Melanistic (black) Fawns...!
- Thread starter OVWdeer
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Working on getting some new pictures...stay tuned...
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Man that color is gorgeous
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Are they not growing any antlers this year??
They are pretty interesting, I wonder if them being melanistic means their antlers will always be smaller? Perhaps there is some connection with the antler gene in melanistic, white, and piebald deer and their antler gene. If you look at the antlers on all white deer and piebald deer, as a whole they are smaller in comparison than typical whitetail deer. Quite interesting indeed! Any picture I have found of melanistic deer that have been harvested have been rather low scoring. The coats on those two deer are simply beautiful no matter what type of antlers they sport.
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Johnny,
The reason the whites and pieds have smaller antlers is because the antler is damaged by the sun and the antler spends it's energy on fixing the antler. The white antler does get sun burned and causes antler growth to reduce the size of the antler. I have always thought this and this year I have a pied with one brown patch where the antler comes out and is a brown antler and the other side is a white antler. The growth difference is amazing. The brown side is a 4 point and the white side is just a spike. You can see the sun burn on the white antler which in my opinion causes the white antlers to be smaller in white and pied deer. Fact is elk show the same problem in antler size. Just one of my opinions.
The reason the whites and pieds have smaller antlers is because the antler is damaged by the sun and the antler spends it's energy on fixing the antler. The white antler does get sun burned and causes antler growth to reduce the size of the antler. I have always thought this and this year I have a pied with one brown patch where the antler comes out and is a brown antler and the other side is a white antler. The growth difference is amazing. The brown side is a 4 point and the white side is just a spike. You can see the sun burn on the white antler which in my opinion causes the white antlers to be smaller in white and pied deer. Fact is elk show the same problem in antler size. Just one of my opinions.
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Nice~I haven't been on in a long LONG time~It's nice to pop in and see something so Awesome!! Congrats!!
PaintedMeadowsBJs961241408064236
Nice~I haven't been on in a long LONG time~It's nice to pop in and see something so Awesome!! Congrats!!
Hey billy those melenistics are about 20 miles from me on vinnies farm!!! Great to see you here on the forums!!!
Scott neeb
wwww.chanllowfarms.com
Nice~I haven't been on in a long LONG time~It's nice to pop in and see something so Awesome!! Congrats!!
Hey billy those melenistics are about 20 miles from me on vinnies farm!!! Great to see you here on the forums!!!
Scott neeb
wwww.chanllowfarms.com
I have seen white and pied deer up close, I have noticed what look like very bright pink patches on their antlers. Do you believe those are the sunburn marks on the antlers? If so, I have seen the same marks on several all brown deer antlers. Or is your thought that their whole antler is constantly healing the sunburned parts, thus not able to put as much energy into growth? That is a very interesting theory. Do you recall the pied yearling from last year or the year prior that was at a ranch in TX who scored in the high 200's, I would be interested to see pictures of his antlers when they were in velvet. I remember that deer having lots of color variation, I cannot remember what his antlers looked like however.
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My opinion is that the whole antler is under stress from sunburn. Heck here even the ears get sunburn. As I recall that 200 inch buck had brown antlers and if so would help my opinion on why white antler don't grow as well as brown. Here in Montana we have sunshine almost every day. As I'm out more or less in the plains without much shade I'm sure the sun has a very high effect on the white antlers.
