SUBMITTED
Happy holidays to all my readers, and I hope you get a nice break from work or school to do some hunting or fishing! Doug Mauck shared an interesting photo with me that was taken on a trail camera near MacLennan Park in Topeka.
Mauck said he has had the field camera in the same place for five years, but was surprised when an image of a partially black-colored deer showed up.
“I have also walked the trails at MacLennan Park for the past 18 years and have never seen this one,” he said. “This guy must be being chased from territory to territory by more mature bucks and is just wandering through.”
The spike buck does indeed appear to have a darker tint to parts of his coat than most, sort of a gray to even a dark chocolate color toward its hind end. At its head, it becomes pure black in areas.
Melanistic deer are extremely rare and can range from having patches of black in their coats to being completely jet black. Mauck said he posts his best trail camera photos and videos on the MacLennan Park Gallery and Forum group on Facebook.
Shadows in the photo make it difficult to tell just how much of the deer is black, but it certainly is a cool-looking creature.
“I have also walked the trails at MacLennan Park for the past 18 years and have never seen this one,” he said. “This guy must be being chased from territory to territory by more mature bucks and is just wandering through.”
The spike buck does indeed appear to have a darker tint to parts of his coat than most, sort of a gray to even a dark chocolate color toward its hind end. At its head, it becomes pure black in areas.
Melanistic deer are extremely rare and can range from having patches of black in their coats to being completely jet black. Mauck said he posts his best trail camera photos and videos on the MacLennan Park Gallery and Forum group on Facebook.
Shadows in the photo make it difficult to tell just how much of the deer is black, but it certainly is a cool-looking creature.
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