Ep. 83 - The Story of the Hunt for "Black Beauty", a Mature Melanistic White-Tailed Buck

Send us a text

At the center of this story is "Black Beauty", a melanistic white-tailed deer, whose rare appearance on the Blitch family ranch came during a profound transformation in our approach and practices of wildgame and land management. 

Melanism, a genetic trait causing an excess of melanin and resulting in dark coloration, is particularly prevalent in certain Texas counties, though this was the Blitch family's first interaction with a melanistic animal. 
 
George recounts the shift from cattle ranching to wildlife stewardship, a decision that reshaped the family's ancestral lands. After inheriting the ranch, George and his wife, Meg, collaborated with local biologists to enhance habitats for native species like deer and turkey. This transition was not merely a change in operations but a deep-seated commitment to preserving the rich biodiversity that defines their region. Their efforts were driven by a desire to honor the land and its history, ensuring that future generations could experience its natural splendor.
 
The episode delves into the discovery and the exhilarating hunt for Black Beauty, blending instinct with uncertainty, culminating on Veterans Day—a poignant connection to George's grandfather's legacy on the family ranch. This encounter not only highlighted the importance of wildlife management but also underscored the family's commitment to sustainable land stewardship and family traditions. 
 
Throughout the podcast, emphasis is placed on the importance of community involvement in conservation efforts. By working with local wildlife biologists and participating in programs like the NRCS's EQIP, we implemented strategies to improve habitat quality. This collaboration illustrates how landowners can partner with experts to achieve conservation goals, benefiting both wildlife and the environment. The Blitch family's story serves as an inspiring example of how individuals can make a meaningful impact on biodiversity through informed and responsible land management practices.
 
In conclusion, "Black Beauty" is more than a story about the hunt of an extremely  rare deer; it is a heartfelt tribute to family heritage, the beauty of nature, and the enduring impact of conservation. George Blitch invites listeners to reflect on their own relationship with the natural world, encouraging a deeper appreciation for the wonders that surround us. Whether you are a seasoned hunter or a wildlife enthusiast, this episode offers valuable insights into the significance of preserving our natural heritage and the joys of stewarding the land for generations to come.

 

To learn more about George Blitch, visit:
https://www.sonofablitch.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey everybody, george Blitch here and I am super
excited to share with you thestory of Black Beauty, a
melanistic white-tailed deerthat I took on my family ranch
in 2016.
A melanistic white-tailed deerthat I took on my family ranch
in 2016.
And just to kind of give youguys a little bit of information
if you didn't already know thismelanism is a genetic trait

(00:31):
that causes an excess in melanin, which produces a dark
coloration.
So this happens in animals allaround, but you know dark fur or
hair or feathers.
Basically, this deer was almostjet black in color.
There were some white hairs onthe tips of its tail, but other
than that this was almost anall-black deer.

(00:53):
In our region in Central Texasthere are about seven to eight
counties that have moremelanistic white-tailed deer
than the rest of the worldcombined, and about 20% of our
deer in that region areabnormally dark.
So I knew this going into kindof taking over the reins of my
family ranch when it got handedto me and my wife in 2011,.
But I had never seen any ofthese deer.

(01:15):
I'd heard about them and neverseen them in the wild.
So kind of a little bit ofbackground.
In 1975, my grandfather, who isa colonel in the Air Force had
retired and he wanted to buy aranch.
So he and my father went inhalves on this ranch in Central
Texas, got a little over 500acres.
They ran cattle there SantaGertruda's cattle from King
Ranch and upon the end of hislife, as he was kind of retiring

(01:39):
from a ranching world, we hadsome guys come in, some local
cattle ranchers and they endedup leasing the property running
cattle on it.
When my grandfather passed andthe property got distributed, my
dad ended up with a few hundredacres, handed that over to me
and I decided to immediately saygoodbye to the cattle and run
wildlife management programs.
So first thing we did is Megand I called up our local wild

(02:02):
game biologist.
She came out from Texas Parksand Wildlife and we drove around
and we were identifyingdifferent browse species for
whitetail deer and turkey, thetwo species we're primarily
trying to work on to build abetter habitat for and so we're
seeing these tier one, tier twoplants and we're kind of taking
notes.
Later on we went back with alittle booklet that we made that

(02:24):
showed pictures of these plants, that we could actually go out
and use a GPS and map exactlywhere these were and put
together a printed map.
Through my company Met my Ranchin order to kind of carry
around with us and be able toidentify these and maybe track
where these animals are going tobed and feed and everything.
Just, you know, another tool inthe toolbox was on one of these

