Black (Melanistic) Fawn

[2LaneCruzer]

I have never seen a black deer but black squirrels are actually quite common in this area. I have seen a few of them around for a long time but in the last few years they are up to about 10% of the squirrel population around here.

Black squirrels are rare here, but not unknown. I killed one when I was a kid, trying to put meat on the table, but I have only seen one since...a 50 year span...and it was not completely black, had a light underbelly and a tinge of red on its legs and tail. I have never seen a black deer, nor a white one for that matter. They are everywhere now; they are eating my peppers and tomatoes...and you MUST be on your toes if you drive at night around here, even on the interstate. We spend at least one evening a week at the Elks Lodge, and we see them about 50% of the time on the road home.

 

[cqaigy2]

Never seen a black deer before. Nice of you to put some food out for them in that flower pot.

 

[CreekyB]

Pretty rare by most accounts. I've only seen one other and it was not as dark.

You are living in the ideal area for them tho. Texas is the one place where they can be seen with any kind of frequency and the largest amount of reports (over 95%) of them are within 100 miles of San Marcos.

Another oddity that Texas has the most of with deer is the single basket antler whitetail. I forget the name for it but they will have one antler that grows down and around their face. The Mason / Brady area always has a few of them running around.

Both "deformities" are supposedly linked to specific minerals in the areas. But I am no scientist, just stuff I used to hear when we hunted a lot when I was young. I married a woman from Flushing Queens, she does not care for meat that does not come from the grocery store. I kinda lost the will to hunt being the only one in the house eating game meat.

 

[DeeDubya]

Never seen a black deer before. Nice of you to put some food out for them in that flower pot.

That's an automatic water trough. There's a deer feeder about 40 yards away. Which brings to mind. A Texas State graduate did a San Marcos deer count a couple years ago and set up game cameras all around town. I let him put one in my back yard which borders a 27 acre green space. His thoughts at the time were "well if you feed them, then you will attract more and more". Not so. I've been feeding deer here now since 1989 and there are no more at the feeder now than 27 years ago. Deer are very protective of a food source and when an occasional stranger approaches, they immediately let him know that he is not welcome.

Several years ago, a family moved to San Marcos from out of state. After the deer invaded their garden they went nuts. They complained to the city, blogged that the deer should be removed from San Marcos at the taxpayers expense and even went so far as to say that had they known there were so many deer, they wouldn't have moved to San Marcos. IMO then move somewhere else! Or put up a deer fence around your garden like normal people.

I also have a couple resident foxes. I just hope they don't find out we have foxes too.