as some of y'all may have read, i'm stil new to the deer hunting, but when y'all say y'all shot a spike or a cull deer, what exactly does that mean? thanks..

A spike is a buck that has 2 horns.
A cull is a buck that is genetically inferior to the other bucks in that area. A cull on some places may not be on another. Just a buck that you feel will never amount to anything...

The easiest way to describe a spike is both antlers look like a stick with no branches/forks. And +2 on the discription of a cull deer. It all depends on were you are hunting and what the deer look like there.

Easy way to remember......

SPIKE = GOAT HORNS ! ! ! !

and some spikes are fawn bucks with really short spikes. on our place that is typically less than 4 inches,
other times you will see a spike with really long tines and even curved tines. usually they will be yearling bucks or maybe even 2.5 yr old spikes.

there are many arguments as to if they will amount to something, but my rule of thumb is that we have a certain amount of bucks that need to be harvested, so if a deer in the same basic age class is way behind his peers, that is the one i will focus on culling.

thanks for the information.. so a cull deer may not amount to much, but in an AR county, they just keep walkin' every year..? and spikes are ok to shoot in an AR county because they haven't matured enough to know what their rack will become..?

Cull: No not necessarily. A cull on a trophy ranch may be a monster on your place. A cull doesn't mean you can't shoot it, it is just a buck with less potential than the rest of your buck herd.
Spike: You should read your outdoor annual...you can learn a lot in there. You can shoot a spike in an AR county.

Your TP&L guide lists a spike buck as having a single horn on one side only. The deer could have five points on one side and a single point on the other and still be considered a spike. If you see a small bodied deer with short spikes let it go it simply means that it was a late fawn and had little time to mature in it's first year. If you see a 100 lb unit with five inch spikes it probably needs to be harvested as it would appear to have inferior genes. A cull dear is a unit that does not have the traits that you desire on the property. The horns may be deformed too narrow the deer may be old and in decline or a whole host of other issues. Don't shoot him simply because he has a broken side as this buck has another chance to grow a new and better rack next year.

A cull is determined by the ranch owner or lease foreman, and can vary from location to location.

For the average hunter it's a deer that you may not want breeding your does, and passing on it's genetics, but that doesn't give you a free pass to just shoot it unless it's considered a legal deer in your county.

Read your outdoor manual that they gave you when you bought your license.

Here is a link that explains what a legal buck is!
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/game_management/deer/antler_restrictions/

Gentlemen, Please excuse my ignorance but a spike buck as listed in the TP&L guide is a buck with a single horn on both sides. A legal spike in the special antler restrictions counties is one that has a single horn on one side only, my mistake.