Let them walk! We've got a 2,500 acre lease in north west Arkansas. When we first got the lease the buck / doe ration was way out of wack and we were seeing quite a number of spikes.

Right from the get go we implemented a "4 pts on one side rule", focused on getting the doe population under control, and started planting food plots. Now we seldom see any spikes. The young bucks we see now are generally 4 pts or small basket rack 6 pts.

firstshot

if they are yearlings or 2 1/2 year olds i would let them walk. just my personal preference. anything older would be harvested.

I wondered the same thing, Timbercruiser. Maybe mount a few dentists' chairs around your stand and put some alfalfa on the table?

depends on what time in the season it is early season i usually wont but later in the season if i havent shot anything i usually will shoot a spike but i try and get a big body one as opposed to some little 1 year old deer thats just started growing anything

i let them go, spikes will be nice deer in a couple years, if it was someones first buck, i'd say go for it

From everything that I have read and my experiences where I hunt I let all of the spikes walk. Since I have been doing this and shooting does (about 8 years now) I don't see nearly as many spikes.

If someone wants to shoot a spike and is happy to have it then I don't mind. I do get frustrated when I hear someone talk about never seeing any nice bucks but then they shoot a couple of spikes or 4 pointers every year.

Let them walk,we only let someone shoot one if it's there first deer.Under normal conditions we like to let them walk.

Shoot a doe, let the spikes walk, unless it's their 1st...

My first bow kill was a spike and i am as proud of that deer as if he had been a 10pt. Around here the deer are just too over populated. We kill spikes sometimes but not often.

We don't shoot spikes, we take as many does as is legal and every since we starting doing that the racks we take have been bigger.

I would say the buck/doe ratio is important but we are what we eat and so are they.