Saw my first one on Monday

Monday afternoon was heading down to Uvalde to hunt with good buddy, Shorty Gorham. Within a half mile after exiting IH 10 onto Hwy 83, there was a whitetail doe in the highway ROW that was almost black. I know that several melanistic deer have been posted on this site but this is the first one that I have seen. I hate that I did not get a photo of her but there was a truck right behind me and I did not want to get run over.
Adios,
Gary

I’ve seen 2 personally. One was a deer that lived in my buddies yard in Bulverde.

The other was in Kendall county outside Leon springs.

I’ve seen two piebald, one in Walker county the other in Real ( that deer was very piebald )

I’m the hill county, I am always suspect of people that claim they see menalistic as they are easy confused with a Sika or Fallow Deer

They are super cool to see. Seen a handful in my life. Had a really cool encounter with one for many years before I finally saw him during the hunting season and was in the blind. I’ve shared it before, but full story here, if you haven’t seen it yet: http://www.mapmyranch.com/black-beauty.html

I have only seen one, it was down southwest of Junction.

I have seen numerous piebalds and most were bucks for some reason. None of them had even average racks.
Adios,
Gary

That's so cool. A Melanistic bobcat is high on my list.

Not average as in smaller than normal or something was amiss with them?

A lot of guys have tried breeding them and never could get majority of them over 140”

I sold a ranch that had two In the pens that were 180 and 160” respectively

I am fortunate that we have a few living in our area. See a couple every year. One thing I have noticed is that the bucks never amount to much. The best one I have seen personally would only go about 90 to 100 ". I wonder if its something genetic or if they are just killed before they mature.

I've seen 2 that were hit by cars near Fischer in Comal county. My FIL has one mounted that he shot in Hays county years ago. It has a small rack. Beautiful animals.