Yes. There is a 150" minimum for that

Coulda been 150 if he hadn't been shot....

But only if it was in a HF. Oh boy here we go again

We're talking free ranging Spikes, that don't get hung up on fences bc there are none

well said!..._+2

One exception to the rule. Post some more pics of the other spikes.

How many and what years did you shoot spikes BOBO?

I'm going to have to start shooting spikes... loading 2 245lb live weight deer into the back of my truck by myself really hurt my back yesterday...

Or I could take out the truck with the electric winch... I think I will go with winch... once I can move again.

I killed one here this year w/ 9in horns and have a couple of
more running around..One ranch I used to cull shoot we took over
30 one year..and I removed more does than that..Next season we were looking at 6's and 8's mostly and very few spikes..I have one here that older w/a spike on one side and 6 points on the other..and I've seen several 2 & 3 yr olds out of him that are the same..You just can't have it both ways..Plus the main problem
is which doe to shoot if you are cleaning up the gene pool..You
can kill every spike there..but you have to get both parties that
made them..Don

You keep talking about this antler damaged deer like it is some kind of genetic problem...

So every buck that is 3.5 or older and has a spike on one side is caused by antler damage and not genetic? Are you saying this is always the case or do you "know" this deer that Don is talking about?

6 on 1 side and 1 on the other has an astronomical chance of being antler or pedicle damage...

As for the other ones being his sons... well... think about what the odds of that are... not high at all.

Well up until 12 -13 years ago if it was brown it was down... we very seldom ever had any deer make it to 4.5. Last 10 years is when we went to nothing but 6.5 or older.

As far as seeing spikes..maybe three a year..never any older then 1.5

Two best things we have done is min 6.5 age and plowing under the coastal

Guess this is exception #2?

717. Age 4 ½ years. 142”




#717 as a 1 ½ yo spike.
[/quote]
[/quote]

Guess this is exception #2?

717. Age 4 ½ years. 142”




#717 as a 1 ½ yo spike.
[/quote]
Same ranch? Where are the rest of the spikes that grew into 200" deer?

Did not answer my question. How long did you shoot spikes and when did you stop? You can let 95% of the spikes get old and they will still be inferior deer as far as I have seen.

3-4 a year and stopped shooting them roughly 10 years ago.. we very seldom have a deer not make 140 at 6.5. Most that dont, age out younger...One of the ones that didn't was a 6pt at 1 1/2...(white stocking foot ) but he cracked his skull at 4.5 and was only 12" wide(135). Another was a 5.5 8pt I shot that had a cracked skull and injury that cause messed up right side, plus broke brow.(127).

I did just get word that my little cuz just got a 7.5 135 10pt...but had broke both 4's almost clean off. Deer was 150-154 on camera. So average is going to take a hit.

My average might actually go alot higher in the next three years...we got hit pretty hard on BT this year via the 3.5/4.5 so we will be very selective in the next three years. Plus some of the upper end 6.5 got passed on this year do to the drought. One of those should of broke 200 mark as a main frame 12...but was way down compared to last year

So you killed all spikes for a few years. What bucks were left to breed after that when those age classes matured? Nonspike genetics. Interesting that your best bucks have come since killing all spikes and not before.

" Where are the rest of the spikes that grew into 200" deer?"

200" native deer is the exception period wether a yearling spike or yearling 10pt..

The majority of those deer come from areas know for that ability...

Kind of like comparing red coat deer to Mason Texas or parts of Grayson & denton to Mason county...or SanSaba to Webb...etc

saying our best bucks not coming before is like saying...your best deer on some of the ranches of yours came from a direct result of shooting spikes..and not age restrictions, supplemental feed, lower herd numbers etc....

Again our biggest change in score wise on our deer is simple....we stopped shooting young deer period


As far as best bucks breeding as you know unless you can change or limit dispersal thats kindof lost in space agruement

Did you not have any old deer before?

Very few.... a buck that made it to his 4th birthday was a rarity... think of what opening weekend sounded like in the hill country and add every shot after that for the next 60days and combine all those into a week............welcome to north of the red.

We also expanded some of are holding in that time period which resulted in lot more deer making it

If you are managing both LF or HF ranches for the same drought conditions the buck will looke the same. The height of the fence does not dictate how you should manage correctly.

Did his age change his genetics? Killing those spikes did work. The bucks you left those years grew up and into better class bucks. They did the breeding. Their offspring are what you are killing now.