Huh? What deer costs 6500 here?

If I had shot the buck I posted a pic of when he was a spike yearling similar to your spike (yours is a yearling as well), I would have lost what that buck will be worth in 2 years when he's 5.

My prices put that bucks value at ~ $6500 when he's pushing 180". IMO I would be a fool to eat him for camp meat as a spike. And my business plan doesn't allow me to waste that kind of money, because I can't afford it.

I do not cull a buck until he is 4 1/2 years of age...then and only then is when the real buck is evaluated...in my opinion. However..if one of my hunters takes this buck as his trophy buck ..this will leave me with a better chance for great buck. My lease at this time, only allows one buck to be harvested by each hunter. By allowing bucks to grow to full maturity allows bucks to grow their best antlers. When hunters hunt low fences and with a high hunter density may not allow for this to happen as this is the case for so many hunters. Many leases are ...if it is legal or close to legal it is a good deer to harvest. Other leases with a lot of land and deer I can see where taking all spikes leaves one less mouth to feed...not that it will change the genetics as that can not happen. that's my two cents....

"Mouth to feed"?

Have any of y'all ever run the numbers? Absolute worst case scenario is you'll spend a little less than $1,000 on protein for a 5 yr old buck. ROI is quite high at anything over 140".

The does do not eat protein? What do you get for them? I always called it a feed unit when looking at numbers. Each part of that unit will eat 3 lb/hd/day year round as an average place. That unit depends on buck to doe ratio also. If you are at 1:1 ratio then your unit is 2 deer. That $1000 bill on a 5 yr old buck has to include a doe or does. What about corn in your feeders? Guides? Lodging? Fuel for vehicles? Insurance? Maintenance on equipment and ranch improvements? Your return is not quite a pretty as you paint it but you would not keep doing it if it did not make you money.

Any pictures as the spike? Any identifying marks? Any tags? Of course I don't believe once a spike always a spike, but its pretty tuff looking at a deer as a spike with no unique features and just deciding he is a typical 12 a few years later. How do you know?

No tags. Just coloration, it's a house pet, and the fact that I live with this deer and see it almost daily. I'm as certain as one can be about the identity of this buck without a tag.

I know he was born in November as well.

Obviously you can legitimately question me on the above, and I thought long about illegally darting him and marking him, but once I was convinced he was easy for me to identify and tamed down I decided it wasn't worth the risk.

Uhhh.... Does are the production "unit". They more than pay for themselves by producing buck fawns over their lifetime.

Nice but very lame attempt at skewing cost analysis. And currently I don't sell doe hunts on my improved genetic pastures (building herd size) but we all know that does are virtually given away.

I will say that on exotics I have been moving to species where both male and female have horns. Addax, oryx, wildebeest, etc.

it takes two to tango

Gotcha...your does eat for free. Lame answer but expected as I feel you really don't know the total cost of what it takes to feed your deer.

Quit ducking, this shouldn't be over your head.

Does produce fawns. At some point I will be doe heavy and will cull does (leaving more bucks in their place). At that point does become a net positive cash flow resource.

And even now, without culling does, my cost to feed (all animals) doesn't come near my income from them.

Ducking? I think it is over your head since you are the one who does not even know what he is feeding. How can you know how much it cost you to produce a deer to harvest age if you do not even know what you are feeding?

Nutrena antler max? Nutrena is a Cargill Company that makes Record Rack and Sportsmans Choice deer feeds. Antler Max is made by Purina Mills that is a Land O Lakes company. Whose head is it over now?

Ducking? I think it is over your head since you are the one who does not even know what you are feeding. How can you know how much it cost you to produce a deer to harvest age if you do not even know what you are feeding?

Nutrena antler max? Nutrena is a Cargill Company that makes Record Rack and Sportsmans Choice deer feeds. Antler Max is made by Purina Mills that is a Land O Lakes company. How can you know how much it costs you to feed when you are not even able to name the feed you use. Only using protein cost to set the cost of what it takes to produce a deer is kinda, well...lame. You are just writing checks and really don't have a clue what it costs to raise an animal on your places.

How bout all this rain?

We got 2.25 inches since Saturday morning and we needed it.

There is always some info to be gleaned from the arguments... and so long as its not me arguing with G-pa ranchman I come out no worse for wear

I wish I was getting some of the rain at my house and lease. Have had good natural forbs at the lease and the deer are healthy though, so not complaining.

I still can't believe so many people think this buck was born last year...I have bucks with half his size with branched antlers, and fawns with spots on them still. This guy is as big as a pregnant doe.

You know what that deer looks like in relation to other deer on your place etc. I shot a spike buck similar a couple years ago. He was bigger than most of the grown does and same size as most of our two year old bucks. He weighed over 130 lbs.

True that.

Hard to say for others given no comparison to other deer, esp bucks.

On Monday you said you had 4.5 inches and now it's 2.5??? Did your gauge malfunction?

4.5 inches is in Bexar County where I live, was 5.7 as of this morning and its been raining off and on all day.

2.25 is in Duval Co. where I hunt. Ive been known to malfunction from time to time though.

6 3/4 inches is a decent amount

It is noted that stx is reduced to arguing feed names and avoiding the fact that does are production units that add more value than they eat over time.

I calculate total feed costs (including protein, corn, mineral,etc) against income each year, and even not culling does yet, I'm still in the black. It doesn't matter if it's nutrena, purina, or generic.

Is there a connection between hating spikes and lost logic??

What percentage of your bucks are spikes in a given year? In a LF pasture? In a HF pasture?

And what percentage of the spikes turn into beasts of typical 12's at 3.5 YO?

On a LF non-protein fed diet consisting of natural forb and corn/soy mix for dessert with native north texas genetics.


My guess is not many at all....