why you all shooting young bucks anyway

The GW must have misunderstood the question, unless you're using mldp tags the regulation is clear.

During the Special Late Season, take is restricted to antlerless and "unbranched antlered" deer. An unbranched antlered deer is a buck deer with at least one antler that has no more than one point.

Anytime you want a 100% accurate answer you can send a question to TPWD.
Select Game Warden ( law enforcement) ---> TPWD to ensure your question gets to the proper place.

Indeed. That's a big deer for east Texas.

Yep, where the road goes on forever and the season never ends

After re reading the book, I may have been wrong. It sounds like you can shoot a buck deer during the late season if it has one antler on one side and damn 15 on the other.... they need to make this more clear for this coming season.

They are, used to it had to be a true spike, slick horns on both sides now you can shoot 3 poinst etc. just so long as one side is slick.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm getting the impression Rustler has some education in this area, and potentially a full time job dealing directly with matters like this...

I'm going to go ahead and take his advice.

Not trying to be a horses butt, I don't see how it could get any clearer.

During the Special Late Season, take is restricted to antlerless and "unbranched antlered" deer.
An unbranched antlered deer is a buck deer with at least one antler that has no more than one point.

This one is a 1x2.

Most GW will get pissy with that one if its a fresh break, they will press charges and take their chances.

For clarity’s sake. Not a fresh break. The bone left behind 5 3/4” long, the other 16 2/8” the tip to tip inside spread is 14” and the widest point inside is 14 3/8” bases are 3 3/4” no matter what county, it looks like “knife handle” is a legal deer. He weighed in 165#s and aged 4.5. Never had more than 4 points. deer with short or absent brow tines are culls at 3.5 on this Webb County ranch. Oh yeah, started as a small bodied 3” spike on one side and a 1/4” splinter on the other. He was chasing a doe and lost her to a big 11pt the morning the savage 10/110 in Winchester 270 hit him in the neck at 75yrds. By the way. I do believe there has to be something protruding from his head to make a deer a legal spike.

Do you have experiences based on this? It matters zero if that buck broke off that antler 20 seconds before he got shot, at that point he is legal.

Depends on the GW, otherwise guys could break the antler with a hammer to make them "legal". I've seen tickets attached to carcasses in the cooler at the processor, they had fresh breaks, you would have to argue it in court.

One of the keywords in this post is court, another is judge.

ell him to run it by the local Game Warden........ he'll know

Would be up to the Warden to prove the antler was intentionally broken after the shot. If he can't prove that, there is no case.

Any game warden that gets pissy about this kill has never tried to manage a lease. That is a cull buck in any county in the state.

Part of the rules changes next year is to clarify the AR rule, I do wonder if the re-wording to push through citations for broken antler bucks like the scenario above. I know our warden has written ticket for bucks like that but I have no clue if those citations were ever thrown out, my guess is the judge usually sides with the warden.

The real deal is, very few GW's are going to say for sure it is legal from that picture.
It certainly appears to be a properly tagged broke off buck that meets the one side unbranched requirement.

Even in person a GW is going to gather more information (ask questions) and look closely at that broke off antler before coming to a conclusion.

It has nothing to do with 'cull buck'.
If your a person that believes it is just fine, no big deal to break, saw, cut, lop off, sand smooth or pack dirt / mud to conceal an antler that was made into one point after the kill you are the kind that needs a visit.
Killing an illegal deer isn't a sound management practice.

Who is said this? I don't think anybody on this board condones breaking antlers to make a buck appear legal.

Bottom line is if buck in picture stepped out as seen in picture, it is a legal buck all day long and I'm shooting that deer.

The game warden can believe whatever he wants to believe, it is not my responsibility to prove I abided by the law. It is up to the game warden to prove otherwise.

I almost always takes pictures of every decent buck I see before I shoot or before I let me son shoot. So a photograph of the questionable buck with the broken antler before the shot, should help clarify.

If the antler was broke below the for or had some left at all he would pass as a spike... if it was true just gone even with the skull no its not a spike

Thats fine but without proof or a confession nothing will come of it so most that have been in the field a while wont press it.... especially on a deer like that which was clearly wide enough and old enough to begin with

I owe you an apology, seems I let other responses in other threads of the same topic cloud my better judgement and make rude uncalled for statements.
In those other threads, many responses kidding or not make reference to stomping, breaking, sawing, cutting antlers to make a deer "legal".

Not offering an excuse, my apologies.