They DO catch up and are not genetically inferior per your admittance.
No, I have consistently said spikes are inferior for the rate of antler development and there is no evidence that it is not due to being genetically inferior.
Spikes are late born and usually to a doe fawn.
That is not true . Some are but a lot are not. If you look at the fawn breeding rates in 2G you will see very few fawns are bred and therefore would never account for the percentage of spikes in the herd. Once again facts and knowledge trump opinions and theories.
Are 2.5+ spikes inferior? Are there any inferior buck in the herd? Why do QDM manager agree with culling small older buck with scrap racks?