do all bucks start out as spikes?
 

my buddy' s dad videotapes deer out in there back yard everynite and he feeds them. he has this one doe that has been coming every nite for over two years. last year she had a couple of fawns which is not uncommon, this spring she has another set and they are neat to watch. anyway my question his dad swears that one of the fawns from last year (spring of 2002) is a basket-rack 5pointer this year. could this be true. i have always heard that all bucks start out as spikes or button bucks and then could mature into anything but this causes me to question that.

RE: do all bucks start out as spikes?
 

I used to think the same way you do, but then i started thinking. If all bucks started as spikes then you would think that we would see more spikes in the woods every year. Your father is probably right. I killed a 6 point last year and a friend of mine at our hunting camp checked to see how old it was and he said it was only 1 1/2 - 2 years old.

RE: do all bucks start out as spikes?
 

NO.

They can be 8 pointers their first year.

RE: do all bucks start out as spikes?
 

It all depends on the nutrition they recieve. If they live in a over-crowded area, they could develop only spikes or forkhorns, but if they live in a good area for deer, they could develop into little 8 pointers.

RE: do all bucks start out as spikes?
 

Genetics and available quality food are the biggest determiners of what the first year rack will look like.

Button bucks are buck fawns that were born in the spring of the same year they' re seen.

The following year a buck' s rack can range from a spike to even a very small racked ten-point. However, most are small eights and under. Fork horns and 6 point bucks are fairly common the first year as well as spikes, but ultimately it will depend on the quality food available to the deer and how well he picked his parents. ;)

RE: do all bucks start out as spikes?
 

I think it has a lot to do with good nutrition, but also genetics. We see some spikes every year but see some small basket racks that you can tell are only about 1 1/2 years old. Last year I was getting pictures of two year old bucks all spring and summer, by the end of summer one had about 8 inch long spikes and the other was a 7 pointer about 13 inches wide. I have a pic of them sparring in a food plot and the spike is even a little bigger bodied deer. The 7 is back this summer at 2 years old and is a 10 pointer about 15 inches wide, another year or two he should really be something, he must have better genetics than a lot of our deer.

RE: do all bucks start out as spikes?
 

They definetely do not ALL start off as spikes.

RE: do all bucks start out as spikes?
 

No they don' t these guys are correct.

RE: do all bucks start out as spikes?
 

that all makes sense i had just never thought about it until i was on the phone with him last night.

RE: do all bucks start out as spikes?
 

Like the above posters have stated deer do not necessarily start out as spikes. It has probably just been in the last 10 or 15 years that we have been seeing any spikes in the area I hunt. Some say it is a cross breeding issue as nuitrition is not a problem with all the farm crops plus other natural food as well as relatively mild winters when compared to the north that we experience.