Watch: Would You Shoot This Piebald/Calico Buck?

We’ve asked readers before whether they would shoot an albino or piebald deer. The first post was mostly theoretical, while a later article referred directly to a young hunter’s harvest of an albino whitetail.

In both cases, the comment threads became heated with folks who disagreed about whether such animals should be killed by hunters.

This time, I’m including a video of a small herd of whitetail deer, supposedly in a wildlife sanctuary in Wisconsin, most of which are piebald or “calico.”

I say “supposedly” because I think this video’s description is bogus:

This video captures a very rare herd of Pied/Calico whitetail deer were once common in Northern range. Due to over hunting in 1800’s most were killed off. Recessive gene appears once every 20,000 births. Legal to hunt and regarded as a trophy due to its rarity, but it is wise woodsman-ship to allow to reproduce and increase numbers.

Yeah, I don’t think so.

Doubts aside, there’s no arguing with the contents of the video. And that one buck is quite impressive.

And if I had a legal chance to do so while hunting, I would absolutely take that buck, and I’d be thrilled about it.

Would you?

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.