why so many young spikes

This is my first year on my lease and there is a lot of deer. Its roughly about 2200 acres with 11 hunters. But i have noticed that every time i sit at a stand, i see 1 or 2 young spikes. Some will have 5" spikes and the others will range from 2 to 3 inches. I have allowed a lot of 3.5 year deer walk hoping that they will be much better in a year or two. Most of the guys on the lease are retired or about to be retired. I have noticed that they would rather not shoot a doe and take a spike. I really don't agree with that. So far we took about 14 bucks and 7 does on the property. This last weekend i heard about 3 of the guys that shot bucks that they were done for the season. But they did not take a single doe. Could there be too many does and not enough bucks? High number of does being bred late in the season having fawns late. Yearling spikes born late not having the extra month or two to grow into little forks. Now on the ratio, the weekend before thanksgiving was the best weekend for me. On two stands, I saw about 15 bucks and about 25 doe/fawns. 10 of the bucks were shooters but no older than 3.5

make up for them and shoot 4 does then

Has there been a survey done? Is there a management plan in place? What are the lease rules for number of deer allowed per spot? IMO Spikes are usually an issue on an unmanaged place with to many deer. I have seen ranches that had fawns born in late April or May have spikes as well as ranches that have doe fawns breeding in Jan-Feb raising late born fawns that had spikes to forked antlers their first year. If 100% of your yearling buck crop were spikes I would more concerned than the killing of spikes instead of does. What would be even worse was had they killed a really good up and coming 2 or 3 yr old buck. In the end 21 deer were removed from the property to make room for last years fawn crop. If you still have branched antler yearling bucks then you are ahead of the ball game IMO with the extra mouths removed. A very high % of spikes will never be the kind of deer their branched antler yearling counterparts will be later in life.

No survey has been done. 2 bucks one being a spike or a cull and 2 does. We feed corn all year round. protein is to be fed also but not really sure how strict they are with that. My brother and I will have 4 protein feeder in place by feb. The yearlings that I have seen are 50/50 fork/spike. All 2.5 yr olds are 8 pointers

No survey but everyone is allowed 4 deer? How was the 44 deer limit per season decided on? What county? With a possible harvest of a deer for every 50 acres, you must be in a high population area?

I believe you answered your own question. You are seeing A LOT of deer each sit.

It sounds like your population numbers are too high, above the carrying capacity of your ranch. Sounds like your buck to doe ratio may be way out of whack as well. Finally, your fellow members habits may be making it hard for bucks to reach maturity. A high % spike fawn crop is often an indicator of a herd that is not getting the nutrition it needs. Your theory about lots of doe fawns being bred and resulting in late fawns is possible too.

Before next season I would do some surveys to get an idea of your actual population. I would also do lots of stand sits to get "incidental observations" and a few camera placements (not at feeders) to get a feel for your actual B:D ratio. You can do all of these yourself at no cost. Then, based on these results, I would set a management plan with your lease members AND land owner. That may mean y'all need to start shooting 4 does and 1 buck per year until you get numbers where they need to be.

Is it a low fence property?

Sounds like a history of shooting too many bucks not enough does and maybe too many deer. Like others have said its all guessing without putting some effort in on surveys. I bet your leasemates are ecstatic with the status quo and want nothing to do with shooting does and only one buck etc. Good luck, I doubt you will change anything. Aproach with caution if you care to keep the lease.

Kimble county. I say no survey but that's my guess. Going to have to ask the lease manager. I didn't do a survey this year myself. Will this following year

Sounds mainly like overpopulation/carrying capacity issue. I can't stand buck hunters. Bucks die naturally at a higher rate than does-if you aren't at least killing one doe per buck harvested then you aren't doing your part unless you are in an extremely low-populated area.

We're in a high-density area and routinely take about 3 does per buck.

There is definitely a lot of deer in that area and I do feel you should take 1 doe for every buck you take at a minimum. After a survey, might be different. I do know that on the lease there is at least 4 members that have taken a buck or spike or both and will not be taking any does.

At one end of the spectrum you have hunters who want to see a lot of deer on every hunt. These are often the ones who prefer not to shoot a doe. At the opposite end you have the ones that, when they see a buck, it must be a trophy. These are ones who often whack doe as if they represent a plague to big bucks. Like most things in life, there is some value as you move towards each extreme.

