Rare albino deer spotted in northern Wisconsin

November 21, 2020 at 10:46PM
Tracy Weese took this photo of an albino deer in her northern Wisconsin back yard on Nov. 17.
Tracy Weese took this photo of an albino deer in her northern Wisconsin back yard on Nov. 17. (Tracy Weese — via Vilas County (Wis.) Sheriff's Office/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A rare albino whitetail deer buck has been spotted and photographed in northern Wisconsin.

Calling it "an incredible sight," the Vilas County Sheriff's Office posted the photo, taken by Tracy Weese, on its Facebook page this week. Weese photographed the deer in her backyard in the unincorporated town of Boulder Junction.

Albino and all-white deer are protected and cannot be hunted in Wisconsin, but piebald deer, which are white with brown spots, are legal to take. (In Minnesota, it is legal to shoot an albino deer, but not an albino bear.)

Weese, who called the deer "his majesty" in talking to local media about it, said the dark spot on the buck's head appears to be dirt and blood from his having rubbed the velvet off his antlers, not pigment. The buck has pink ears and a pink nose.

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Staff report, Star Tribune

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