Have You Seen the Picture of the Rare Deer Spotted by an Iowa Hunter?
(Photo: Heath Pacha via KCCI)
No, this deer wasn’t scared white by the hunter sitting in a tree stand only 15 feet away from it — it was born this way.
According to KCCI-TV, Heath Pacha of Long Grove, Iowa, spotted the creature — which is white (not albino) and has odd antler growth on its left side — earlier this month while in his stand. But it wasn’t the first time. He told the local news station that he’s seen it frequently on his farm.
Pacha couldn’t kill the animal because deer that are mostly white are protected within the state. According to the DNR, this law was passed in the 1980s after a white deer was shot. The DNR stated that white-tailed deer that are predominately white all over are rare but the sightings still occur every year.
The DNR posted this most recent photo on its Facebook page asking followers to caption it. Here are a few of those captions:
- Casper the friendly deer … — Drew Koenig
- Ghosts of Xmas past. — Randy Wellner
- What do you mean I don’t blend in? — Ryan Wilcox
- I sure hope it snows soon. — Brian McKee
- You look like you’ve seen a ghost. –Â Susan Helms- Hankemeier
Last year, a white white-tailed deer was hit by a car and killed on 1-80 in the state.
Doug Serjeant, a Washington-man working in the equine industry for more than 30 years, told TheBlaze the coloration of this deer could be the result of inbreeding. The improperly formed horn, Sergeant said, indicates a compromised immune system as it relates to the animal’s optic nerve and pituitary gland. With these issues, Sergeant said the deer probably has liver problems and he expects it wouldn’t live long.
This story has been updated to include more information.Â
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Comments (75)
Al J Zira
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 8:24pmDoug Serjeant, a Washington-man working in the equine industry for more than 30 years, told TheBlaze the coloration of this deer could be the result of inbreeding. The improperly formed horn, Sergeant said, indicates a compromised immune system as it relates to the animal’s optic nerve and pituitary gland. With these issues, Sergeant said the deer probably has liver problems and he expects it wouldn’t live long.
Doug Sergeant= the Deer Whisperer.
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jungle J
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 8:16pmThere is an open season on straight white males why not white deer?
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PaxInVeritate
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:38pmI don’t know about that… that horn isn’t too straight. Seems a little queer to me. Oh wait! Maybe a Viagra will help that little horn out.
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JQuentinEvermann
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 1:17pm“Deer” is obviously a code word for “Black Woman.” Your racism is obvious!
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oldjeepnut
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 7:27pmA White White Tail Deer, although not common it really isnt rare. Just a color variation. Theres actually a wild herd in upstate New York. Not a freek, just white. I have several on my farm. As for the antler, it was most likely damaded while it was growing and not a genetic problem.
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PaxInVeritate
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:54pmThat’s possible.
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AmericanWomanFirst
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 8:14amThey are amazing to see, and surprisingly not shy…
http://youtu.be/fUnX65RmPko
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3-Blue
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 3:25pmMy friend went backpacking at Point Reys, CA, just north of San Francisco a few years ago. He woke up to find himself surrounded by white deer. In the fog of grogginess, he thought he had died and gone to heaven. (Unlikely though that would be for him :) It seems that a small herd was transplanted there from Japan in the late 40s. Of course it never, ever snows on the California coast so they stand out like a Navy swab at a funeral in amongst the Coyote Bush. I think the forest service tried to exterminate them. Don’t know how that turned out as the locals were up in arms about it and are very attached to their angelic deer. I think the locals were uneasy because they are white and non-native as well… Kinda like what ‘they’ are trying to do to all of us now………..
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PaxInVeritate
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:44pm3-BLUE… it snowed along Skyline in 79 and 80, so you can’t say “never”. Everyone from Los Gatos to San Jose that had a child was up in those hills at that time.
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Treaty
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 4:43pmThat white deer is obviously racist
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Arnold_Ziffel
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 8:15pmNo doubt Al Sharpton or the New Black Panthers will produce some evidence that this deer voted for Romney in 2 states under assumed names.
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RedManBlueState
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 4:27pmThe other, other white meat.
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rickc34
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 6:20pmLooks like lunch to me. Shoot it.
