timbercruiser

One thing guaranteed, if you shoot them they won't get any bigger.

North Texan

Cull them. They may never grow out of being a spike and will certainly never mature into a trophy.

I've never read or seen a scenario where eliminating spikes was a mistake. I have seen several that had a policy of leaving spikes, and on each of those, it was clearly a mistake 3-4 years down the road.

North Texan

Cull them. They may never grow out of being a spike and will certainly never mature into a trophy.

I've never read or seen a scenario where eliminating spikes was a mistake. I have seen several that had a policy of leaving spikes, and on each of those, it was clearly a mistake 3-4 years down the road.

jkm03003

Younger Does that typically conceive late will drop fawns late and these deer have a hard time catching up with the fawns that were dropped earlier in the year by more mature does. These later born fawns will usually have small spikes initially, but by the time they are 2 1/2 will likely catch up with their peers.
I believe the time to cull bucks is at the 2 to 3 mark, not 1 1/2.

USFWC

Deer aren'tmuch different than people when they are showing their genetic potential...you have kids that shoot up to 6 feet tall when they're 12 (me) and others that may be 5' 5" until 15, then have a growth spurt to where they're as tall or taller than the ones that shotup in height early...you just never know what is going on'for sure'until about 3.5 for bucks.

That's not to say though that those that are showing great antler growth at a young age won't be the biggest-racked bucks at maturity...just that you do not truly know or are able to gauge what any buck will be at maturity as a yearling or a 2-year-old.

mconwa951

My general rule of thumb is always let them go and let them grow yeah they might only get to be eight points some day but I think any deer that hasa 150" rack is a great deer and you never know what they could be if you kull them out.

npaden

Not to beat around the bush, but you are wrong on this. In free ranging deer culling does not work. TPWD has some studies on spikes and genetic potential but those are all with penned deer with control over their feeding and knowing which does are involved in the breeding process. In a recent study on the King Ranch over an extended period (I think it was 5 years) the average antlers as measured in inches actually wentdown in an area where they used extensive culling of "undesirable" bucks and in another area where they did not cull undesirable bucks the average antlers got better.

I've seen several instances where radio collared or other wise distinguishable young bucks that were spikes turned into deer that would be at or over Boone and Crockett guidelines. Does that mean that all spikes will end up as B&C entries? No, but neither will all yearling 8 points.

Could the yearling 8 point have a better chance at reaching B&C status than a yearling spike? Maybe, I personally think so, but there haven't been any good studies to show one way or the other yet. But the studies do clearly show that a yearling spike will more than likely end up apope and youngclass deer at 4 years old if you let them live that long. I personally feel that apope and youngclass deer is a trophy to most folks. I know I would have difficulty passing on one.

P.S. - Which would you rather shoot, a yearling spike or a 3.5 year old 130" deer? Based on statistics that is basically the choice you are making based on "average" antler growth in most areas. If you need the meat for the freezer shoot a doe and down the road you will be thankful when that 130 class buck walks by.

midwesthunter1

so much plays into this, they could have been late born fawns, bad genetics, and you cant get that out of a herd unless you know what doe was breed, its 50/50 buck doe provides, try a better mineral supplement like 30-06 by whitetail institute

npaden

FYI here is a similar thread that was posted on QDMA's forums as a poll. Right now the votes are 42 to 1 in favor of letting him walk. The original poster then posts pictures of the buck later in life and he is a legitimate 150 class deer.

http://www.qdmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=18435

LKNCHOPPERS

That was a very informative link. Thanks for the Info.