Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Ohio buck - chocolate brown, including antlers

Buddy of mine spotted a very large 12 point buck with very distinct chocolate coloring, including his antlers. The landowner confirmed that they see the deer regularly.

I’ve seen pie-bald deer but never chocolate colored deer. Has anyone else seen this? Any photos?

https://deerassociation.com/melanistic-whitetails-heres-know/

Rare deer.

Don’t tell the TWRA Commision or they’ll protect them.
“They’re so pretty in my back yard…..”🤣

A chocolate deer would be really awesome to have on one’s wall. Or to watch cruise through your back yard……

Chocolate my ass melanistic is the proper term. Neat looking buck.

Saw a really dark looking deer a couple of days ago. appeared almost black looking. But it was 500 yards away and it didn't stand long enough to look with optics.

I see deer daily and have deer hunted for over 58 years mostly in Michigan from the swamps in the UP to the Farms in the LP and have never seen a melanistic whitetail...at the family Farm in Macomb County back in the 80's there was a doe seen by my brothers and Grandfather several time but I never saw it....at first they thought it was a goat but no one had any goats at all....my Grandfather said we were not allowed to shoot it hoping to keep the genies alive....

Back in the 80s, in Northern Michigan. I saw a doe with twins, one was very dark brown the other normal color. Was July, never saw it again.

Seen a ton of deer in my life. Only two melanistic.

Very kool !!!

First I seen one even in a picture. Very unique and neat looking.

Never saw one. Closest I ever came to seeing abnormal deer genetics was the piebald doe that was on my buddies property in the mid 1990's. He thought it was cool and wouldn't shoot it because he wanted to see if its offspring looked normal. She had some normal fawns and even then she was off limits cause he wanted her to survive. So if I hunted his woods I had to promise not to shoot it. Early one morning at first light I had it standing broadside to me for several minutes at only about 20 yards. It was cool to watch but later that winter it got nailed crossing the road on one side of his land.

Very cool coloration. As best as I can recall, I've never seen a chocolate colored, albino, or even a pie-bald deer.

Here in Alaska, I've seen pie-bald moose, pics of an all white one (not albino), and currently there is a white (not albino) raven that was first seen here on the Kenai, currently wintering in Anchorage (more food - may or may not come back here). Two falls ago I saw a raven-black ptarmigan coming off 12 Mile Summit, north of Fairbanks.