leucistic – Syndication Server

Critics take aim after hunter bags rare white turkey

News that a hunter has bagged a rare white turkey at a national recreation area is being met with criticism.

“Would be a lot more beautiful left alone to live,” reads the top comment on a Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area Facebook post, which shows an image of the unidentified hunter posing with the turkey.

“I get white creatures are more prone to predators, but clearly it’s lived this long! Just leave beautiful things alone and let nature be nature.”

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Land Between the Lakes, a U.S. Forest Service property in Kentucky and Tennessee, posted this description:

“Nature comes in all colors and that was proven last week when a hunter got the turkey of a lifetime. It wasn’t the beard or the spurs that were impressive but instead its beautiful white color. The white feathers are caused by a condition call leucism, which causes a partial loss of pigmentation.”

Several types of animals can be leucistic, or partially white, versus albino animals that are all white with pink eyes. These animals are believed to be more vulnerable to predators because they stand out.

And while just about any hunting post would generate criticism by anti-hunters, comments beneath the Land Between the Lakes post pertain mostly to the uniqueness of the harvested animal.

“I eat turkey, but I can’t help but look on this with sadness,” reads another top comment. “What a beautiful bird to have been shot.”

Another: “I would have let it walk. Only way I would have shot it was with a camera. Too beautiful and rare to kill.”

The turkey was harvested legally and several comments were congratulatory.

“Congratulations on a once-in-a-lifetime bird!” reads one.

“Awesome harvest!” reads another.

But negative input seemed to dominate the comment thread.

Turkey hunting at Land Between the Lakes continues into May. Permitted hunters are required to check in with harvested birds before leaving the property.

Rare white deer spotted in Wisconsin; can it be hunted?

A rare white deer was photographed in Wisconsin days before Saturday’s start of the gun deer-hunting season, which caused some to become concerned.

A rare white deer was photographed in northern Wisconsin just days before Saturday’s start of hunting season, which caused some to become concerned about the animal’s welfare.

Tracy Weese captured the image and it was shared to Facebook last Tuesday by the Vilas County Sheriff’s Office.

“An incredible sight to see here in Vilas County, a beautiful albino buck!” the agency wrote. “This majestic creature was spotted in the greater Boulder Junction area.”

One of the top comments reads, “It is truly magnificent to see. I would hope any hunter seeing this would NOT shoot it. It is so much more beautiful alive than on your wall.”

https://www.facebook.com/VilasCountySO/posts/2721769924741678

The gun hunting season for whitetail deer opened Saturday and runs through Nov. 29. Several comments on the Sheriff’s Office post were in reference to hunting and whether this buck is fair game.

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While Wisconsin does not allow the harvesting of true albino or leucistic deer (all white but without pink eyes), a few comments pertained to brown markings on a hind leg and the head of the buck in the photo.

Despite those markings, the deer in the photo is protected, Sarah Hoye, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, told FTW Outdoors.

Hoye provided the state regulation: “Albino and white deer which have a coat of all white hair except that the hair on the tarsal glands, head or parts of the head may be a color other than white [are protected]. “White hair that has been discolored or stained by blood, soil or similar materials shall continue to be considered white hair.”

Tarsal glands are located on the inside of a deer’s hind legs and the coloration on the deer in the photo is likely caused by staining from those glands. The faint brown markings on the buck’s head might have been dirt or dried blood from the deer rubbing velvet off its antlers.

In any case, the deer is off-limits, but that does not necessarily mean it is safe.

Last year in Wisconsin, a hunter shot and killed an albino deer and subsequently turned himself in, claiming that he had fired after seeing only the brown of the deer’s head, before realizing the rest of the animal was white.

The hunting website, Wide Open Spaces, found fault with the hunter’s reasoning and added: “The remains of this deer were sent to a local taxidermist to be put on display to help other local hunters understand the difference between and albino and typical whitetail deer.”

–Image courtesy of Tracy Weese

A catch so rare that it’s spared the dinner table

Robyn Bordelon has landed more catfish than she can count, but her recent catch of a 10-pound blue catfish is one she’ll never forget.

Robyn Bordelon has landed more catfish than she can count, but her recent catch of a 10-pound blue catfish is likely one that she’ll never forget.

The fish, caught from a kayak on the Mississippi River, had no blue pigmentation. It was mostly white with a piebald pattern more likely to appear on a horse or cow, with a pink-and-black tail.

Robyn Bordelon poses with rare leucistic blue catfish. Photo: Robyn Bordelon

“I’ve seen pictures of these fish, but I never thought one would grace my line,” Bordelon, who is from Destrehan, La., told For The Win Outdoors. “That’s the best Monday I’ve had in a long time, and watching that fish swim away was priceless.”

Bordelon, who retrieved her baited jug lines on March 16 in the hope of landing fish she could store in her freezer, said she could not bring herself to keep the odd-looking catfish.

It was likely leucistic, a rare condition in which skin lacks typical pigmentation.

“That fish is at a disadvantage from birth with a mostly white coloration that sticks out to predators,” Bordelon told Louisiana Sportsman, explaining why she set it free. “When I pulled up the line and saw what it was – and how big it was – I almost lost my lunch.”

Robyn Bordelon shows off a normal-looking blue catfish. Photo: Robyn Bordelon

Bordelon told For The Win Outdoors that she likes to fish with a rod and reel, but when the river is high during the spring runoff she uses her kayak to set jug lines.

The anchored lines, with jugs serving as floats, are baited with shad or mullet and allowed to sit for extended periods. Bordelon waited about 24 hours before checking her lines on March 16, but the leucistic catfish appeared to have been freshly hooked.

She told Louisiana Sportsman: “I quickly got it netted, took pics, revived it, and happily watched it swim away.”

–Images showing Robyn Bordelon with a rare leucistic blue catfish, and a normal-looking blue catfish (bottom), are courtesy of Robyn Bordelon