Do you like the idea of more Piebalds? I would... I've only seen two in the wild and that was driving down the road.
Jeff is spot on. I guess I misunderstood Christine's line of thinking. I was thinking along the lines that their genes weren't getting passed on because of age somehow, not due to them not being able to breed. Young bucks still breed a lot, no question about it.
I would never shoot, or not shoot, a deer based on genes. The biologist in my area estimates yearling bucks do 65%-80% of the breeding. Its no secret there is a lack of bucks 2.5 years plus.
Yeah, I guess I kinda do. I've seen three on this property and one was a decent 8 pt that only gave me a seconds decision whether or not to shoot. Once he put a little distance between us, I saw that he was a piebald and regretted not taking the shot. Never saw him again. AND the other two were siblings. The buck I posted in my initial post and his bro/sister which I haven't seen for a while. But yes, I do enjoy seeing them.
This is the only one I've seen while hunting. Before and after pics. My appologies for not answering the initial question. I got caught up in the piebald hoop-la. I think they have to be genitically inferior because they have shorter legs, less than perfect eye sight, and many of them stick out like a sore thumb. Making them more vulnerable to being killed.
