Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Opinion on spikes

Great point. The unit I was referring to is a unit in Oregon that is a Trophy unit that has some crazy, big bulls, but it is a long, long wait time for a non resident to ever draw a tag, but they issue spike tags fairly easily and man, its a great way to watch big bulls and stock the freezer.

Sorry, I'm not buying that theory.

I can't argue with that, makes me hungry just thinking about it

I'd rather a Cow Elk

You ever had an old cow Mike? One old cow and you’d swear you’d rather eat a rutted out 6x6 bull

No I haven't. Oldest Cow I've had was a 4.5 year old Moose and that was outstanding

One of those worn out toothed cow elks will make you wished you shot the one behind her.

What does it matter?

Haven't you used up enough of your lives here?
Perhaps you're in competition with Larry Root for most reinventions?

Whose sockpuppet is he?

And still can't answer a simple question. Why do you care how wizard choses to hunt? What does that matter to you? Yet, like a liberal, it's not good unless it matches your style.

At least you were good at sticking up for Roundoak.

In areas where buck to doe ratios are out of whack, some does aren’t bred until their second or third cycle. A buck born from that doe has a lot of growing to do and skeletal growth takes priority over antlers.

Also, the doe contributes a large component to the genetic mix.

My old man shot every spike he seen I did the same until several years ago.A lot can happen after you see that spike chasing a doe😉

If you haven't read the link Deer_Man posted on this thread it's worth reading. Nothing like a University Study on this topic. The studies last comment about harvesting Doe's was very interesting to me.

Thanks

But unless you get to read the actual study

You are only dependent on the writers interpretation.

Figures don’t lie

But liars figure.

Antler growth is a heritable trait.

A 1.5 year old whitetail buck whose antlers have eye gaurds and points will at maturity ( and getting to maturity) have larger antlers than an1.5 year old spike. Most of the time.


Also a unantlered deer…..aka a doe….will most likely never have any antlers


FACT

A polite way of saying: "lacking the skillz to take a mature buck" maybe

Easy answer - just curious as to what it is about this place that you continually find your way back after getting the boot. I used to subscribe to (as many did) "ahhh, dude is just misunderstood", but the reality is "dude is just an @sshole with obvious issues". As for roundoak, yep, he got me. It's hard when someone appears to be a gentleman - particularly with that sort of tenure. It's easy to spot the @ssholes in a hurry, Steelhead.

As to the inquiry, in gunswizard's state, there are ample does for the taking. Heck, in some areas of Indiana, you can get 5+ doe tags – the reason for that is to get the herd back to a better buck/doe ratio. But old heads "have to get a buck".
Legal? Yeah. Big picture? Not in the least.

I hunt a section-sized WMA, surrounded by wooded residential property and farmland. What one hunter does makes little difference in such a place, and there are big bucks on the adjoining properties where does run in large groups on ag lands. I shoot what I see, excepting obvious fawns and button bucks. Been hunting that property off and on for 30 years, steadily the past six years. Have never seen a buck that’s impressed me, even during the squirrel and bow seasons. Two deer a year is enough and to spare for our meat needs, so I can be picky after I get those, but that choice has yet to appear as deer get very hard to even see after the deer have been hunted for 2 1/2 months. Last chance for a good buck will be the four-day Mountaineer Heritage Season next month. Gonna try and get out a time or two then, but that’s when really bad weather is possible, so it’s a crapshoot as to whether or not I can even access that place then.

if i had the money i would buy much more land and protect most young deer ,except grandkids that are young and the ladies until they have shot a few more they still can shoot 1 deer a year any size most of the time on my property , but they never shoot and that`s ok too. on my small tract of land 200 acres . neighbor who has 600 acres feels the same way ,i have been putting out minerals for around 25 years so these deer 4th,5th maybe 6th or 7th generation deer that have minerals in them and the antler size has gotten bigger. so on this property son and i don`t shoot little bucks ,does or fawns we are hoping to grow a few more giant bucks and we know also that these are wild deer and some get shot by other people too on other land. if i wanna shoot just a deer i go some place else to take some venison for the freezer , but i still don`t shoot spikes ,forks little 6 or 8`s anyplace that someday may be someone`s trophy of a life time . take a doe if you need meat and most of us don`t need that either really . >just think if a spike grew up to be a trophy in a young hunters eyes and this youth shot the buck gets it mounted his memory of that hunt will give that youth joy for his lifetime > just let them go so these spikes can grow < don`t be selfish so you can say : ya i got my buck again this year but my buck was small again be proud and say i passed this year again to small maybe next year .good luck ,Pete53

yes. And we have our takes on that. We never kill 18 month old bucks. But by 3.5 they have a legit chance to breed. IMHO a spike thats a spike for 2 years in a row isn't ever going to be the best deer out there. But we strive to take out every 3.5 year old buck thats not promising. We have watched a lot over the years and let a lot of 3.5/4.5 year olds live a few more years that we think won't make much. And not a single one ever has.


I know studies show otherwise. And we can't control the genetics of the does. But I'll say this. The 3places we've been on that we have employed our methods our deer have grown bigger and older and as good as they can grow for said area. Thats enough for me.

Short answer, age is the factor.

And those that say we have to shoot X because the neighbor will if we dont... consider I've watched this on fence lines for 40 years. I've found it to be true maybe 35% of the time. The known is that if you kill them they won't make it. If you don't they have a chance. And a pretty good one actually. And then there is the fact I'm happy if they neighbors get deer. Even if its the best one around. They are hunting just like I am and I wish them luck.