Even our rules don't totally cover how I want to manage what I have access to.
And so you then end up having to handle management a different way.
I'm not going to let a genetic cull live to breed if I can help it. I actually enjoy taking those out more than looking for the biggest buck out there.
The results in the deer I see in the last 10-15 years are nothing short of amazing compared to what was out there. We used to see a deer a few times a year, maybe a couple. I killed the second deer ever on our place in 2005.
We now have a legit chance at seeing a 160 plus inch buck on any given day that they have hard antlers.
None of that happened by accident.
At least they do let us shoot spikes. But I"m not at all convinced that all spikes are trash, but I do go after the older ones, IE if they hit 2.5 and are still spikes, they are toast. In fact I have 1.5 year 10s now and then and almost all 1.5 year olds now are around 10-12 inches wide and typically 75% are at least 7-8 points.
