Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Opinion on spikes

Shoot what makes you happy.

I pass on em in NY when I hunt up there. Won’t shoot any buck in NY, that ain’t legal here in PA. (Though I’d have to rescind that for one like the NC one pictured)😎

I'm in an antler restriction county...

One buck 13 inches or.greater inside spread
One buck with one spike antler...

We usually let them walk..
Exception is if someone didnt kill a doe in our doe days and is wanting some extra meat. Or if a youngster has an opportunity to wack one. We occasionally see a 2 1/2 yo with spikes, but not often..

We.do plant spring and fall food.plots, and keep supplemental feed out year round. Pine trees dont have much nutritional value!

I don't see enough deer in NH or Maine to be real choosey. I might pass on a spike if I'm feeling optimist early in the season but will definitely try to take one that I might see late in the season.

If I dont shot them then they they go across the ridge and the next guy on the neighboring property will shot them.

I typically give them a pass, but sometimes the freezer needs filling.

I do not think they need to culled. Age, genetics, and nutrition will determine how much antler will ever get grown.

When I was growing up, in Roscommon County, any buck, even a spike, was a trophy.

I think most spikes are just 1.5 year old deer, regardless of nutrition.

I mostly hunt Kansas and central Missouri, and I see spike bucks all the time, lots and lots of spike bucks.

If I were hunting during a "spike season" then, yeah, I'd shoot a spike. Why wouldn't ya'?

They taste good---I shoot

Cow horns? Yeah.

Dead’r than hell.

But i don’t get into all the swamp donkey trophy buck management.

You see a 125# buck with cow horns.

#pie-yahll

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that.

Ask John Burns what Keith Warren has to say about it….

I hold to fork or better. If I saw a big body spike I’d eat him.

Here is the biggest spike I have seen taken. 2014 on our property by my 13yo son.


Antlers still in velvet. Testicles the size of a thumbnail.

I shot another one the same year. Same deal, spike antlers still velvet and shrunken testes.

Both deer were huge bodied, loaded with fat and excellent tablefare.

When I spoke to a biologist friend of mine, he thought that it was probably genetic, or they survived EHD.

Any 2 1/2 yo buck that doesn't have a 8pt or better set of antlers needs culling. The game laws won't allow a landowner to do what needs doing and you can't allow anyone besides a select few to cull bucks on your property. It sucks when someone mistakes a button buck or spike for a doe, but at least you haven't lost a few years of management in him.

We don't shoot any Young Deer, Antlers are no indication of age, look at the deer first, then the antlers. Rio7

We have antler restrictions here and can't shoot them. Occasionally I see an older deer with only spikes and wish I could shoot them.

I don't worry about the age of a deer. In nature, a handful of older bucks do it all as they run the young ones off. A single buck can breed 20 or more does. Taking young bucks won't affect the breeding cycles a bit since there will always be enough survivors to become older bucks to get it done.

Rock Chuck, Don't know where you get your information, but the average mature buck breeds 1.4 does per year. do a little research. Rio7

Per these guys, neither of you is right so whose research to go with?

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