Know all about the chap and don't believe anything about genetics has been changed. I don't think scientifically that can be proven either.

Not arguing with production at all. Just the cause.

To quote someone on here "Ha".

Ha. Don't tell that to our buddy stx. IIRC he still operates under the antiquated Murphy Ray theory that all spikes must die. I watched my neighbors kill 47 spikes in 2010 following that MO. Virtually their entire buck fawn crop in that drought year. AFTER they'd spent six years with Murphy's kill all spikes and all 9's or less above 2 yo. MO. Reducing the pop to a deer to 20 acres as well. They finally booted MR and just now are seeing improvement to near before MR's disaster.

Hopefully you read the last sentence RK. Don't expect to see a change in your lifetime.

And we'll always be able to take different views of culling, because so much of the data is based on opinion, and so little is based on hard science.

Interesting that after killing all the spikes for 6 yrs they are now seeing improvement Wanna bet when a lot of those bucks were born?
Management and culling is not a one year and done deal. Those deer that were left after killing all those spikes matured, and now started breeding to produce more deer that looked like they did. Without following the same management routine they started with it will revert back to what they had before. You never stop culling if you are at CC, something is being born that needs a place in the herd. If you are managing/culling correctly, what is being born should be better than the adult breeding age deer. I managed a ranch where they shot every 5 point or less from the first fawn crop. They did that till the ranch sold. The quality of bucks improved every couple of years. The top scoring bucks got bigger over time. No mature buck on this ranch was ever a spike, as nothing with 5 points or less lived to age 2. When you start to cull at the yearling age, it will look really bad for 5-7 yrs with few buck remaining. But when those few bucks start to breed they are producing that same look. Most forget about the doe side of this and only think that culling bucks will improve the deer. That is why many do not see improvements. Turning a doe herd over every 3-4 yrs allows for the antler qualities you selectively culled for to be passed on. The younger the doe herd the better off you will be. If you have great looking 1.5 yr old bucks(8+ pts) then all the 1.5 yr does will too.
People who keep changing their management plan often will never see much improvement in over all quality. It takes about 8 yrs IMO to if what you are doing is working. Records can show why it did or did not. You can not make 6-7 yr old bucks out of a yearling in one year.

I probably wasn't clear enough. They started with MR in 2004. Killing all spikes and anything with 9 or less over 2. You'd think after 6 years they'd killed most of the spike genetics... They slaughtered deer for six years letting 10 points and above mature and breed. Killing tons of old does as well to get the pop to 1:20. Then, after all that (six years in) 80+% of their buck yearlings were spikes. Probably due to drought.

They are just now seeing "improvement" to NEARLY as good as it was BEFORE Murphy. They have a ways to go. But natural genetics produced up to 200" there before the spike and 8 point slaughter. It produced a 179 this year. And that's including deer that were born before 2009.

I'll let you know when they get back to as good as before they shot every spike and young 8/9. It'll take a while.