Every deer hunter knows that pulling the trigger is only a small part of the fun. Spending time outside looking for the perfect buck is what most hunts are all about and, thankfully, there's nothing quite as majestic as a healthy buck, especially one that is in the prime of rutting season. Seeing two such bucks dueling during the rut season is a spectacle that should be on every deer hunter's bucket list.
South Carolina resident Charlie Moore hit the deer rut jackpot back in 2019. He witnessed two impressive white-tail bucks battling it out on the side of the road on Seabrook Island, South Carolina. While an unusual thing to see from your car on any day, Moore's experience was all the more special because one of the deer was a beautiful piebald.
Luckily for us, Moore caught it all on video and uploaded the video to Facebook. In the video, the two deer lock antlers in front of a sign, pushing each other back and forth over the curb.
Seabrook Island, just south of Charleston, is a barrier island where piebald deer (also known as calico deer) are apparently a somewhat frequent sight on the golf courses and walking trails.
That said, piebaldism is incredibly rare, accounting for less than 2% of the deer population. The deer get their beautiful black and white spotted coats from a genetic condition that results in the absence of pigmentation in portions of the deer's skin. This lack of pigmentation gives them their spotted look. The piebaldism genetic condition also often results in other strange physical conditions, like bowed noses, short legs, cured spines, short jaws, and internal organ deformities.
Albinism, which is a complete lack of pigmentation, is much rarer, and albino deer are completely white with pink eyes, noses, and hooves.
