ORIGINAL: Phil from Maine
It depends also on where you are hunting as up this way a yearly spike can reach up to 130 punds dressed if eating the right food. Also up this way we have no antlerless deer permits as the deer numbers do not allow it. So a spike is better shooting then a doe and it leaves an adult buck to breed and pass his genes on. Some of the yearlings will make for another year while some will become coyote food.. Our winters have been getting milder and if this cotinues the deer once again will start gaining a better foot hold. Maybe then the antler issue will get looked at, but for now 1 deer a year with antlers is all allowed in this area..
I see your point.That is a big yearling! It is like a whole different species comparing northern deer to southern. Our hunting season starts in 5 weeks and there will be plenty of25 lb.spotted fawnsrunning around then. Our buck/doe ratio got so out of whack that we're having late summer births and there is no winter kill here. A good bit of our state has 8 to 10 either sex days with two antlerless deer allowed each day and the option to buy 4 antlerless permits to use anytime after Sept. 15. The DNR is now looking into reinstating a buck limit as now there isNO limit on private land for bucks with 3" spikes minimum! There have always been those competitive types who want to see who can kill the most deer every season and taking 30 to 40 a year being common, with most of those being 1 to 2 year old bucks. Not good for the herd ratio.