My first thought is that the basket racks you are harvesting - were likely spikes, and forkhorns the year before - and are 2.5 yrs old. Have you aged the deer you have harvested?

Not all areas have Kansas or Illinois Genetics - in some areas in NY, many basket rack 6 and 8 points are 2.5 years old. I suspect that since you do not mention the occasional 20" eight point - that this could be your case. Still - you should be able to expect some nice 2.5 year old 16"-18" racks.

The increase in spikes you are seeing is likely one of 2 things - or a combination of two:

1. The deer are overpopulated - and nutritional and environmental stresses associated with too many deer - limit the antler potential of local bucks. Usually the overpopulation is skewed towards does.

2. The last 2 winters were long & cold (and maybe snowy? I'm not sure for your area) - If forage potential was limited in Feb & March - antler and fawn development suffer.

Symptoms of both cases are similar:

1. Grown deer dressing out less than 100 lbs (in NY)
2. very small fawns - indicating late breeding
3. few twin fawns.
4. A high doe: buck ratio.

The #1 remedy - shoot as many does as legal.

#2 - offer additional forage if possible.

Keep in mind that 80% of the Bucks on your property - will come from 5-50 miles away as they disperse between March and November when they grow thier 1st set of antlers. So far my observations on buck dispersal have indicated that bucks tend to seek out areas with good bedding - other bucks, and very good late summer/fall food sources when they relocate.

Notice I did not mention an area with a "High Doe Population".

Contrary to some lines of thought - protecting the does does little to attract the bucks come next fall. This is because in a healthy population - the dispersing bucks are NOT likely to breed the Majority of the doe population. The Majority of a healthy doe population all come into estrous within a 2 week period - and for the most part - the bucks that are 2.5+ have laid claim to the property - and the local does will be bred by them. Relocating (dispersing) bucks are more concerned with finding a secure environment in which they can work their way up the heirarchy - in the next year.

Not sure if that answers your concerns - or raises more questions - but if you are interested - do some searches on the topic - it is a facinating natural process - that is really at the heart of deer management as we know it today.