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Spike Bucks

J

J Becker

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Wanted to know what you guys thought of this. Do you think that spike bucks will amount to anything. Think about it this way: they are 1 1/2 years old with spikes where as some 1 1/2 year olds have 8 point racks. Just wanted some opinions!!!

HunterMan
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The 8 point might have been born as much as two months or more sooner than the spike. Age at 1 1/2 can be a big factor in antler size as the younger of the two is putting his energy into body growth rather than into the antlers. At 2 1/2, those couple of months of age mean less and that spike may pass up that 8 point in antler growth that year and every year after.
 
Mississippi State University did a study a few years back on spikes. Some of these spikes wound up being non-typical freaks later in life. I do not believe in shooting spikes because they are "genetically inferior". If you think a deer is 3.5 years and is genetically challenged, then that is the time to take action not when they are 1.5 (IMO).
 
That was like a mail in question for an expert on North American Whitetail...only difference is you got your question answered in less than an hour!
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To be honest...I can't remember where I read what anymore...just try to keep it all on the front of the shelf...if you know what I mean!
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I worked at a deer farm, and one of the deer thay had, was a spike at 1.5, and 5 years later had 21 points and scored 198". You'll never know what they might grow to be if they're eliminted from the heard.
 
More times than not a spike is just a late born fawn, and has the same potential that any 1 1/2 buck would have.

Let them go so they can GROW
 
I would agree with everyone...let em grow! I wonder sometimes if some of them are the result of a doe fawn getting bred the first year. I see them all the time...a small doe with a single fawn, often half the size of those with a big mature doe. Either way there is plenty of proof that spikes and turn into trophy bucks in time.
 
The QDMA had an exhibit at last years Deer classic and will probably have it there again. Look at the buck they have from 1 1/2 to 4 1/2, I believe it was a spike at 1 1/2 and they harvested it had 4 1/2 with some tremendous numbers (160" or so if I remember correctly). Anyway, I think the spikes should walk unless you can tell they are 3-4 years old, then introduce them to a carbon appetizer.
 
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