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PaxInVeritate
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:33pmREDMANBLUESTATE… *chuckles*
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The Jewish Avenger
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:00amMmmm… venison…
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Madmilo
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 4:26pmHe’ll probably get hit hit by a car.
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lylejk
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:27pmI wonder how white deer venison would taste like? :)
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YOUR NOT GETTING MY GUNS
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 9:53amIt taste’s like chicken and chicken taste’s like eagle. Every hunter knows that.
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flatbroke
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:15pmIf hunters will not shoot the deer, than a hungry mountian lion, or bear will kill, and eat it. and dont think their are no mountain lions or bear in Iowa, there are, they are silent, hunters looking for opportunity and a good meal.
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DetritusScreener
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 2:07pmUhmm… That is not a deer… That is a liberal Unicorn. They are usually found in eastern Iowa and 99% of Illinois.
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toiletclogga
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:05pmCatch him and paint a red bullseye on his side. ******* deer!
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MCON29
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 5:24pm99% off Illinois my A*S. Only north of I-80.
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DetritusScreener
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 6:41pmRight, I mean the Occupy 99%. It is a relative term.
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farmwife
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:48pmYou must live in Eastern Iowa like I do. . . The “left” coast of the state! Have to admit this is pretty cool. We’ll be on the lookout for it.
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alinskythis
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:34pm… and they babies.
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PaxInVeritate
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:26pmThis non-Albino white deer with bad genetics (horn growth is non-typical) should be harvested from the deer population to keep the herd strong. I’m all for People for Eating Tasty Animals.
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Landon410
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 2:03pmi agree, you do not want this animal breeding…..
come on left wingers, thought with selection of the fittest and what not you wouldn’t want to give this deer welfare…. oh wait…..
um….
I was at a taxidermist’s just last night in Bellevue NE, he had a skin of a piebald deer in his garage, pretty thing, wish I had it…
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SerikFox
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 2:12pmI disagree, if it can have it’s horn like that and be white and still survive in the wild, then it must be strong in other ways. “Bad” is relative, and relatively that deer is doing a good job of surviving. However, I am all for people eating tasty animals.
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Landon410
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:10pmits called a management buck, you have a lot of experience hunting deer? farming your property just right to create the best enviroment for deer? etc etc etc?
didn’t think so…. that deer has bad genetics and needs to be removed from the gene pool.
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OnTheHunt
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:14pmI’ve seen albino deer before and you would be the bad-ass of the hunting world to bag one….tree-huggers find one and hug it long and hard
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The_Cabrito_Goat
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:06pmDon’t shoot it!!
Keep the wild wild. Something this pristine and magnificent should be respected.
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hauschild
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:33pmIf you try hard enough, you could arrive at the same conclusion for every species.
Animals don’t live very long. Why invest so much energy and compassion into something that was given to us to be harvested and consumed???
Imagine all the cattle and hogs that are slaughtered for our consumption. Where is the compassion for them ( as we wipe the grease and juice running down our chins – or chin(s) ).
This animal rights stuff is really another leftist distraction from the real issues at hand.
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GhostOfJefferson
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:13pmHey Cab,
You do know that nature is going to immediately select this beastie out, right? Maybe not in winter time, but come spring and summer it’s like a huge blinking target in red neon to every predator in ten miles. Nature’s freaks, whilst sometimes beautiful, generally fail for genetic twists like this.
I will say this though – it looks tasty!
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RockyMountainPATRIOT
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 7:34amHey CABRITO, nice Agenda 21 argument!
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The Jewish Avenger
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:02amCab, I love watching deer.
But I kill my bag limit every year and so do my kids.
Trust me, the balance by the states governments are very, if not over reachingly, effective.
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biohazard23
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:03pmBeautiful.
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:00pmNice picture, not as rare as most assume, yet nice.
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KickinBack
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:56pmBetcha the liberals will claim that it voted for Romney…
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OnTheHunt
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:26pmso true…
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DadRocked
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 2:27pm“Betcha the liberals will claim that it voted for Romney…”
I am so tired or these kind of posts and mindset of the dull drums American citizens. I am sure that this is the popular consenses. DadRocked
Now for realville, I concur
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KickinBack
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 4:58pmIt’s called sarcasm dadrocked. Live and laugh a little. I’m sure you’re not serious 100% of the time…
“Torpedo One …FIRE”
…Really?
