A "mature" spike??

[mTn hunting]

wow some nice spikes!

[sqiggy]

I went back thru some old pics and of course, I didn't keep any of our spike pics, except for one, cause he is on the kill list, or should I say was.
Not a true spike, but a 4 point. 3 on one side and one long spike. My son shot one 2 yrs ago that was 2 1/2 yrs old. This one below was shot last year by my nephew and it was 3 1/2 yrs old. This is a pic about a month or so before he shot it.

[Red_RaiderHTC]

Not a spike but a 4 point that has stayed that way except for growing a 1 inch brow and a G3 in his later years. I wish i could of seen this deer at 1.5 and 2.5 just to know what he was. I have been watching this deer for a while and he keeps getting older and wider (estimating 22"-23") just not growing anymore points.
I also wish i could see this deer on stand because although he is a typical 4 point i would definately consider him a trophy. Cant seem to find him when i need to.

3.5 i assume

4.5 i assume

5.5 i assume

[Cody119]

He could be.... What do you think he would look like in 4 years???

Just a bigger cull buck that you had to feed for 4 more years.

[mhbaseball]

[ATTACH]270735[/ATTACH]

Wow that is a very mature spike!! Rare in my book.

[dangerous dan]

I have a 2.5 yo spile on my TC. He has a huge growth on his chest from a snake bite. Spikes have mass and are about 12". Might have to turn him into jerkey!

[game stalker]

i had a big spike on my lease i watched for three years he looked the same ever year. on the 4th year we seen 4 young ones that looked just like him we took them all out. from what i have seen a cull will aways be a cull

[Redneck Archer]

Shot in michigan... (if you couldnt tell bay atire)

[cosmiccowboy]

I am a firm believer that some spikes "grow out of it" and become healthy normal bucks and some never do. I'm old enough to remember when it was illegal to kill does and spikes in Texas. I remember watching some spikes year after year that just got to be HUGE mature deer and were still spikes. Sorry, no pictures. I didn't have a camera phone then.

[bear]

never thought I would see a spike as a trophy but a few of those would be really cool

[bgrem]

Last year we had a first year spike that ate well from all our feeders. He had a white patch bout the size of a baseball up close to his neck...hence the nickname "Patch"... Sure am looking forward to seeing this deer again to see how much he has progressed.

[BLAKJAX]

Mature Spike...lol...kinda like a Black Panther......very very rare to get a pic. of one......But lots of sightings !.....

[Harvey]

Spikes do grow up, but most likely into what we're considering culls a few years down the line.
You can't tell me a 1.5 old spike has the same future as a 1.5 old buck with 4, 6 or 8 points! That's why we cull them early at times when we know we have other 1.5 year old bucks with 4+ point racks.
No, its not necessarily as much a genetic improvement play on our free-range Hill Country spread as it is a herd balancing play.

Now on a more controlled high-fence range, I can understand letting those 1.5 year old spikes mature. It's just a different game on a free-ranging environment when your biggest goal is to keep the herd density in check.

Those are my opinions on spikes!

[RiverRat1]

I have seen one on my place in E Tx and I even got a shot at him. He looked like the Devil himself comin thru the woods. This was before game cams were even being used, so don't have any pics of him. My brother had seen him 2 yrs before and said he had 12" spikes. When I saw him 3 seasons later, he was trailing a doe. As the doe was 10 yds out in front of me in my climber, she spotted me. She stood there for about 5 mins stompin her foot at me. Finally, she went on, but that dude circled around and came out 25 yds in front of me. I had to mouth grunt to stop him. Then, when I took the shot, he ducked my arrow and nobody had ever seen him since. But man, he was a BRUTE of a deer. His spikes that year were at least 16" long and right at the end on one, it was a crab claw, actually makin him a 3 point. I'm sure he's dead by now, but we still see his offspring, usually a spike with one side having a crab claw at the end.

I saw the same thing at a small place I hunt. The older deer was at least 3-4 years old. But I first shot his offspring. Was strage as the antlers were dang near the exact same just the older deers were thicker. They were 3 points also so technically not a spike.

[Eason]

Not mine, but emailed to me by ttaxidermy to post on the other spike thread