(02:45):
dates.
We're driving around and Megand I were turning the corner
and I kind of looked down thisone lane and she was seeing
right in front of us and rightthere an animal just kind of ran
right in front of the Polarisand I didn't get a very good
look at it, but she's like, ohmy gosh, that was amazing.
And I'm like what was it?
She's like, oh my gosh, thatwas amazing.
And I'm like what was it?
She's like it was a deer, butit was really really black, like
almost entirely black in color,and I was like, oh man, I think

(03:08):
you just saw a melanistic deer.
And so we started talking aboutit and pretty much we figured
that must be what it was.
So of course I go around to allthe game trail cameras we had
there, pulling SD cards, lookingaround to see if I found any
kind of evidence of thatparticular deer on the property
and lo and behold, none.
So this is 2011.
Every single year from then onout, you know, I was religiously

(03:31):
checking these SD cards to tryto see if I could find a
melanistic deer and I lookedthrough every single image for
multiple reasons One, I sendthose in to the wild game
biologist to get harvestrecommendations.
And two, to just monitor what'son the property.
I mean, I've seen zonkeys,that's right, half donkey, half
zebra.
I've seen emu, I've seen tonsof our neighbor's cattle, just
about anything you can imaginepeople coming through and

(03:53):
everything too.
But I go through hundreds ofthousands of photos every single
year and I never saw anotherpicture of a melanistic deer and
no one ever saw one in personon the property.
So I figured, man, that must beoff on some other County or
maybe didn't make it, who knows,but it wasn't on our place.
Uh, you know, every single yearfrom then on, I'd go ahead and
do what I was saying, checkingall the cameras.

(04:15):
And then finally, one day I wasNovember 15th 2015, I was
pulling some SD cards and Ilooked up and I saw a image of
the top back of a deer and itwas black.
And I knew boom, we finally gotevidence there has been a
melanistic deer on our property.
The second image showed alittle tips of some antlers, so

(04:37):
I knew, okay, we got a buck.
And then, on the third one,this thing was super blurry and
running away, but I could tellwe had an eight point buck.
There was probably amiddle-aged buck, maybe three
and a half, four and a halfyears old.
Uh, but it's really hard todetermine because a blurry
picture and you know, whateverwe decided, uh, as far as as a
group, it was to make sure thatno one shot this deer until we

(04:58):
had a better chance to get abetter game trail image or, uh,
someone taking a picture inperson.
And I always keep cameras outthere that people can take out
into the field with them andtake photos, some, you know one
piece body units, but they got agood zoom on them and kind of
reach out there and that way youcan take a picture of something
cool.
Or, if you've got any questions, if you're in the stand, you
take that picture, bring it backto the ranch and we'll discuss
hey, is that a shooter or not,or whatever it may.

(05:19):
Of course, that entire rest ofthat year, you know, 2015,
during the hunting season.
I'm looking at these cards andtrying to see is there any other
images?
Can we tell how old this deeris?
Is it going to be on the hitlist?
And never found another imageat all.
So 2016 rolls around and I'mworking with our local NRCS

(05:41):
agent.
We're part of the EQIP programand one of the things we were
doing was to try to build betterhabitat, was to take out some
of the non-native species, somemesquite, different things, and
try to bulldoze root plow, geteverything up into burn piles
and basically take out thesefields.
We're going to try to do about50 acres, but we ended up doing,

(06:03):
I think, about 25, maybe justshy of that doing I think about
25, maybe just shy of that.
But we ended up kind ofcompleting this process a little
late to plant our nativegrasses and forbs that we wanted
in.
They had kind of suggested thatwe have those in by May 1st.
There was all sorts of setbacksand problems and some weather
issues, and so we didn't get tofinish the project of clearing

(06:24):
this land until July.
So we decided well, we want todo something with this raw dirt
that's on the ground.
We don't want just a bunch ofweeds to grow up because we have
to plant it the next spring.
What are we going to do?
So we put our heads togetherwith wild game biologists.
We decided we're going to goahead and plant some things that
could benefit the deer and theturkey that year.
So we got some oats and a bunchof mixes of some other seeds

(06:44):
and things that would maybe beable to give them some protein
benefits, and we ended up goingahead and planting that in that
early fall that November.
You know, hunt season's rollingthrough and we're seeing the
oats grow and all the deer kindof come into that area that we
had cleared, and it was reallyexciting to kind of see
something like that.
It's like, all right, yeah,we've done something, and this
is just stage one right, becauseall the you, we've done

(07:09):
something and this is just stageone right, because all the
nitrogen that that was going toput into the soil was only going
to benefit better when we nextspring put in our native grasses
and forbs.
So it was just a reallyexciting time, and seeing them
utilize this and seeing turkeysrun through there too is just a
really neat thing.
And one of the days I get a callfrom my buddy Jacob Spradling.
He's like hey, man, you mind,if I go up the property, I want
to do a little bit of work.
You know, I'll go ahead and setsome hog traps.

