First off, I am not saying that the big buck in question here is, or is not albino, what pictures I could see (my work has a program that filters out pictures). He is a magnificent animal, would certainly look good above my fireplace.

But, there is an important point here and that is that there are TWO different kinds of white deer.. One is an albino, the OTHER is piebald. They are not the same. A piebald deer may, or may not, be all white. A piebald deer is not genetically inferior. A piebald deer does not have pink eyes and generally has black/brown hooves and often has brown spots or blotches. A piebald deer is the result of a recessive gene and is a white deer. Kind of like a yellow labrador is not an albino lab but just a white or yellow colored dog from a breed that is mostly black. Or just an odd color phase of squirrel. They aren't inferior genetically and often tend to be outstanding animals. In some areas of the country, piebald deer are not uncommon at all. Where we are in Miss, while you won't see a piebald deer very often, I would not consider them extremely rare, several are killed every year. Two years ago, if memory serves me right, there was a B/C buck killed in the delta that was piebald. Where we hunt there are several, including a wiley old doe that many have been after for a long time.They are highly prized and hunted to be mounted.

An albino deer is all white, has pink eyes, and like stated in previous posts, tend to be genetically inferior. They generally don't make it but a couple of years because they tend to be weaker and disease prone as are albinos of most species (including human). Albino deer, unlike piebald, are actually very rare.

I think that unless the state law specifies piebald, a hunter that shot a piebald and was charged with shooting an albino would have an excellent defence.

Hank