• Albino deer found in the wild are considered to be quite rare and it is illegal to hunt them in Illinois. Indeed, a Wisconsin study estimates that albinos occur only once in every 42,500 deer births. Due to this rarity many states, including Illinois, have placed strict restrictions on the hunting of albino deer.
  
  

Meaning of Albino

• Albino animals cannot produce the enzyme necessary for tissue, hair, and skin coloration. Also, since they lack total body pigment, their eyes appear pink due to the blood vessels behind their lenses showing through their unpigmented irises.
  
  

Albinism in Deer

• Albinism is a recessive trait that must be passed on by both parents for the offspring to be albino. For instance, two albino deer bred together would only ever have albino offspring. However, an albino deer bred with a normal deer with no recessive albino traits would produce normally pigmented offspring that carry the recessive trait. If two normally pigmented deer that both carry the recessive gene mate, they have only a 1 in 4 chance of producing an albino offspring.
  
  

Illinois Law Against Hunting Albino Deer

• Being all white, though, can make successful hiding from predators in most deer habitats difficult, and additionally many albinos have poor eyesight. These combined factors, along with the rarity of the recessive gene and the ensuing difficulty of producing an albino deer, contribute to their rarity. Due to this rarity, in Illinois, the taking of an albino deer is classified as a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to $2,500 in fines or 180 days in jail, and any white deer will also be confiscated.