(07:30):
I'll probably be thereovernight.
I said, yeah, go for it.
So that was November 9th of 2016.
And he goes out and decideshe's going to sit up in the see.
Well, I was not expecting toget this phone call, but he

(07:51):
calls me up at the end of thenight.
He's like guess what I saw?
I saw it.
And I was like no way, you sawblack beauty.
And he's like I did.
I saw black beauty came outabout 115, 120 yards and it was
dark, george.
And it was like, right as thelast bit of light was going on.
And I was like well, why didn'tyou shoot it?
Cause he told me it was in amature 10 point at this point in

(08:13):
time.
And I was like you know, whydidn't you take it?
He's like man, I'm not going totake that deer.
That is your deer.
Uh, the little backstory of theyear before he had killed a
huge 12 pointer on our property,just shy of a one 60.
And this thing was massive asthe biggest deer we've seen to
date, even on the ranch.
And that was his first year.
So he kind of felt like he hadhad the special, uh deer of his

(08:35):
lifetime on that property and hewasn't about to get greedy.
So he ends up telling me hey,man, but I did see it.
And he tells me about where itwas and everything.
And he's like you know, do youmind if I stick around another
day?
Maybe I'll take the camera outand see if I can get some
pictures tomorrow night?
And I was like absolutely goahead and do that.
So he ends up going out the nextday and he ends up seeing black

(08:56):
beauty again and this time hegets some pictures.
So he goes and gets them on thecamera and he calls me when he
gets back to the house.
He's like George, I got somephotos.
I was like no way Send them tome.
He's like well, they're on theSD card on the camera.
You know I'll have to downloadit on my computer back at home.
I was like no, no, no, justtake a picture in the back of
the LCD screen of that.
I need to see these picturesnow.

(09:19):
So he grabs his phone, takes apicture of the back of the
camera screen and check it out,he got pictures of black beauty.
It's been there two days in arow at the exact same spot, in
the exact same time and she'slike well, what time are we
going to the ranch tomorrow?
Now y'all, there's manyinstances in my life where I've
known I've married well, andthis was a very particular bowl,
memorable one for me.
I was so excited.

(09:41):
I don't even know it is thequickest I've ever packed the
ranch.
I'll tell you what I think Iwas done in like three minutes,
had everything I needed into thetruck, and then it was just
that anxiety of I need to go tobed right now, even though it
was, like you know, like notexactly bedtime for me.
I was kind of still had anotheryou know, few hours to go,
probably, but I was very, veryexcited to get to sleep and to

(10:02):
wake up and get my butt to theranch.
Next morning comes Meg and Igrab our youngest, ellie, and we
drive out to the ranch.
Our oldest, alyssa, had aproject she couldn't break free
from, but we get out there andso we grabbed some food and I
ended up deciding I'm going toget there a little bit early,
just so I can kind of settle inthat area and be quiet and make
sure I don't make any noise andjust really kind of get in there

(10:25):
and get in the blind early.
So I'll park about a thousandyards away with the Polaris and
I walk up and, man, I'm superstealth, you know, heel to toe,
super quiet, taking my time, andI turn the last corner, I'm
about to go up into the deerblind and look out in the field
and what do I see?
Two dark figures.
That's right.
I'm like no way.
I grab my binoculars, I throwthem up and right there in front

(10:48):
of me, two cows, our neighbor'scows that kept getting into our
place year after year.
They're sitting out there again.
So I did what any other stealth, wisdom filled hunter would do
I put everything up in the deerblind and I got down and I
started running at those cows,waving my arms and just hoping
that they would run off.
And eventually they did.

(11:09):
And you know, I felt so proudof myself.
I had chased them off and nowthey weren't going to ruin my
hunt.
And right when that hit me, Irealized that I had probably
just left my scent all over thespot where black beady had
showed up two days in a row.
I probably disturbed otherthings in the woods in the
process and I probably justruined a once in a million
lifetime chance of being able toeven see this deer, yet alone

(11:32):
have a shot at it.
And I started to be filled withregret and just man, it was a
tough couple hours there becauseI didn't see a single deer and
I was just bummed out y'all.
Well, finally, you know thesun's setting and everything is.
You know your eyes are playingtricks on you, right?
Every single shadow to me was amelanistic buck stepping out.

