I agree, that's a youngster and needs to have a chance to grow some bone. For many years, study after study has shown that the vast majority of spikes are that way because of nutrition. Alot of them are born to yearling does as well. With our rediculous deer populations in the south now, spikes are more and more common across a large segment of the 1.5 yr old bucks.
Now if he grows a long set of spikes nextyear then yeah I'd whack him for sure. I don't agree with simple point restrictions tho, it puts to much pressure on 1.5yr old multi-tined bucks and protects spikes and 3ptrs. If more folks would simply take some time learning how to age deer on the hoof instead of relying on the govt. to tell them what they can shoot, the herds would be better off. TIME is THE most important ingredient in ANY buck mgmt plan, regardless of where on the continent you're talking about. All B&Cers began small...
Only way I'd let that lil spike be killed this year on my property would be if it stepped out in front of a youngster who hasn't yet killed one. My 11 yr old has a spike, 6 and wall hanger 8ptr to his credit so he refuses to shoot anything smaller than a nice 6. (My farm is in a county that allows 3 does per day per hunter everyday of the season so just killing a deer is no problem for the youngsters, makes it easier to convince them to let deer walk.) My 15 yr old however has only killed does so he'd probably get lead flung at him (he gets buck fever BAD, has missed some dandies including the first deer he ever shot at when he was 10, it was a 140"+ 8ptr.
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Once a spike always a spike is old folklore. Usually the same type of people who used to guess age by number of points!
HL