I do believe ive seen this question asked before but i cant find it. Quick story My fatherinlaw was upset the other day when i let a spike walk the deer looked young so i didnt shoot it. I kind of feel like if i would have shoot it he would have said you shouldve let it walk. I think im always wrong when it comes to him. So is a spike always a spike and should i have shoot it?

No, if the deer looked young it probably was. Dont shoot them until they are mature bodied deer.

No and depends on what you want to shoot

I'm no wildlife biologist, but IMO I think a 2 1/2 or a 3 1/2 year old spike is near full potential. However, a young spike should get walking papers. I would think a young spike should fork after 1 1/2 years. I saw a spike last weds. eve. and all I could see was the neck up. I really couldn't get a feel for age with just the head in view. So he got to walk. I saw research where they had captured several young spikes and grew them in a controlled envoironment. About 50% blew into good sized Bucks when they reached maturity. I think spikes are, because of 2 things, age being one and genetic inferiority being the other.

a spike will not always be a spike in most cases. if you saw it was a young deer and let it walk then thats fine. your in law sounds like a jackhole really.

If it is a 2.5 or older year old spike then it's going to be bad buck forever IMO

If it is 1.5 it will get bigger

Round 10,200

A spike is not always a spike unless it does not mature in antler size once it reaches say 2 1/2-3yrs old!!! If it was a very young deer then you did the right thing by letting it walk! I wouldn't worry about your in law!!!

no, but the proper question should be will a spike grow into something worthwhile?

That depends on what you consider worthwhile?

I say no, others will say wait and see, but my definition of worthwhile is much different than most.

Pretty sure the law of averages sides with me, so gamble away if it makes you happy or blast him if that makes you happy.

either way make up you mind and stick with it, flip flop'n does no good for anyone, you or the deer

if you have heck finding 130-140" deer....letting them walk is a good thing to do if they are young. We see quite a few spikes every year, we don't shoot them & have a steady supply of decent bucks to shoot for our area.

I know there are differing opinions on this subject, but the most successful management program I was ever a part of, our biologist had us shoot every spike we saw, period. Age was not a determining factor at all. Of course we also shot the required amount of does, etc.

After three seasons, we had turned a marginal ranch that had been mismanaged into a great place to hunt and see and kill some nice mature low fence bucks.

That was just part of the formula, but it worked great for us on that place.

Never shoot one on my place. We feed and let them all grow to maturity. On a low fence ranch you are not controlling anything genetically. Keep your numbers in check, feed them and let them grow up. Dont worry about your in law thinking you screwed up. You did the right thing.

Just to clarify not every spike is killed to "change/control" genetics. This seem to be a common misconception among spike lovers.

X2

Tony, add one more variable: nutrition.

good factor to add in.

funny what things we will view as a correlation from our actions and totally forget about the other stuff that are actually the results

Let me rephrase.....we were on this place for 8 years. The third season was the first where we really saw a marked improvement in antler growth. Like I say, shooting each and every spike we saw was only part of the equation. We took it from being a shot up place where you saw nothing but does, spikes and a few rinks to a place where mature 130-140 class bucks were common.

Not arguing about the spike theory, but that was our biologist's theory which covered 19,000 acres. And the overall plan seemed to work wonders for the place.

Trigger control... to me when someone suggest heavy spike harvest, escpecially on a shot out ranch, it is to allow hunters an opportunity to shot a buck(and continue paying thier lease fees and management fees) but protect all the other age classes including 3.5 and 4.5 bucks... You take a shot out place and all the sudden you stop shooting any bucks with forks eventually those deer will reach maturety and thier potential...IMO

But once you now have mature deer that you hunters can hunt/pull the trigger on and also have up and coming stars for them to watch thier progress from year to year and get excited... why continue with spike harvest.... Makes no sense, unless you need a reason to shoot another buck..even then i would focus your efforts on 4.5 year old mouths you don't want to feed instead of spikes.

You will never screw up letting a young deer walk!!

what continues to amaze me is that people think you can control you buck population by only harvesting animal 3.5 years and older. Very few ranches will have the age distribution to even consider this as an option, and I guarantee they did not start out that way.

No matter what you do you will always have tons 130" 8pt bucks, spike or no spikes. As the inches go up, number of buck will go down. Mother nature just works like that.

Spike harvest is nothing more than controlling numbers. Those number are controlled because there are only some many places at the table for does and bucks. Food, cover, water and # of animals are the four keys to any management program. And yes age but age is a byproduct of #'s

Spikes have the misfortune of Crappy head gear. I'll put it to you this way, How critical are you when it come to doe harvest?? Do you only harvest mature doe?

Why don't we see pages and pages of "arguing" over shooting 1.5year old doe. They are just as influential on antler growth as the bucks. If a biologist says hammer 50 doe you are going to get it done one way or the other and I promise you there will be plenty of young ones killed.

If all you have to base killing on is the first set of antlers, even if the two deer will grow up to be 130" or what ever. You at least know the branched buck has a better start even if they finish the same.

I was told once a spike, always a spike

here yall go guys here is some good reading

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_0155.pdf

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/hunt/wma/wildlife_management/kerr_wma/research/