A rare black (melanistic) buck spotted in Northampton County

With deer hunting season about to begin for bowhunters, it’s a time when hunters may see some unusual, if not rare sights. An example of this are different colorations. Some are piebald deer that have a mix of brown and white coats, then there are albinism deer or all white deer that have reddish or pale eyes, and lastly, and the rarest of all are black deer, or melanistic, that most hunters may never see while hunting or scouting. But a friend from Northampton County has seen a black buck in his back yard, and always in the morning.  

You may wonder how this coloration occurs. According to the National Deer Association, a Melanistic deer is a random genetic anomaly. Changes in the coat color of mammals is believed to be mutations in the melanocortin I receptor gene (MCIR). The mutated gene that causes melanism is believed to be recessive, just like the gene responsible for some albinism and all piebaldism. 

The first known record of melanism in whitetails was in 1929, according to famous wildlife photographer Leonard Lee Rue. Melanistic deer have been reported in Mississippi, Michigan, Virginia, Texas, South Carolina and Pennsylvania. In 1999, two Texas Tech University professors learned that there’s an 8-county area of Texas where the number of black deer is estimated to be as high as eight percent of the total deer populations. One study described this region as having deep drainages and thick cover. 

And as Texas has the largest white-tailed deer population in the United States, the professors stated that since they cannot measure the precise number of black deer in the world, most estimates guess that only about one in every 500,000 deer are melanistic. 

They also believe inbreeding can lead to high rates of black deer in an area. That is because inbreeding makes recessive genes more dominant. 

My friend, Vin Fugazotto, a science/biology teacher at Parkland High School who used to breed deer, told me he had two melanistic deer years ago that initially were chestnut brown but developed black hues. And recently, a friend told him that he captured a Zionsville black deer on his trail cam. He believes melanism is tracked back to the deer’s mother. And as far as actually harvesting one, Fugazotto had heard a hunter took a black deer in Bucks County some 10-15 years ago. 

The Texas Tech study also indicated that as far as shooting a black deer, it was noted that animals with genetic anomalies have a harder time surviving in the wild. This is one reason they are so rare. Melanistic or albino animals are easier to spot, which means predators will see and eat these animals more often. 

It was also pointed out that there are other animals that can be melanistic such as squirrels, guinea pigs and snakes to list a few. 

My Northampton County friend saw his particular black deer only once last year. So far this year he saw it three times. So where did it go over last hunting season and not making any appearances during the winter or spring months? Only it knows. 

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