) with black spots rare?
Dale | Mar 18, 2009 | Reply
On May 27, in the late afternoon, I saw and took some pictures of a black whitetail fawn in my yard (near Dripping Springs). It seemed to get along with the rest of the does and fawns quite nicely. A neat looking deer!
MichaelM | May 28, 2009 | Reply
I have a melanistic whitetail fawn on my property. I have seen it three times with its mother. The area the deer is in is fenced so that it will have to get older to jump the fence. The black fawn has over two natural acres and lots of trees to roam. The doe and fawn come quite close to the house. We have had normal fawns raised here, so I hope the melanistic one can grow, too.
Frances Gajda | Jun 7, 2009 | Reply
I saw a black deer running along side of FM 1565 near Poetry, Texas, in Hunt County.
Kenny Kauffmann | Jun 24, 2009 | Reply
I have seen the black deer fawn in my yard along with the doe and another normal spotted fawn. I am located in the hill country in Garden Ridge, Texas, in Comal County.
Jeanette Lange | Aug 13, 2009 | Reply
At 7:30 am on Sep 11, 2009 a black deer (doe) crossed the road in front of me as I was driving down a mountain. The location is the Town of Keene, New York which is in the Northeast part of the Adirondack Park and about 130 miles North of Albany, New York.
P Bruce Berra
P Bruce Berra | Sep 13, 2009 | Reply
Oct.29,2009 — at 3 PM a deer jumped in front of my Harley on Dos Pico Park Road, Ramona, California. It ran about 20 feet in front of me down the road for about 150-200 feet. It’s back and horns were black and turned to dark brown below the ribs and belly. I had never heard of black deer.
Paul Farris | Sep 30, 2009 | Reply
This morning as I drove to work in West Central Missouri I saw what I thought at first was a large black dog that had crossed across the freeway. It was actually a black deer. It crossed the west bound lanes into the east bound lanes and a car slammed on its brakes scaring the deer back in front of my car. It was an 8 point black whitetail buck. I had never heard of one. My boss told me that I should have hit it.
Anthony | Sep 30, 2009 | Reply
A black white-tailed deer ran through my fence line with several other deer on 10/5/2009. I’m located in Southwest Missouri near Lebanon, MO. Of course, few people believed it possible until I directed them to your site.
Brad | Oct 13, 2009 | Reply
10-14-09 – I spotted a deer you call melanistic today on the Barton Creek green belt (SW Austin, TX) walking with at least one other white-tailed deer on the west side of the creek behind Travis Country. It was beautiful and I looked it up only to find this website. Thanks for the info.
Scott | Oct 14, 2009 | Reply
Wow, Paul you were right there are black deer, but, in Ramona?
Chop | Oct 24, 2009 | Reply
I just recently got my 8 point buck back from the taxidermist and he noticed while mounting it that there was something different about it. After placing a different mount beside my deer, he noticed that my deer had very very dark hair and a solid black chin and nose. Is there any way that my deer could have some of the melanistic gene?
Heather | Nov 18, 2009 | Reply
Heather, color variation in deer is common, even among those that we consider normally colored. I suspect that the buck you harvested is just of the dark end of the “normal” white-tailed deer color spectrum.
Melanistic deer are usually very dark brown to black, but genes can do funny things when they recombine (from parents) within offspring.
Buck Manager | Nov 19, 2009 | Reply
I am a landscaper of the Northwest Hills and I have seen a “black” buck and fawns several times. The buck has about 8 points now. I’ve worked in this area for 35 years and never seen a black deer. Recently in the last years, I haven’t seen the black deer in two years and beginning to be a little worried of their fate.
Raymond | Dec 19, 2009 | Reply
I saw a black fawn running with a very light tan colored fawn in the country of Jacksonville, Illinois. There is also a white one in the same area.
Trinda Kinstle | Dec 20, 2009 | Reply
My neighbor shot a doe this morning that was white with brown spots along the barrel and neck and then completely black in the hindend. We are assuming it is a combination of piebald and melanistic. My neighbor will be calling a taxidermists tomorrow to get a full body mount.
Lacey | Jan 3, 2010 | Reply
I recently saw a black fawn with several normal brown and tan fawns in the field near my house in Gastonia, North Carolina. I was shocked because it was not only the first time I saw one, but the first time I even knew that black deer exist.
Heather | Feb 19, 2010 | Reply