We've been removing the spikes for about 40 years now, much to the chagrin of most everyone I talk to. Fortunately, for me, on our place I get to call the shots. Since there is a limited number of us hunting, We limit ourselves to one mature buck (that being 4+ years of age), and as many spikes or does as you have tags for. We can kill 5 deer. 3 of them may be bucks. Last year there were two bucks killed. That's about 1/5 of what we can stand. I encourage the killing of spikes. I've seen lots of 1+ year old deer with better than spike racks.
My purposes are strictly food related. From a food standpoint we have two winters in South Texas. One is from first frost till the end of February and the other is oftentimes from June - August. This year there was not a green thing growing in July and August. The brush was losing its leaves and the deer were stressed. They had a two month reprieve till now and it's getting dry again. Every spike I remove is one deer's worth of food that I feed to another deer in late November - February.
Likewise I am concerned about my food so I encourage the taking of those spikes and does early on in the season when they are the fattest.
Now, with that said, the last set of horns I killed was ten years ago and I haven't shot any at all in the last three years except for one that I gave to my son the firefighter. He took it back to San Antonio and his shift ate it in a week. It was a spike.
Food should be at the core of hunting and fishing. It should be the main reason we hunt and fish, not the ONLY reason, but the main reason. My father taught me not to kill something that I did not intend to eat. Well, literally that doesn't make sense, but figuratively I know what he meant. He wasn't expecting me to eat coyotes or the skunks raiding the hen house, but he was expecting me to act in an honorable manner in regard to the game I killed.
Now I've got a few horns on the wall, and I will say it's not just about the size of the horns. In my hunting experience, The older bucks and consequently those with the bigger horns are a challenge to hunt under free range conditions, much more so than spikes and certainly more than does. I think they really do know what's going on and the ones that mature don't get that way by standing out in the road for very long. Shooting a nice buck is much more than just the size of his antlers. It is matching wits with an animal that is much smarter than we are in the woods.
Yes, there's canned hunting where 10- 15 150+ buck mill around out in the road waiting for the corn truck to come around again. We all know what those places are and essentially the "hunters" are buying a set of horns. I don't think that is the subject of this conversation.
Personally, I'm more impressed by weight. Our deer are somewhat smallish. I can lift the average spike or doe over the tailgate without field dressing it. A buck that weighs in at 150#+ is a brute. Some of those northern white tails will be pushing 275# dressed. That's nearly three does from South Texas. That's a lot of WORK!
I have no issue with anyone hunting horns as long as they always use the animal for its core purpose, which is food. They don't have to eat it but it's their obligation to find someone who will.
Oh well�
Alan
Last edited by Alan_R_McDaniel_Jr; 10/27/14.
