Spikes.

[Speedgoat]

Why don't you kill the doe who had the spike also??

You should. If you are not taking your share of doe, killing spikes will do you no good

[Drycreek3189]

But how to decide which ones? Let me give you the numbers.... Between the 3 of us that hunt our end of the lease, we've seen a total of maybe 6 does total. We have seen over 20 different bucks including several spikes.... Most of those bucks are young 2.5-3.5 year olds, some legal with AR (maybe 30%) and some not (the other 70%). I've only seen 2 that I would even consider killing... That big one I have on my camera (I can post a pic if ya haven't seen him already) and there's a nice 10 that hangs around where my hubby hunts.... That's gonna be great in a few years and were in this place for the long haul... Are there probably more that we don't/haven't seen? Absolutely for both bucks and does... Only time will tell what the ratio is in the long run. We just got on this place in August... All I know at this point is I've seen a TON of spikes running around and not as many does as I'd like... I can't bring myself to shoot a doe with those numbers though! Without enough does around, it's hard to hunt bucks if they are going elsewhere to find ladies...

If you just got on the lease in August, I would suggest that you have limited experience there. Don't know what kind of census that you have done, if any. You may ( or may not ) have more does than you think. Does tend to become harder to see in and around the rut. As for spikes, I don't kill yearling spikes, but let a two year old walk in front of me and he will wind up in my freezer.

Dr. Kroll did a four or five year study on spikes a few years ago. I think they netted and tagged 67 spikes. Very interesting what they concluded. Bottom line was most spikes caught up with 4s and 6s at age 4 1/2.

My bottom line is, shoot whatever you like and is legal !

[Jmh05]

Do not subscribe to the "spikes are culls" theory. Most young bucks are spikes whether they are 6mths old or 18 months old. Is a 18mth old 6pt a better deer than a spike of the same age....not really, time has yet to determine that. They both need to grow and mature before that can be determined. Lots of folks say that once a spike always a spike, I for one cannot tell the future so I do not believe that, case in point. I let a spike go that was on our lease(he had a mark on his body that I could ID him), he was killed by a member of our lease 4 yrs later which made him 5+, he scored 152 gross with a 13 4/8 spread. Just sayin'.

X2

I just can't bring my self to kill a yearling or fawn because they are spikes. Their breeding efficacy does not reach a substantial level until a minimum of 3.5-4.5. Which is when I start culling and can better judge their antler potential. I would much rather use a buck tag on a 4.5 120-125 inch "cull" than a yearling spike.

[SB09]

X2

I just can't bring my self to kill a yearling or fawn because they are spikes. Their breeding efficacy does not reach a substantial level until a minimum of 3.5-4.5. Which is when I start culling and can better judge their antler potential. I would much rather use a buck tag on a 4.5 120-125 inch "cull" than a yearling spike.

I agree jmh.

[TopNoc]

I really think we have TC proof here on the TBH of the fact that spikes grow up to be bobcats.

[bdavid1020]

So basically that article states that the killing of spikes is only beneficial in extremely controlled situations such as high fence penned deer where not only are the spikes taken out of the equation but the spike producing does are removed too......
I completely agree!

This^^^^^^ I apologize if this article has already been posted but I thought it was a good read from a study done on the King Ranch.

http://www.qdma.com/corporate/mis-management-bucks

Jen,
To answer your questions about doe you are on the right track on genetics but us common folk will probably never really get to entirely eliminate our heard and know exactly what genetics our doe have so it's just a crap shoot for us.... For u we try to shoot what we call "lead does". The ones that know where every stand is and that try to ruin every one of ur hunts that stands 100 yds off ur feeder and blow at any deer that gets near.