Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Opinion on spikes

Kill them all out or not?? They never amount to much from what I’ve read.

Well they're protected in my State

We have a doe and spike season after regular rifle season. I’m looking at two now, bout 6” long.

Nah, let 'em grow. Well, there are exceptions.

Stole this from Facebook, don't remember the back-story.

Just me- kill whatever you want to that's legal

The huge buck above was harvested by Dennie Bowman in North Carolina in 2014. According to Bluff Country Boys Outdoor TV, the buck’s beams measured 25 and 1/4 inches long with a 19-inch inside spread.
~Outdoorhub.com


https://www.outdoorhub.com/stories/2016/02/10/10-massive-spike-bucks-that-deserve-to-be-mounted/

That's pretty cool because it's unique. I'd consider it a trophy.

I myself let them grow . I've seen several that were very nice 10 points at maturity. Once a spike always a spike is not true at all .

https://www.realtree.com/deer-hunting/galleries/photo-gallery-from-buttons-to-booner



Scroll through the photo of the buck...it explains the story.


At 1.5yo he was a pretty pathetic spike.....he turned into a B&C


Thats in the Adirondacks too where there isn't great food sources and winters are long and hard.

It’s about the age, not the horns.

I had an uncle that shot one in McKean County Pa in the 60's that had spikes 23 inches long

That's a pretty cool read.

Just look at Fetterman

The link says that they were fed extra feed. That could be a little hay in the winter or it could be high nutrient feeds. Either way, it would give him a big boost in the spring when antler growth started.

I think nutrition has more to do with spikes than anything. Where I’m at in an agricultural part of mid Michigan 1.5 yr old forkhorns are the norm. Up North of here in areas with less ag land and more severe winters spikes are common.

A 1.5 year old spike is fairly normal. If they’re still a spike at 2.5-3.5, that would be abnormal.

Dr. James Kroll did a study surveying the potential of 1.5 year old spikes and 3-pointers vs 1.5 year old 4-pointers and what the correlation was to the antler size at 4.5 years old.

https://texashuntingtimes.com/will-shooting-spike-bucks-improve-deer-hunting/

We let all spikes walk. Rio7

A spike is likely nothing more than a late fawn from last year with a combination of a bad food source or a hard winter. This year I shot a spike in gun season . I thought it was a doe . This year almost all the racks are smaller on 1 1/2 yr old bucks.
At the same time we have some real bruisers running around that are older. Last fall was a very un eventfull rut and many could have been born real late . The winter was a little hard but not bad. In a few yrs. they will be like any other buck.

Young spikes, like all young bucks, get a pass from me.

It’s a pass for me. I do not believe once a spike always a spike…that’s for sure.