Dennis Money
Chances are a little better than 50 percent that most of Upstate New York will have a White Christmas -- that is, there will be snow on the ground.
But if it's white deer you want to see, the chances are a lot higher if you visit the former Seneca Army Depot in Romulus in Seneca County, which boasts the world's largest herd of all-white deer in the country. Dennis Money, of Canandaigua, N.Y. shared some photos of the deer he took recently with his four trail cameras and regular camera at the depot.
Dennis Money
A white buck takes a walk across a road at the depot.
Dennis Money
Money is president of Seneca White Deer, which conducts the tours to see the deer and that expound on the depot's colorful military history. He said this week that Carl Mrozek, a filmmaker for the CBS Sunday Morning Show, visited the depot and spent the entire day filming the white deer. (See photo of Mrozek'' vehicle.)
The film segment will possibly run Dec, 30 or shortly thereafter," Mrozek said.
Dennis Money
The white deer are not albinos, which have pink eyes. These deer are "leucistic," meaning they carry a recessive gene for white hair. They have brown or gray eyes.
They were first discovered by Army personnel after the depot was build and fenced in 1941, and have been protected ever since.
Seneca Falls businessman Earl Martin, who owns the land and leases "Deer Haven Park" to Seneca White Deer, is working closely with Money's group to preserve the herd. He bought 7,200 acres of the former depot from the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency in 2016 for $900,000.
In addition to surrounding Deer Haven Park with a new, 10-foot-high fence, Martin has set aside 100 acres for "food plots" to provide additional food sources for the deer. He's planted clover, corn, radishes, turnips and seasonal grasses.
Dennis Money
A nightime photo of the deer taken with one of Money's four trail cameras at the depot.
Dennis Money
White deer and regularly colored brown-colored white-tailed deer graze alongside each other at the depot.
All tours of the depot are done on 25-seat, heated buses, which leave from the John and Josephine Welcome Center at 5479 State Route 96A, Romulus 14541, about 10 miles south of Geneva, NY. Buses leave regularly from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. Tours last between 1 ½ and 2 hours.
In addition to the white deer, the tour features "the relics of 60 years of secret weapons storage. We will visit one of the 519 earth-covered concrete igloos that stored everything from pistol cartridges to tactical missiles, from conventional bombs to nuclear warheads," according to Seneca White Deer website.
Dennis Money
"We can never guarantee where the mystical white deer will be, but our tour guides know the best locations and will stop for pictures as they appear,." the Seneca White Deer website said.
The tour fee is $30 for adults, $27 for military and seniors (65 and older), $15 for children (ages 5-17), and children under 5 are free. Take a White Deer Tour from Dec 27 through Dec 30, and get a $5 discount on every admission.
For more on the tours, see the Seneca White Deer website.
Special to NYup.com
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