This young buck showed up on my trail cameras and was in my back yard tonight. He looks to be melanistic. What's your thoughts? Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
Hmm, I dunno. The one's I've seen around over the internet don't have any white on them. I say it's more likely he just has a darker than usual winter coat. I've seen deer in the past that are more grey than typical winter coats. Very cool if it is a black one though.
A very cool and uniquetrophy, I personally hope to see a nice piebald one of these years. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I'm wondering if he won't get darker as he gets older. They say it's because they produce too much melanin so maybe it's something that gets darker with time. The strangest think is he just shed his summer coat which was pretty much normal colored. I had lots of pictures of him from before but deleted them all because he was just a spike. You couldn't tell he was any different than the other deer with his summer coat on.
Yeah but I believe true melanistics are black from birth. There are several YT vids of black fawns. I think he's still extraordinary but I'm not satisfied he'd qualify as a true melanistic. I just don't know. Either way he's pretty neat. It'd be awesome if he grows into a booner as well.
For sure. I was able to get a little video of him this evening. He actually came all the way from the edge of the timber up into my yard. He was about 40 yards away. He does have a decent amount of white on his under belly and actually has a white double throat patch. If he stays that color he would make one heck of a cool mount as a mature deer. The footage I got was crap because I was hand holding the camera. Hopefully I can get some good footage of him once the season starts. He's been around all year, and by him self so I would assume he will stick around.
That is not just a normal coat change in my opinion. Betting he is a melanistic version of piebald. That is so awesome!!!
I know what deer look like when they change their coats, this is not at all what they look like. He stands out like a sore thumb out in the field. He is way darker than any deer I have ever seen. Only time will tell what he is, but I can assure you he is not normal.
