When Joshua Stewart submitted a photo to The Hunting Ground page of his 98-year-old grandfather alongside a deer unlike most hunters will ever see, it was more than just a proud moment—it was a historic one. At 125 yards, with nearly a century of life experience, the elder Stewart dropped a melanistic deer with a perfect heart shot. It’s not just the shot that’s extraordinary—it’s the deer.
Melanism, the genetic opposite of albinism, causes an animal to produce excessive amounts of melanin, making their coat appear dark brown or even black. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, melanistic deer are considered the rarest color variation in white-tailed deer, with an estimated occurrence rate of 1 in 50,000 to 1 in 60,000 animals. Unlike albino or piebald deer, melanistic whitetails are often completely dark in color with no white markings, giving them a sleek, shadowy appearance that many hunters mistake for a trick of the light.
These unique deer are most commonly seen in central Texas, but they’ve been spotted in other parts of North America as well—though rarely. The genetics behind melanism are still being studied, but research published in the Journal of Heredity suggests that the condition is caused by a recessive allele that, when expressed, dramatically alters the animal’s pigmentation without affecting its health or survival capabilities.
Although we don’t have details on where this was taken, to see one is rare, and to get a shot at one is rarer still. To successfully take one at the age of 98 might be unprecedented!
Stewart’s grandfather didn’t just add another buck to the freezer—he etched a memory into hunting history. As hunters, we often talk about legacy, respect for the wild, and the bond between generations in the outdoors. This moment captures all of that in a single, extraordinary frame.
So here’s to the hunter, the black-coated buck, and the kind of story you tell at campfires for generations to come.
Sources: Texas Parks & Wildlife Department: Melanistic Deer Info, Journal of Heredity, Oxford University Press: Study on Melanism in Deer, National Deer Association: Rare Color Phases of Whitetail Deer