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RightUnite
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:51pmSeriously… Not very rare at all….
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drphil69
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:27pmReally? 1 in 30,000 is “not that rare at all?”
What do you consider rare???
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iglooanne
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:22pmIn our county in western Illinois we have a normal CAR kill rate of 20,000 deer every year (police records that are reported). I have dozens of deer EVERY NIGHT walk all over my yard. I wouldn’t consider 1 in 30,000 very rare. Maybe slightly unusual but not very rare. This is corn country and the deer population is out of control. Talk about grain fed meat! Yum.
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thegreatcarnac
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:51pmThis deer is very intelligent. If the camera had panned a little to the left it would have pictured 16 empty cans of white spray paint.
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COFemale
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:59pmYep you can see in his midsection he missed a few spots. LOL
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OnTheHunt
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:28pmyou know I didn’t look at the photo that well but all of the albino deer I have seen havepink eyes
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objectivetruth
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 4:09pm@Onthe hunt
I not only noticed that the eyes aren’t red.I noticed that the horn doesn’t seem all that close to the optic nerve.It seems closer to the typanic nerve.It appears to be growing rather shallowly out of the side.The nub is still at the top.I wouldn’t think that would be there in a genetic mutation.Injury yes.
Is there a rather sparse set of lands between Iowa and the Canadian North.One that would allow a deer to pass through[if not white]Unseen relatively easily?Why I’m asking is that they have discovered a cross between a polar bear and a grizzly brown bear.Is it possible that the deer in the north are evolving to their enviroment similar to that bear?Before any one pounces on me don’t.I grew up hunting and love venison.I simply wonder if its a genetic dead end or maybe a product of rapid evolution.
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98Bravo
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:47pmyummm, dinner..
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DadRocked
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 2:43pmlove white meat…
Now folks, if you haven’t had a venison meal or if you need to feed youself and your family…
Are you going to let this deer go? If yes, vote Agenda 21 – If no, Mangia! Mangia!
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SREGN
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:47pmCall me Ishmael.
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Tex Expatriate
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:44pmWhile not common in nature, this aberration occurs from time to time. The sad thing is that few of these animals survive because without their natural camoflage they stand out to predators as easy prey. Although I hunt and take more than one deer every year for the table, and will take more now that Obama was re-elected by fools and given carte blanche to continue his anti-American policies, God bless the state of Iowa for doing what it can to protect this animal.
Those of us who are seventy-five years old and older are a lot like this animal. We stick out among the population for the predatory Democrats to selectively murder by medical neglect under Obamacare.
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Tom K
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:49pm@ TEX EXPATRIATE : Yes, unless the States fight Obama Care, the ” Death Panels ” are coming to remove those perceived to be weak in the ” herd “. These are NOT actually weak, but full of the knowlege of a truly Free America, which the Dem-Lib-Prog-Soc-Comms see as a threat to their evil plans. Death Panel – I spit in your eye.
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The Giver
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 9:44pmYou sound pretty active. Worrying about the death panels won’t add a single minute to your life. Plenty of states are not going along with the exchanges. Maybe the House will grow some b*lls and not fund Oh!Care. You can write a book about your experiences growing up in America. You have so much to teach younger generations. You don’t start getting old till you hit mid 90′s.
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Maxim Crux
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:42pmRudolf has a new companion in his outcast group of misfits.
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txn4justice
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:39pmCool. Don’t shoot it Cletus!
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AmericanStrega
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:56pmA-coo-coo (says Roscoe P. Coaltrain).
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hayesstephen
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:38pmIt will not be long until Caucasians will need such a law.
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Tom K
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:52pm@ HAYESSTEPHEN : Replacing the White Middle Class has always been part of the Dem-Lib-Prog-Soc-Comms’ Plan.
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HumbleMan
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 4:16pm@TOM. destroying, not replacing.
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banjarmon
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:35pmThe Ghost of Bambi!!!
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Welcome Black Carter
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:49pm“that deer has bad genetics and needs to be removed from the gene pool.”
True. Instead it will be protected and the bad genetics will be repeated into the herd.
But, you can’t tell a democrat that. They survive by elevating the worst. Obammy is a cull, and they made him into the worst two term president in U.S. history.
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