Fisherman films an albino 'ghost' buck with a massive rack crossing a road in the Wisconsin Northwoods

A video posted by Instagram user Joe Lord showing a rare albino whitetail buck crossing a road in the Wisconsin Northwoods has gone viral. Lord called it 'so close to such a majestic Unicorn', while biologists put the likelihood of any deer being born albino at somewhere between one in 20,000 and one in 100,000. The animal's impressive antler rack adds another layer of rarity, since reaching the age required to grow such headgear makes an already near-impossible sighting even more unlikely.

Albino deer carry no pigmentation at all, leaving them far more exposed to predators than typical deer whose colouring provides natural camouflage.

Lord, posting as @joelord_wi on Instagram, said he hoped the encounter would prove 'a good omen for fishing this week in the Wisconsin Northwoods.'

Wisconsin has legal protections in place for albino whitetail deer, animals that locals and wildlife enthusiasts commonly refer to as 'Ghosts of the Forest.'