Blond Muley -- Anyone seen a mutation like this?

[Belael]

So this old Mule deer buck used to live around my property for years; these are the last pics I got of him back in summer of 2012 (all of the deer look awful in summer around here due to moulting so don't take these pics as indicators of him being sick).

He, by far, has one of the oddest and most striking color mutation I've ever seen in deer. I've heard of a blue morph, albinos/leucistics, piebalds, and melanistics but never one that was gold/blond with blue eyes and pink skin.

I'm assuming that whatever color mutation he has reduces his pigmentation not only in his coat but also in his skin (you can see the sunburn spots just above his nose) and velvet and also coded his eyes to be blue but he always in good condition, had good muscle definition, and ate like a pig so the coloring seemed to just be a cosmetic issue. No clue if it's a purely genetic mutation or if it's the result of some sort of illness/injury he had earlier on in his life.

So my question: Has anybody ever seen a color mutation like this before on a deer? I've never been able to find anything close to it online.

[SuperX]

It almost looks like a piebald that didn't really get spots.  I saw a doe last year that was chocolate brown from head to toe, all one color like a chocolate lab. 

[Belael]

Yeah, he kinda does.

But from what I understand of the piebald gene is that it always creates some sort of white splash effect on the animal. The 'severity' of the white can be minimal or it can be extreme but it's always present in some way in animals who express it.

It seems like all of the usual lighter areas on him are white but the base coat has been changed (he still, oddly enough, has a black tip on his tail still) and he has no melanin in his skin or velvet.

I raise rabbits and deer are distantly related and the only explanation I can really come up with is that he has some sort of non-extension and/or dilution genetic going on. It's definitely very rare and very recessive.

[NOCK NOCK]

Odd looking for sure. Antlers look like they are growing oddly too, any pics of him hard horned?

[nwwanderer]

Common summer coat color but that skin pigment is a new one for me, thanks for posting

[Belael]

Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of him hard-horned.

He'd come around during late winter/early spring and stick around until mid/late-ish summer before he'd disappear until next season (presumably to gear up to rut), so I only ever saw him when he was in velvet.

[runamuk]

That is what is called albino in horses, its actually a dilution gene and not true albino which includes pink eyes not blue.  That is cool as all get out for a genetics loving science nerd

[buckcanyonlodge]

Packed in to the Little Belt mountains in Montana elk hunting years ago and saw a mule deer doe the same color. Saw her several times...the outfitter that packed us in said it must have been an elk I saw...HA.. He must have thought we were green horns from the city.. COOL looking buck

[HighCountryHunter88]

Leusistic (sp)

[Brute]

If only it was not April 1st. 
 Pretty cool buck. 
Have posted photos of these before.  Black doe and blonde cow.

[SuperX]

Brute, I see that black doe as dark brown - anyway that is what I saw last season exactly.

[Brute]

She is definitely black. The morning light was hitting her and makes her appear a little reddish.
Have never seen her again personally but hear that there is still at least one around there.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I've seen this mutation in fallow deer but not mule deer.  Very cool!

[W_Ellison2011]

Haven't seen one like that. There is a piebald blacktail doe that roams around the fields by the highschool in orting though! Its friggin awesome to see! Wife generally sees it around 4-6 pm. We don't have any good photos of it because we are usually driving through the area heading somewhere when we see it.

[SuperX]

Brute, if that's black then I saw a black doe in the okanogan.  Pretty cool, she laid down on a dirt patch and all but disappeared. 

Where did you see this one?