Black Deer
 

I have a Question, My Dad now 82 was a rural mail carrier in WV in the 1960s.
His route covered some pretty remote areas.
One fall He saw a black deer along with several normal colored deer,it was a large buck with 8-10 point antlers.
He saw it in the same general area several times.
He hunted the then one week season but never saw it again.
Unless it was poached no one got it or the news would have spread.

He said it ws as black as a bear, has anyone else ever seen one?

RE: Black Deer
 

My Great Grandfather came from that country and in one of his old journals he noted a big Black Buck that would stay with the does most of the year round. He worked the fields back then and would see this thing of and on for two years. At first he thought it was some domestic animal that got mixed up but according to his journals he figured out it was a young buck. He never hunted so never mentioned if anyone ever shot the thing or not. His journal's start in 1886.

RE: Black Deer
 

It is sort of like an albino deer only they are black. It is called melanism. I did a research project in school on whitetail deer. All the fur is black as well as the underbelly and nose.

RE: Black Deer
 

I have seen posts before and pictures in books but last thurs. we were picking up dogs and this doe popped into the path and it was black as could be. I was bigger then average also. I would say about 140. Does that go along with the melanism? The buck I saw in North American Whitetail was huge and others I have seen in pictures have all been big. I was just wondering

RE: Black Deer
 

They are called melanistic because of the excessive amount of melanin. Thus the black color. Supposedly, they are less common than albino deer which have a total lack of pigment.

When I was a kid, back around 1975 +-, there was a pair of deer on a local farm that we called salt and pepper. There was a white deer and a black deer that always ran together. They were the same size but I don't know that they were related. They eventually disappeared and I never heard of anyone shooting them. They were there for several years that I can remember.

Here is a link to a photo from the bowhunting board.

http://forum.hunting.net/asppg/tm.as...2Cdeer&#728375

Greg

RE: Black Deer
 

That is an awsome picture.

RE: Black Deer
 

Thanks for the info guys, The black deer my dad seen was the only one to my knowledge that was ever in the area.
I have lived here all of my life and not seen any.
Pi-balde and an occasional albino are fairly common.
I killed a nice pi-bald buck in 2000 that was 85% white that I have mounted.
There was a huge buck here in the 60s that everyone called the blue buck.
My uncle found the remains of it while fox hunting in Feb. it had shed its antlers and the cause of death could not be determined.
I remember seeing the remains and it was a very light grey color,almost white, with a few black hairs mixed in.
I guess it was an odd color phase of a pi-bald.
Thanks again for the info, Good Huntin!

RE: Black Deer
 

My brother and I went hunting a couple years ago at one of my spots and he shot this buck. It isn't pure black like some other deer, but sure is in a dark phase. Even it's antlers and skull(when we cut it off) were much darker than normal. Just a unique buck, with 11 pts, and 8 " bases.

RE: Black Deer
 

Pretty cool.. I've seen several exceptionally dark deer this year, but none that are black as a bear, unless its a brown bear.
I have also seen an exceptionally blonde doe during fall, which leads to the question: Do bucks prefer blondes? And doe they have more fun?

RE: Black Deer
 

I have been hunting New England for many yrs and did see one very large black buck. I was bow hunting and began my walk back to the truck in the rain with a few minutes left of legal shooting. As I walked up on an old logging road I picked up motion to my right and saw this big black buck slowly trotting across the road about 40 yds away. It was black as coal. Once he crossed into the woods, he made the sound of a large cat, a loud (very loud) hissing sound that continued until he was out of range. I later discovered that it was the very agressive sound made my the alpha buck . He wasn't threatened by my presence as much as he was making sounds that he wanted me away from his area. I was also told in those very rare occassions where a buck attacks man, this black buck could have fit the profile. Anyway, it was a sight to be remembered and I have never had that opportunity again.