Spikes....do you kill them or let them walk?
 

In our management program we shoot as many spikes as we can during the season. I'm not talking about spikes that have 1" horns, but spikes that are longer than 3-4 inches. We have killed numerous spikes that are older than 2 1/2.

In my opinion, a deer that is a spike will always be an inferior deer. They may eventually grow a rack but they will never have a really good one.

We have had alot of success with this.

What is your take on this?

When you see a spike, do you shoot? Or do you let him walk if you are on a game management program.

RE: Spikes....do you kill them or let them walk?
 

let them walk -- we vary rarely see 4 or 6's usually most of what we see are spikes and eights. i know there are some there but we don't hardly seeum. and we have had good success with this. how do you know if they will be smaller or whatever if you shoot them. if you are meat hunting thats one thing but to me part of management would be let the small ones walk

but thats just me[8D]

RE: Spikes....do you kill them or let them walk?
 

That would be interesting...a 2 1/2 year old spike. I would say that genetics are not in his favor. I would probably cull them out. Keep the younger spikes, if that was possible, and let those ones grow.

RE: Spikes....do you kill them or let them walk?
 

Well, the problem is the body characteristics on the older spikes were almost identical (weight, build, etc.) to the 1 1/2 spikes taken.

How much do you damage your herd if you can't effectively age the spikes on the hoof and there is only a possibility that a spike you pass up will become a respectable buck? Do you let your spikes breed your does with the possibility that these deer are inferior and will spread bad genetics?

By 1 1/2 a buck should have a rack that at least forks. A deer with really good genetics is capable of having 8 points or even more. We have a buck this year that by looking at this deer, it's characteristics suggest that he has his first set of horns and he is a 10 point.

RE: Spikes....do you kill them or let them walk?
 

That buck had to have some awesome genetics!!! I would love to be able to see that rack. Do you have a picture?

I did take a 4x5 last year. It was a year and a half as well. He was a pretty big bodied deer with a 14-15 inch spread. Nothing too much to brag about, but sure did taste good.

The area that I hunt, I have watch the herds for quite some time to figure out their daily, monthly activities. After watching for that long, sometimes you figure which are the older ones and the younger ones. Not that many people want to devote that much time to the hunt though. I took a spike this year for the simple fact that the doe population needs to grow a little bit and the other bucks, I wanted them to get a little bit bigger before I take them. It's really a crapshoot as far as that goes.

It's all a matter of opinion.

RE: Spikes....do you kill them or let them walk?
 

neb,

unfortunately I don't have a pic of that deer. We have seen him several times though. Yes I agree, he does have awesome genetics. I hope we get to see what he looks like at 5 1/2.

RE: Spikes....do you kill them or let them walk?
 

speyrjb

If you get some pictures, post them for us to see. I think it would be awesome to see just how big he will get.

RE: Spikes....do you kill them or let them walk?
 

We only get one buck tag a year. If she shot spikes we couldn't shoot the big boys and vice versa.

RE: Spikes....do you kill them or let them walk?
 

I may be wrong but if you're practicing QDM then you shoud have a good buck/doe ratio. If the buck / doe ratio is about even I would suspect that INFERIOR deer won't be breeding. The dominate buck would have no part of this. I say let the little ones walk and the pecking line will determine who breeds and who dose not.

RE: Spikes....do you kill them or let them walk?
 

I totally agree with you adams. QDM is meant to take the mature deer. Not the "scrubs."