I like the "middle ground" approach already suggested. That is, take a doe for every spike, with a focus on older spikes that don't stand equal with forked bucks that appear to be the same age.

Interesting Dan, but why not one doe for each buck and only allow the taking of mature bucks? I think most hunters, with a little training can tell if a buck is 4.5 or older.

I follow those who recognize that since there's no denying the fact that not every young buck has the potential to satisfy goals, it's best to remove them as soon as it becomes apparent they lag their peers. Otherwise, they continue spreading their genes while you wait to see the impact of the mistake you made by not removing them earlier.

To make harvest decisions only later and ignore the evidence when deer lag their peers is acting as if every buck has the chance to be a trophy. And that is sheer fantasy.

True, but every buck does have the chance to become mature. Perhaps we need to start thinking in terms of "mature is a trophy".

Then why not just shoot only the mature does and not any bucks again?

Sounds to me like y'all need to make a season of taking out does and as many spikes as you can that aren't yearlings.

I'm not sure what you are getting at here.

I would not start a season without a process to survey the herd...decide on what your target will look like. Then keep records ...as much information as you can get.
I do a trail camera survey..blind count.. cameras going year around ...one camera per 100 acres. Trail camera surveys are 80% accurate and better if you follow a proven process. Spotlight surveys are only 60% AT BEST!! Helicopter surveys in mostly open land are somewhat accurate but with high brush are not very accurate. However you survey...it has to be done..you may already be over harvesting or under harvesting one sex or the other.
As for the large amount of spikes...they are just young bucks...they will grow to be good bucks and lesser bucks if allowed to reach maturity. Let the spikes grow and decide what to take after they reach the age of three or older. Some hunters are taking fawn bucks too early not knowing what buck they represent or what genes the have. Genes cannot be cultured without sanitizing the whole herd and starting with new genetics. Does carry the most significant genes as they put out around 60% what genes will be.
Some will argue one way or the other ..especially about the spikes.
Good luck, do a lot of reading and researching ...go to deer farming ranches and pick the rancher's brain..they study the herds for a long time. you will probably learn a lot....it is worth all the effort..the more effort you put in managing the better herd you will be hunting.

The point of letting bucks mature is to let their antlers max out. If you don't care about the horns you may as well shoot them at 1.5-2.5 when they are young dumb and tender.

We have 3 year olds that will get to the high 120's or low 130's every year and also have 4-5 year olds that barely break 100. Its hard putting a bullet in every deer you want to on a LF property and its not going to improve the genetics either, but the land will only hold so many deer and it frees up a spot that lesser deer was occupying in hopes of attracting a better one.

We hunt in Kimball county as well. We have noticed the same issue on our lease and think alot of the problem is the difference in age of the deer. When I see a fawn with spots in November that tells me the doe was not bred until January so there can be a 3 month gap between the age of fawns in any year. The small four or six point bucks you see were essentially born 3 months before the small 3-4 inch spikes. I saw a yearling nursing in early December so that again concludes the gap in timing of when the deer are born.

This may sound a little off the wall, but here is what I think. I keep hearing a lot about "nocturnal Deer". I don't seem to have any and don't have any spikes. So the reason must be the sun light. Things need the sun to grow. If the Deer are not getting any sun then their antlers can't grow. That ia my conclusion and I am sticking with it.

I have Deer Don that get 4 1/2 and get scared of there own reflection getting a drink of water and go nocturnal ..
That's why it's so critical to hit Pre and Rut and try and keep the driving around to a minimal. Some Big Bucks are just gonna go "Dark" on you and IMO why it's so critical to pattern them. I see so many that burn the wheels off a vehicle and just keep those Deer held down or locked into there bedding areas. But like Humans you have the occasional one or two that are just careless

I recall reading a link that someone placed on this board......it was from Texas state biologists who had studied deer populations into 20 generations or more. They claimed that any decent buck would have six points by fall, on average, and it really didn't matter taking into account when they were born. They claimed it was a mistake to think that a spike was just a young potentially good buck, for the spikes will never develop into a great antlered buck. They had a lot of data to prove it. So their suggestions were to shoot all the spikes and you would eventually improve your older buck deer. The article didn't speak to buck to doe ratios.

So I don't claim to be any expert, but I'll take their word for it. It would seem to me that you may just have too many deer, and too many with poor genetics. Keep shooting the spikes.