A rare, albino whitetail deer buck has been spotted and photographed roaming a backyard in northern Wisconsin. Tracy Weese captured the pictures of this beautiful creature as it roamed her own yard just outside Boulder Junction.
Albino animals are extremely unique and quite dangerous to both themselves and those around them due to their lack of camouflage abilities; sometimes they don’t even make it past childhood because predators can easily spot them from afar or attack before they have time to react.
A Wisconsin woman stumbled upon the spectacular albino buck in her backyard and snapped a pair of now-viral photos. Tracy Weese was peering across the snow-covered yard when the remarkable deer strutted by, wearing its crown adorned with large antlers. ‘His Majesty just strolled through our backyard,’ Weese wrote on Facebook, where she shared two close up shots and one wider shot that captured his regal stride as he made way to find food for himself during wintertime hibernation periods.
The pictures of the albino deer have garnered countless thousands of shares since they were posted. Many commenters called it ‘majestic’ and ‘stunning.’
Weese clarified that it was an albino, not a piebald. Piebald or pied animals are typically spotted with unpigmented spots on a pigmented background of hair, feathers or scales—but this is not true for all instances! Tracy added that you can see brown splotches in its fur from where he has rubbed his horns against tree branches to remove their velvet coating during mating season.
The white-tailed deer is giving off a scent from its tarsal gland. It was in rut at the time, which meant it had entered the mating season and would be looking for love soon. Rut lasts only about six weeks each year.
The average male weighs around 300 pounds with an impressive length of between 6 and 7 feet tall (but this albino one seems to have longer legs than that). They’re usually no younger than two years old but tend to live until they are 14 or older if taken care of well enough during their lives; however, we don’t know how long our friend here might end up living since he’s such an anomaly.
Wildlife experts say that deer with recessive genetic traits and defects would prove detrimental to the population if they were allowed to flourish. “They are an unusual sight because either of their multiple physical problems or it’s due to predation,” Ed Clark, president and co-founder of Virginia Wildlife Center said. “Protecting them wouldn’t necessarily be in favor for other wild animals.”
The sighting occurred this past November, and there’s no doubt that more locals will be out looking for the buck this coming late fall and winter season.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says it’s illegal to hunt white deer, which have no hooves or tarsal glands.