More Black Deer Spotted in Texas
By Buck Manager on Jul 21, 2008 in 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.”
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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