Or so you want us to believe.

Or so you want us to believe.

I chuckle every time I see one of you guys write "Amos"....lol. The guy's name is not Amos, it's Marko (as in Marko Barrett from Las Raices Ranch). His username is "AmoCuernos".

I've been seeing people on this forum call him "Amos" for years, but he never corrects anyone.

So Eland is your real name?

I'm sure he gets a good laugh every time someone calls him Amos though...lol. Sorry, but I just had to bring that up.

Not sure why it is any different than RM, Dodo the clown, STX, chitshak, or any of the others that we shorten

The reason those ranches have few, if any, yearling spikes is because they have killed out a major portion of the gene pool that produced yearling spikes. There's no question that you can manipulate the genetics of a property to produce more 6 and 8 pt. yearlings....but that doesn't mean they are better deer in the long run than the yearling spikes. They are simply showing their genetic potential earlier in their life.

This same thing is being done with a lot of deer breeders....particularly the breeders that supply "shooters" to ranches. Most of these places sell bucks in the 150"-180" range to hunting ranches to be sold that year to hunters. In the past, it took 4 years for bucks to reach that size on average....then they were able to get them to that size at age 3....and now there are places getting them to that size at age 2. It means the breeders can sell them quicker, not feed them as long, and they are easier to kill than the more mature deer.

Once again, the reason there are some ranches with very few spike yearlings is simply because they are killing out the genetic trait of "late bloomers". The 8 pt. yearlings don't end up scoring any higher at maturity than the spike yearlings do. They just get there quicker. But in the end, at age 5, there won't be any difference in B&C score between the two groups on average. That's what this study was all about.....that it is simply NOT POSSIBLE to determine what a buck will look like at maturity by judging his first set of antlers as a yearling. If it were possible, then good gene pools would be obvious when you visited a ranch. The ranches with lots of spike yearlings would have crappy deer, and the ranches with no spike yearlings would have 200 inchers behind every bush...but obviously that isn't the case.

If anyone thinks you need to shoot yearling spikes to have a good deer herd....maybe you should take a look at two of the pioneers of growing big deer in Texas. Jack Brittingham (owner of Rancho Encantado and Briar Lakes Ranch) and Marko Barrett (owner of Las Raices Ranch) have grown and killed some of the largest native deer ever killed in the state of Texas....and neither of them support the shooting of yearling spikes. I have had extensive conversations with Jack on this very topic, and rest assured....there are no yearling bucks of any kind being killed on his properties. He fully supports my side of the argument.

Also, I'm curious why I didn't get any comments from the peanut gallery on the post I made below....

Guess I stumped you guys

Ask STX, he has pics of the results of a management plan that included killing spikes. Does that mean that all his efforts were futile and he killed off his best bucks because he shot some that were 1.5 yo?

Sorta off topic....but I chuckle every time I see one of you guys write "Amos"....lol. His name is not Amos, it's Marko (as in Marko Barrett from Las Raices Ranch). His username is "AmoCuernos" (which is Spanish for "I love antlers/horns").

I've been seeing people on this forum call him "Amos" for years, but he never corrects anyone.

For me it's irritating to see folks in my area culling when they don't have much selection to begin with. Take several properties tied together doing the same thing and you get into problems. By the time they shoot the spikes, the AR legal 2yos, a "cull" 6-8 pt, does bc that's been beaten into their head to shoot regardless of what their situation is and you can see how easily you can go from management minded to trigger happy. (Which is okay, but call it what it is) Truth be known, some of the best bucks in the area are on places that never have any deer shot off them.

Love the ear tags!!!! I use the same ones on my cows.....

This is so true. The vast majority of people shouldn't even be talking about "management" other than in the context of not pulling the trigger. And much of the time that just can't/won't happen.

I will say that,in my experience,the majority of places could stand to have more does taken-especially in central TX. In east TX it's a place-by-place thing depending on the state of the herd and the makeup of habitat on the particular place.

JMO

Why would any of those ranches support shooting spikes? That's throwing money down the drain for them. You can call it what you want, but the biggest reason they don't whack that spike is at minimum, he'll be a $2000 management buck for somebody in three years.

I know ranches that won't shoot spikes that really don't sell managment hunts, that have mature deer anywhere from 170" up over 200", native deer.

not every ranch sells hunt, and if they do, its not like they sell dozens a year.

Also, I'm curious why I didn't get any comments from the peanut gallery on the post I made below....

Guess I stumped you guys