ORIGINAL: rybohunter
If the soil is poor or if the nutrition level is low, which can cause bad genetics,then you probably will see more spikes.
Poor soil cannot cause bad genetics. Only bad genetics can cause bad genetics.
A deer herd living in habitat that is so poor that bucks remain spikes past thier first year needs a lot of help.
How do you KNOW they were 2.5 year old spikes? Were they teeth aged by a biologist?
Florida has poorer soils on average compared to most of the other states and I still find it hard to think there are many 2.5 yr old spikes. Geological-speaking our state was under the sea not too long ago which produces poor soils.
I have seen alot of spikes with none of them being characteristics of 2.5 yr old deer and killed my fair share of 2.5 yr old bucks with none of them being spikes. These are just my experiences though, not saying that it couldn't happen periodically