More than the tail is white on this deer

KANSAS CITY Mo -- Michael Utt watched for two quarries from his hunting stand during the recent firearms deer season, an all-white deer for his camera and a white-tail deer for the freezer. Utt bagged both.

A Sugar Creek resident, he was hunting near Lake of the Ozarks on Nov. 13 when a white deer moved through the woods. He knew such a deer was in the area and was carrying a camera just in case, so he shot some photographs. Later, he found the deer in another location and took more photographs.

Utt was hunting on a friend’s land and some area residents had reported a white deer in the woods.

“I wasn’t sure I believed them,” Utt said.

Now he has the photos proving they were right. The pictures are taken from a distance but it’s clearly an all-white deer, a doe, and possibly a true albino with pink eyes. Albino deer possess a recessive gene trait. Their white color makes them more vulnerable to predators.

“I decided not to shoot this deer, and hopefully we’ll see it again and it will have some offspring,” Utt said.

Albino deer are rare but some are generally spotted each year in Missouri. At least two other cases were reported to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) during the recent November firearms deer season.

Conservation Agent Tammy Pierson confirmed an all-white deer shot by a hunter in Ray County. Although that deer had blue eyes rather than the pink or red eyes that would make it a true albino. A hunter killed an albino deer in Texas County that was also confirmed by conservation agents.