Jack Brittingham wrote an interesting article on spikes and the jist of it is to not shoot you yearling spikes. They could be spikes for many reasons such as being born later than average, poor nutrition that summer, etc. However after the first year I absolutely believe that a buck should be more than a spike. This deer looks to be 2.5 yr old and if he was on my property I would shoot him in a heart beat. Hope this helps...