(11:53):
And then I look over to my rightand there's a lane kind of
right in front of me and on theright edge of it I see some
antlers coming out.
And then I see Black Beautytake a few steps out and we're
talking.
It's like 33 yards away, and Iwas thinking it was going to
probably come out.
You know the same spot.
I'd had been two nights before,because of course nature does
the same thing every day, right?

(12:13):
Yeah, well, in my mind it wasgoing to happen like that, and
so I pulled up the rifle and Iput that scope on the deer and
all I could see was black, likeonly black, and it took me a
minute to realize what it done.
Well, in my infinite wisdom, Ithought that that deer was going
to show up at a particular spot, so I had already zoomed in my
scope right.
I'm at 12 power, so I crank itback down to three or four,

(12:34):
whatever it was at, and then Ifinally got the deer in my
sights and I was about to take ashot.
All of a sudden there's a bunchof ruckus off into the woods,
some deer, something hogs, whoknows.
We're making some sounds andsome noise.
And that buck got so freakedout and it tensed up and it was
just about to bolt and I justfired.

(12:56):
I was thinking that I had thecrosshairs where I wanted, but I
wasn't a hundred percent sure.
It just kind of all happenedinstinctually fast because I
didn't want to lose thatopportunity.
And I see the deer bolt fromthe right part of the lane over
to the left and then into thewoods, and then there's about
probably 30 yards of woods andthen there's another lane off to
the left, and so I immediatelyracked another round and I got

(13:16):
my gun set up on the left-handlane, thinking if it made it
through the woods.
I'd have a second shot at it ifI needed it and I I don't know,
man, it was must've been maybefive seconds, it felt like five
years.
But I hear this crash in thewoods and I'd never heard the
crash before until that day andI was like whoa, I think it's
down, but I still trained onthat left-hand lane just in case

(13:37):
it got up.
I was not going to lose thisopportunity.
I was there for another like 15,20 minutes just locked into
that area waiting to see if itever came through.
Never did.
Finally grabbed the gun, pulledout the live round, set it up
against corner of the blind kindof got my flashlight ready and
everything, and so, probablyabout 30 minutes after the shot,
I ended up going down andwalking through the woods and

(13:58):
there it is there's black beauty, there's this deer that I'd
been dreaming about, and all ofa sudden I realized it was
veterans day, 2016, and mygrandfather bought this land a
veteran and there was so muchthat he wanted to do to
implement kind of wildlifeenhancements out there, and he
had tried to do all sorts ofstuff out there at the time,
even while he was raising cattle, and so I kind of felt like I

(14:20):
was picking up that torch alittle bit and then all of a
sudden, here's all these thingsthat we've done and it's our
first big clearing and here'sthis deer that was eating these
oats in this spot that we had,you know, worked on and blood,
sweat and tears, and it justcame a full circle moment for me

(14:42):
and I was just so blessed andhonored.
So I sat down and said a quickprayer and I ended up grabbing
the deer, putting it on the backof the basket, hitch, pulled it
back to the house, took somepictures, meg took some pictures
with it and you know Ellieshown it, shown off the deer,
and then I ended up you knowellie's showing it showing off
the deer and then I ended up, uh, you know, basically getting
ready to be shoulder mounted,had it shoulder mounted here in
in the houston area b&btaxidermy and they ended up
doing an amazing job and, uh,they're actually had had done a

(15:06):
second one for me, because thishunting season, this last past
hunting season here in 2023 inoctober, I ended up getting a
melanistic white tail dough, uh,and got a shoulder amount of
that.
So, uh, some more stories I'llbe writing about that.
Uh, I wrote the story of blackbeauty, got it into, uh, quite a
few publications, both in printand online, and just been very

(15:26):
blessed to tell the story ofthat, and you know what it meant
for me and what it meant for myfamily to be able to have that
wonderful experience.
Again, I just feel ultimatelyblessed to be able to have this
property, be a steward of it anda caretaker of it to pass it
down to future generations, andso it just means a lot to me,
and it also means a lot to me tobe able to share this story

(15:48):
with you guys here.
I hope you guys all have a verysafe, wonderful and very
eventful year out in the field,hope you guys get some great
meals from all your wonderfulharvests and y'all stay safe,
take care.
Thanks again.