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Discussion Topic: Should White Deer Be Protected?
Some states, including whitetail Mecca Wisconsin, protect albino deer, with the strong backing of many hunters. In the case below, though, supportive hunters would wind up with an odd bedfellow--the Humane Society of the United States.
From New York’s Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:
A plan to open a pay-to-hunt preserve on a large swath of the former Seneca Army Depot — an area between Seneca and Cayuga lakes where a herd of rare white deer roams — has sparked protests from some officials in Seneca County, conservationists and animal rights activists. . . .
The Humane Society of the United States has urged local and state officials to squelch the hunting proposal. And some conservationists are challenging whether the hunt will threaten the white deer population.
Check out the full article and tell us your reaction.
Why do we want the freak deer strain to live? It just shows how much we need hunters these days because there are no natural predators to kill these horibly visible deer. It isn't a natural thing. It's like saying "over hunting of boar" or "boar extermination". The idea is to kill off all of the unnatural critters. They are invasive, and these deer are not what white-tail should be.
Go ahead, breed a new species of deer, but please don't start calling them "Fido" or letting them sleep in your bed and lick your face.
Posted by: | December 14, 2007 at 11:10 AM
Albinism occurs in all living things. The recessive genes that cause it can occur in humans as well. There is nothing unnatural about it.
Posted by: | December 14, 2007 at 11:19 AM
I understand that there are hunters who have some sort of special feeling for these deer, but personally, I can't see any compelling reason to protect them.
Posted by: Roy | December 14, 2007 at 12:07 PM
This is NOT the only herd of albino deer... There's a small herd of them at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. And if you so much as look at one the wrong way, the Goons come charging out (jackboots & all) and pretty much convince you that you never woke up that morning.
Posted by: Blue Ox | December 14, 2007 at 12:22 PM
Sounds like the anti-hunters managed to play on emotion to whip up support from unexpected quarters... the hunter/conservationists. Unfortunately, these folks are playing right into the anti-hunters' hands.
The white deer are, when it comes down to it, just deer. Some folks want to attach some kind of special, spiritual value to them, but many others just see them as off-colored venison. Who's right? I couldn't tell you, but I'd shoot one in a heartbeat.
From what I've read, the "enclosure" is huge, and the herd is healthy, but expanding. At some point, somebody's got to kill deer to manage the herd size... or they've gotta knock over the fences and let them expand. You can't have it both ways.
Turn it into a hunting concession, manage the harvest, and leave it at that. If it doesn't suit your style of hunting, don't go.
Posted by: Phillip | December 14, 2007 at 01:24 PM
no, no, no ! they are just deer.
there are isolated pockets of these occurring all over the US. let the hunters decide if the deer are special.
Posted by: Tom | December 14, 2007 at 01:58 PM
I stuck up for the moose but in this case where there is a population of them hunt them.
Posted by: GREG | December 14, 2007 at 02:22 PM
Hunt 'em.
Posted by: Mike Diehl | December 14, 2007 at 02:24 PM
I think they should be hunted, they are deer just like other whitetails what gives them protection? meat is meat
Posted by: contrygirl | December 14, 2007 at 02:44 PM
I say White Fur Tastes Just the Same as brown Fur...
Wait a minute You don't eat the Fur who cares what it looks like ..
if you got an albino mouse running around your house are you gonna let it roam your kitchen just cuz its Albino? Heck know your gonna trap the thing just the same...
i'd drop one in a minute eat the venison and mount the bad boy right above my door frame..
Posted by: Dustin | December 14, 2007 at 04:22 PM
There is nothing "spiritually" special about a white deer. Sadly my home town of Tecumseh, Michigan brought in an "indian" and did a special ritual. Then they decided to make a monument for the other 'white' meat. All in all, white deer are the same as common brown and should be allowed to be hunted
Posted by: Sasquatch | December 14, 2007 at 08:05 PM
On the topice of white dee, has anyone heard of or seen a white buck?
Posted by: Billy | December 14, 2007 at 08:07 PM
Hey guys, look again. These deer ARE NOT albino! They are truly "white". Were they albino, they would have pink eyes and noses! Look at the picture again!
That said, due to the fact that man has introduced himself as the alpha-predator, it is now up to man to accept his alpha-predator role and control the population. With these deer, it should be much easier to achieve than with the conventional camo model! Either that or reintroduce wolves, cougars, bears and wolverines!
