Ya never know. 1 ugly spike deer may become a beautiful trophy. Take him or leave him. Good lord has a place for all. May become a trophy or may never become anything but a spike. Take a good look around your hunting areas. Ask yourself? Are there big antler deer here or are they all small antlered. Small antlered deer may be an offspring of the spike. My 2 cents only!

heck i would jsut love to see some brow tines at my feeder this year. all i have seen is young 4 pts and one 6 pt with no brow tines.. i dontknow where they all are comming from.. does he say anything about if they dont got brow times they wont ever get them or is that jsut cause they had a hard year and not enough to eat??

They are just yearlings. Don't worry about the lack of brows. They will grow

I adhere to two rules: 1)Don't shoot young deer. Period. 2) Shoot more does. Shoot all you see and then shoot some more.

Spikes and bucks under 3.5 years old don't factor into this plan.

2) Just because they CAN, what percentage does?
3) Shooting of spikes can effect the overall buck population, but if it is done in coordination with other management practices it will not jack up the age structure.
4) If this is true, killing doe, killing inferior deer, letting bucks walk,etc would be futile. They will either be replaced by your neighbors deer or will go to your neighbors place to replace their deer

Can you tell me what a 2.5 or 3.5 will be when he is 6.5?

Tx- look at number 3 and take a guess on what gets hammer more per lincese...does or bucks

Mmmmmmm,,, So they CAN,, that's obvious. But most don't.

So you personally know that most spikes remain spikes? Do you have documentation to back up that claim? Or are you basing that statement off of the age old folklore that's passed around campfires by old men?

Not picking on you but making a point. I've hunted lots of ranches all over Texas and I seldom ever see a spike older that 1.5 yoa. If that old wives tale was true then you'd see gobs of spikes in all age groups, but you don't. That alone proves that this is BS.

I know for a fact that they don't remain spikes, but that doesn't mean that they aren't inferior.

There's probably truth in that. Some people choose to cull 'em young. I personally prefer to let them show what they've got. I'll wait until they're 3.5/4.5 or older before making that decision. That's just my preference.

What I absolutely hate are these stupid, baseless wives tales. "Well, my granddaddy says....." Based on what???? Just because grandpa says so doesn't make it so.

A spike is not always a spike and anybody that pays attention and has a little bit of sense ought to know that.

I also don't like that lots of folks use the "management" excuse to justify killing young bucks. Had a guy on the lease once that let his daughter kill a 1.5 yoa six point. His justification was, "Well it's a 6 point and 6 points are cull bucks". Really? Not yearling 6 points. Idiot (not you. Him).

See what I'm saying? I think some ranches are far enough along in herd management that killing spikes is necessary. The vast majority of leases and the overall herd would greatly benefit if hunters would pass on younger bucks and shoot more does and forget about shooting spikes. Just my personal opinion.

So much talk about an animal that will score 30"s. If you want to shoot a spike, shoot him. If your buck to doe ratio is way off, keep him. I love how people think they are going to change a deer herd over night. How many years would it take to change genetics on a LFed place. I can almost guarantee you that it will take longer than most people are on a particular lease.

Will a spike always stay a spike? Not usually
Will a spike ever become the size that a hunter would love to shoot? Probably
Does range conditions produce spikes? Yes
Does late conception date produce spikes? Yes
Does a spike taste good ? Yes
Can genetics produce spikes? Probably
Can a hunter eliminate the production of all spikes? No

There, I answered all the spike questions

Tye is the man.

But why does late conception produce yearling bucks with forked antlers then?
But why does a year of bad nutrtion produce yearling bucks with forked antlers or better?

Why can a doe have fawns and another one can't in a drought yr?

Without a doubt. Most hunters on a typical lease aren't going to have a management plan or be at the point that culling spikes is going to make a bit of difference.

But most places that are farther along in the managment process are going to see alot less spikes. Most well managed places that I have been on have very few spikes.

You aren't going to change the genetics on a place, but you can manage them.

Define well managed....

I manage them well in my freezer.

Well Managed: Places that don't let deer like Gumby and STX walk

I agree. My Hebbronville lease had 1 deer to 15 acres, a 1.8:1 doe:buck ratio. It produced 150 to 180 bucks annually. We did not feed year round and no protein at all. We also did not shoot spikes. We typically didn't see many spikes and when we did they were yearlings.

What we did do was shoot mature bucks only. We also shot the hell out of the does.

Yes, we had some big burly mature bruisers with crap antlers. And shot the heck out of 'em. It was not difficult to see mature bucks at every hunt/sitting. I prefer it that way. Lots of mature bucks and evenly distributed age structure. Makes for better hunting, a more active rut and some of those bucks grow into bruiser trophies.

That's the def for mismanaged. Deer size isn't necessarily the ruler for that.

Could be due to the condition and age of the doe in both cases. Did the doe that produced the forked antlered yearling eat better or take charge of the protein feeder? Was the doe that produced the spike a fawn or yearling that was still trying to finish her body development and didn't produce the best quality milk? Did the doe that produced the forked antlered yearling only have one fawn instead of twins?