Probably the biggest influence on the size of a bucks first rack is what point in the fawning season they were dropped the year before. Late comers have less time to grow their bodies and less nutrients will go to antler production. Another factor is nutrition while still in the womb. Over crowding places nutritive stress on the does which affects buck fawn antler development down the line. This is where Alts plan comes in. One aspect of his reasoning was that if we harvested the does before the rut, there would be a more condensed breeding because of the higher number of bucks that could get the job done sooner. this would translate into an earlier drop which would give the fawns a head start the next year. The fawns would go into winter much bigger and healthier, Male and female alike. This in turn would make for MUCH healthier 1.5 year old deer the next year. Too bad the spike hunters turned it into a trophy issue. Yes they would have bigger antlers, but healthier deer do that. Now we could be heading back to the days of the anti-trophy. (spikes)
Everyone knows how healthy a spike must be...."Look at that healthy spike!"