Don't, rather can't, imagine that there would be any major taste differences.
Bubba
Posted by: Bubba | December 15, 2007 at 09:43 AM
Forgive me, I forgot my topic!!
Protect:
I think it's rather unique being that they are truly "white" and not albino, and should be protected so as not to exterminate them.
Un-protected:
Without the occasional hunt to control the population, well, we all know where that would lead!
Use the hunt proceeds to enhance and expand their habitat!
Bubba
Posted by: Bubba | December 15, 2007 at 09:51 AM
I can't see their eyes close enough to check for pigmentation however the pink noses do give away the fact that these are albino deer. Albinism as stated above is a recessive gene. Albino deer lose their protective coloration and would normally be culled where deer are prey. It is my humble opinion that it was bad enough to allow a herd to breed and worse to protect them. If the herd of those deer is approximately 200 animals then there had to have been sufficient inbreeding to question the long term affects for all deer in that area. I say shoot'em and clean up the deer population in that area.
My question is where were all the wildlife biologists when the white deer were increasing?
Posted by: John R | December 15, 2007 at 01:07 PM
The white deer should not be protected. They aren't domesticated, therefore are wild game. It is only ethical to cull(kill) the recessive trait that hurts a population. You wouldn't allow a buck with a spike tine on one side and 4 points on the other to hurt the population, so why would you allow white deer. We do this most all populations of wild vertebrates and invertebrates. Look at the zebra mussel, a very bad non-indegenous species which is hurting other mussel niches. No, we don't know what ill effects the white deer may have and we shouldn't wait to find out. Enough... eradication of recessiveness in the wild is a tried and true practice to keep following.
Posted by: 9bull | December 15, 2007 at 04:27 PM
Here in Illinois we have Gray Squirrels that are solid black, I feed a few of them just so they'll leave the bird feeders alone. And not 15 miles away there are a group of pure white squirrels, not albinos! Just a color phase, as different from the norm as blonds and red head humans.
Hunt em, eat em, stuff em.
Posted by: paul Wilke | December 15, 2007 at 08:36 PM
The place in NY used to be called Senaca Army Depot. They made bombs there. It was several thousand acres of high fenced and heavily guarded land. They had both brown and white deer there and some that crossbred and looked like pinto ponys. The Army allowed hunting to prevent over population, but controlled it strictly. Normally only active duty people or civilians who work there could hunt. They took dozens of white deer there every year. I hunted there for two years back in the early 80s while I was on active duty and shot two white deer myself. Both were does, but I saw some huge white bucks come from there. If the property is still high fenced, the population still needs to be controlled. By the way, they taste just like brown deer.
Posted by: Rudy | December 15, 2007 at 09:03 PM
If the an Albino, or white, animal is genetically inferior why not hunt them?
Is the believe to protect them based on emotion alone?
Posted by: Ralph the Rifleman | December 15, 2007 at 10:28 PM
Sounds like more anti-hunting crap. What's next, don't shoot deer that have drop tines?
Posted by: Nathan | December 16, 2007 at 01:43 AM
Ralph the Rifleman
There is nothing genetically inferior about these deer. All deer have the gene but it remains recessive. In these deer, it stepped forward.
They shouldn't be treated any differently than any other deer, except.... Why shoot them out just because they are "white"? They aren't smaller, slower, weaker, disease ridden, retarded, just "white".
It's just a color phase in a high fenced area that contains both brown and white deer.
Why eradicate something just because it's different?
If people are willing to pay for a "canned" white-whitetail hunt, take their money and spend it to enhance the deer's habitat!!
Bubba
Posted by: Bubba | December 16, 2007 at 08:01 AM
i say shoot them because they are unatural
Posted by: jake | December 16, 2007 at 05:31 PM
yes, until next hunting season. :^)
Posted by: dwight | December 16, 2007 at 07:53 PM
I saw a white buck when i was a kid in Iron River Michigan. Only white deer i ever saw that wasn't stuffed.
Posted by: Jason | December 17, 2007 at 05:48 AM
If you shoot that deer with one spike on one side and four on the other you may regret it. Chances are, in that situation, the deer had an injury on the opposite side of its body, and next year it could be an 8 or 10 pt.
Posted by: Tommy | December 17, 2007 at 08:47 AM