Amy Mattson of Mequon photographed a rare all-white buck this month on Sauk Road near Highway 32, outside Port Washington. Credit: Photo courtesy of Amy Mattson

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Amy Mattson of Mequon was driving south of Port Washington this month when she spied an all-white buck standing in a field.

The nose of the 6-point buck appears to be pink in the photos that she and a friend shot.

A pink nose and presumably pink eyes - a deer bereft of any color - means the two likely observed a rare albino deer, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

"It was very pretty," Mattson said Saturday, the first day of Wisconsin's traditional nine-day gun season.

In the dim light of late afternoon, "it almost looked like an angel or something," she recalled.

"I can't imagine why anyone would want to shoot it."

In fact, albino deer, and another type of white deer with a black nose and colored eyes, can't be shot, according to Davin Lopez, a DNR biologist. The exception is in the state's chronic wasting disease zones, where the DNR wants to reduce deer populations.

Lopez said albino deer are the rarer of the two, but both are uncommon.

A story in Outdoor Life last year by Travis Faulkner says the chance of an albino deer being born in the wild is one in 20,000. Faulkner said these "mystical ghosts of the woods" were even documented in journal entries by European explorers in present-day Wisconsin.

White deer are sometimes known to live in pockets, since the genetic trait is passed down.

The closest such pocket in metropolitan Milwaukee is in the Dousman area, Lopez said.

Faulkner describes a large group living near Boulder Junction, which has been chronicled in a book, "White Deer: Ghosts of the Forest."

On Nov. 14, Mattson and Emily Mueller, 13, of Grafton were returning from a Big Brothers/Big Sisters holiday party in Port Washington when they spied the white buck on Sauk Road near Highway 32, on the border of Port Washington and the Town of Grafton.

Mueller took a picture with Mattson's camera from the car. Then, Mattson, 27, a nurse, shot more photos outside the car.

The deer appeared to be almost tame, she said. She whistled once. Like a pet dog, it looked up.

Lopez said the DNR hasn't had any significant problem with poachers shooting the deer as a trophy.

As for the deer, the white coat isn't necessarily a blessing. It is more vulnerable to predation, especially as a fawn, because it can't blend in with its surroundings.