We all know it’s not uncommon to see wildlife in the Northwoods, especially deer, but one morning last month, Monica and I were in awe when we saw a ghost deer, also known as albino deer standing in the middle of a snowmobile trail near downtown Boulder Junction. There are some people that live in the Northwoods that will never see an albino deer, so viewing this animal was just amazing and for some reason, it was almost spiritual.

While Land O Lakes and Manitowish Waters are known to have a small number of albino deer, for reasons I believe I can explain, Boulder Junction has the highest population of these albino deer in the state. I could count on one hand the number of white deer I have seen in the Northwoods in my life, but not true albinos, because those deer had BROWN eyes, nose and hooves. Even though a true albino deer will have PINK eyes, nose, ears and hooves, an albino deer could also have light blue eyes.

Albino deer do not have the cell that produces MELANIN, (a dark pigment that results in normal coloration). Albinism is passed genetically, and each cell contains many parts of genes, one from the buck, one from the doe and these genes transmit traits through generations. An albino fawn is the result from a specific combination of genes and these fawns are extremely rare, because the genes for this trait are recessive, while the genes for normal pigmentation are dominant. SO, even if an albino buck and albino doe mate (October to December) there is only a 1 in 4 chance their fawn will be an albino. But if an albino deer mates with a brown deer that carries the albino gene, that fawn will most likely be a brown colored deer. How often does albinism happen? With all the studies that have been on this subject, one study says 1 in 20,000, another says 1 in 30,000, yet another one said it could be over 1 in 50,000, so really nobody knows for sure. So, I’m going with 1 in 20,000, but as I mentioned above brown deer CAN carry the recessive white gene and if crossed with an albino deer, those could be closer to the 1 in 50,000. I tried to explain how albinism works as best as I could, so if you’re confused, reread the last paragraph again, because I did and rewrote it four times to keep it simple. LOL.

There has been speculation about the health of albino deer, but they are as healthy as other deer and can be even more aggressive than brown deer, especially when food is involved. If there is any downside for albino deer in the Northwoods, it’s because they stand out in the woods during the non-winter months, so they are easily seen by predators. Also albino deer have poor eyesight (because of un-pigmented irises) during the daytime and it is said their hearing isn’t the same as a normal white tail brown deer.

So why does Wisconsin have so many albino deer?  In Wisconsin, because it’s ILLEGAL to hunt albino deer. Not many know this, but the Michigan DNR said there is no reason that albino deer cannot be hunted the same as brown deer, so since 2008 it IS LEGAL to harvest an albino deer in the state Michigan. In Boulder Junction, because I heard people (MIGHT) treat these special white deer like pets and feed them, so this is why they stay very close to town. I consider ourselves truly fortunate to have seen an albino deer that morning and I hope everyone can experience seeing one of these beautiful animals as we did.