Backyard pics/Piebald - update

[BigAl]

Thought I'd share some photos from yesterday in the backyard. Saw a momma deer about lunch time. She eventually left and I went out to cut grass after work. Was about half way done when I saw this little deer. Couldn't be more than a day old and our first piebald. Very cool to see. A buck came in also during the excitement. Last night we had about 8 deer behind the house and the fawn came in. The other deer didn't seem to know what to think of it. The fawn is still out there about 20 yards from the house. I will feel better when I see it nursing and getting around a little better. Also had to remove a skunk from the armadillo trap that won't catch an armadillo.

Update: I'm sad to report this little deer didn't make it. I found it in some thick brush, not far from the place where I first saw it while cutting grass. I guess the cards were just too stacked against it. I had really looked forward to watching this one grow.

 

[Chief44]

Wow. Beautiful deer.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Beautiful

 

[jag1]

That is one pretty deer! BTW, did you used to live on Warren? Knew an Al that lived there who deer hunted.

 

[BSK]

That piebald shows the classic overbite of that genetic abnormality.

 

[Teacher]

Hope that little fellow makes it. Piebald deer are some of the most beautiful creatures in the world. I had a 5 point that I saw a couple of times hunting here in North Alabama. We had no desire to shoot him-legal here to do so in Alabama. I got several pictures of him when we got a light snowfall and the pictures were absolutely beautiful! He simply came up missing and we haven't seen or heard anything of him since that year.

 

[BSK]

Hope that little fellow makes it.

Unfortunately, long-term life expectancy for piebalds is not good. They suffer from a number of genetic abnormalities that are linked to piebaldism.

 

[Teacher]

Unfortunately, long-term life expectancy for piebalds is not good. They suffer from a number of genetic abnormalities that are linked to piebaldism.

There were several local residents that had him as their #1 Hitlist deer. We tried our best to keep him on us and kept quiet about him being here in order to keep him from getting killed. He spent the winter with us that year and after that, we never heard from him again. He made it through the hunting season and we never heard of anyone killing him as they would have shown him off to everyone in the world if they would have. I sure wish I knew what happened to him.

 

[Remington700]

Pretty deer! I've never seen one in the woods hunting.

 

[BigAl]

That piebald shows the classic overbite of that genetic abnormality.

I noticed that too, BSK.

 

[BigAl]

Unfortunately, long-term life expectancy for piebalds is not good. They suffer from a number of genetic abnormalities that are linked to piebaldism.

I explained that to the wife this morning. I'm just hoping mom shows up to take care of it and give it a fighting chance.

 

[BigAl]

That is one pretty deer! BTW, did you used to live on Warren? Knew an Al that lived there who deer hunted.

Nope. I live SW of Oakland and hunt SE of Somerville.

 

[BigAl]

Pretty deer! I've never seen one in the woods hunting.

I've seen a couple. One year I killed a doe with my bow and as I was climbing down a piebald do walked right under me with my bow on the ground. I saw her again during rifle but couldn't get a shot.

 

[backyardtndeer]

That is a really pretty fawn. Hope it makes it. In over 20 years of running trail cams and all my years of hunting, have never seen or gotten trail cam pics of a piebald.

 

[BSK]

That is a really pretty fawn. Hope it makes it. In over 20 years of running trail cams and all my years of hunting, have never seen or gotten trail cam pics of a piebald.

A decade ago I got this guy on cam just once. Talk about being camouflaged!

 

[Snake]

I killed one many years back in Giles Co. he's mounted . Not a big eight but decent , shortest legged buck i ever seen. Taxidermist that mounted him said he was the most popular buck in his shop , I had also killed a nice eight in Lewis Co. that year as well but the pie bald was most special.

 

[BigAl]

So how lon

I killed one many years back in Giles Co. he's mounted . Not a big eight but decent , shortest legged buck i ever seen. Taxidermist that mounted him said he was the most popular buck in his shop , I had also killed a nice eight in Lewis Co. that year as well but the pie bald was most special.

I saw a piebald once, might have been a small buck, that had really short legs. Looked very strange.

 

[44 mag]

That fawn looks like it's got a bad overbite. But IDK that might be normal at that age

 

[Snake]

So how lon

I saw a piebald once, might have been a small buck, that had really short legs. Looked very strange.

Like BSK said every one I have seen have something wrong physically. I've seen about four in my lifetime hunting . We had one doe running on the place in Lincoln Co. that was an albino and one morning my grandson had said he killed an almost white doe , I about choked ! I thought he had killed the albino but once I had got to him it was a pie bald mostly white but a pie bald , whew thought we was in trouble . There was a black and white doe on the place we had in Giles , I didn't see that one personally but knew of two different people that saw it . There is one here around the house that is about half white up to the ribline , guess you call it pie bald .

 

[TheLBLman]

If you want to attempt to keep this piebald deer around your area, your best strategy will be to "harvest" the momma doe once he has been weaned.

About 3 years ago (and I'll try to post some pics later) I had a piebald fawn born in one of my hay fields. That particular one had more the appearance of an albino, but was a piebald. I tried my best to put his momma in the freezer, that fall, as well as the next archery season.

But was unsuccessful, as there is often no greater hunting challenge than a mature doe where female deer have been harvested in equal to greater numbers as have the bucks.

I did however get lots of "tracking" pics of this buck from his being a few days old, until he was about 16 - 17 months old. During the October of the year following his birth, I saw him for the last time, and where seen was the farthest I'd ever seen him from where he had been born (about a half mile).

After that last sighting, he was never seen again (by me or anyone else in my hunting group).
I believe he simply did the usual dispersal from his birthplace, as do most male deer sometime in the year following their births.

I suspect he set up his new home range at least 3 miles from his birth area, and have reasons to believe it was over 5 miles.

As a yearling (16-17 months old in this case), he carried a small 4-point rack. I believe there was good chance he survived to 2 1/2 or older for two reasons:

1) Many people in the area would not have shot ANY deer with such a small rack;

2) Most hunters would not ILLEGALLY shoot an albino, and this one "appeared" to be an albino.
But he was not an albino. He did have some brown splotches on his head, and did not have pink eyes.

I hope after I post his pics, someone on this forum may recognize him, and they will likely be in a different county from where he was born!

 

[rem270]

Beautiful fawn. Hope he/she makes it.

 

[BigAl]

This is my backyard, 5 acres, which I don't hunt. Surrounded by a couple of thousand acres that is hunted, and I also suspect my next door neighbor hunts his 5 acres (sometimes at night over corn in a CWD area, but that's a different story).

 

[BSK]

I killed one many years back in Giles Co. he's mounted . Not a big eight but decent , shortest legged buck i ever seen.

Extremely common for piebalds to suffer from dwarfism. They will have very short legs. These deer rarely survive long. Too many genetic problems.

 

[redblood]

Very pretty. I strangely have never had an interest in shooting one

 

[Deer Assassin]

id mount it

 

[Teacher]

Extremely common for piebalds to suffer from dwarfism. They will have very short legs. These deer rarely survive long. Too many genetic problems.

A decade ago I got this guy on cam just once. Talk about being camouflaged!

That looks exactly like the one we had. Colored the same way! Small 5 point! Could be his twin.

 

[megalomaniac]

Beautiful fawn, hope it makes it to adulthood

 

[Split Brow]

That's awesome, thanks for sharing!

 

[double browtine]

That is cool to see one so young! Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[BigAl]

It's still out there and no sign of Mom today.