Columbia. Mo. ? American Indians believed that catching a glimpse of a white deer was the first step toward prosperity and good luck.

If that legend holds true, things could be looking up for Justin Viessman.

The Columbia resident recently spotted a white deer while eating dinner with his mother at her home in the Georgetown subdivision and captured some images of the creature.

“As I approached the animal, I could tell that it was a white female deer,” Viessman said in an e-mail. “I was a little shocked, as I had never seen a white deer before. It allowed me to approach it and snap a few pictures before it ran off.”

The experience left Viessman eager to learn about the white deer. After some computer research, he found that the animal is an uncommon sight in the United States, especially in the Midwest.

But Lonnie Hansen, a deer expert at the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the animal very well could be a deer with albino characteristics, not a “white deer.”

Hansen said his office receives phone calls a few times a year about sightings of deer with a whitish appearance. “The descriptions I get, it sounds like some of them have been albinos because they have pink hooves and the pink eyes,” he said.

This undated photo provided by Justin Viessman shows a white deer in the woods behind a house in the Georgetown subdivision in Columbia, Mo. Lonnie Hansen, a Missouri Department of Conservation specialist, says he receives calls a few times a year about white deer.

Albinism in deer occurs when two animals with recessive albino traits mate with each other. Hansen said if a mother had four babies, one could be born with the genetic affliction.

The Tribune sent Viessman’s photos to Hansen, but he said the animal was not close enough in the images to get a full view of the hooves, eyes and skin.

“There seems to be quite a bit of pink on the face,” Hansen said. “I can’t look at the eyes and tell anything. They look a little dark. That’s pretty much a difference where I’m not sure. It sure stands out.”

If Viessman did find an albino deer, Hansen said it is a continuation of a trend that’s emerged in the western edge of Columbia and Boone County.

“They seem to come and go,” Hansen said. “There’s probably a gene for albinism that seems to persist and hold on.”