That logic sounds a lot like why AR's are around

I’m 100% with you, but some one is going to come on here with only their 4 tags on their license and tell us only way to get big deer is generic manipulation via spike or xvy culling...

Management needs to be built around practical ability not theoretical achievements, starting with habitat then herd to habitat relationship, then a couple other things then maybe individual existence

Yes sir!!!

Yup, herd management. Or, "If it's brown, it's down."

Just kidding, btw.

Tags? That is what friends are for.

Oh, I could care less what anyone takes, looks like brawts, meatball, steaks, chili and dry sausage to me. Infact everyone should use all tags

I just never understood the 7 page management debates by those that don’t have the resources that some of the elite ranches they reference do. Sometimes it’s just better to look at the commonalities of difference methodologies more so then to preach the difference.

^^^ truth

I would love to do some of the things I read about or see done on larger ranches, but my little 400 acres isn't going to be a speck on most deer's radars and I can not influence anything outside my little 400 acres as most around me won't feed year round or work for food plots or anything habitat related.

So I have just tried to make my small space a "safe place" for deer and provide as much food, habitat, and fawning cover as I can with my current number of hands and equipment. I don't worry about predator control, and I have not tried to cull bucks on genetic expression because it just doesn't make sense to. I just take at least one doe per buck shot, try to let the bucks age as much as possible, and will slowly continue to amp up my habitat and food source production. Taking doe and limiting the number of mouths to feed is probably going to be one of the best things going, and even if the bucks don't come to the feeders often, I know the doe are getting some food there and not taking it from the native sources. If I had 10x my land size, it would be different ballgame. But not many of us have that kind of land.

So at this point for me, I am not worried about shooting spikes as I am more concerned about herd numbers and buck:doe ratio.

Take a look at the spike in the middle of the picture. Judging by the size of his body, he has got to me more the 2 years old, don't you think?

He def isn't the youngest of the bunch, but are you certain he is a spike? Sun bleaches a lot of the photo out right where his antlers would be sprouting.

Here is one I felt was a 2 yr old or maybe 3 and I saw him in front of my house on a regular basis that year. He left and never returned before the general season opened that year....lucky deer.



Here is another one that I felt was a two yr old...but when he showed up he had busted off one whole antler so I could not say for sure he was a spike or if it was injury related. I felt he was a 2 yr old based off of previous sighting with other 1 yr old bucks I was seeing.


I have been on ranches that have killed 4 spikes that were 2 or older. 1 was 2 yr old, one was a 3 yr old and 2 were 4 yr olds(one in Hill Country and one in South Texas).

I'll show you a few that are two years old here in a few weeks. They'll be dead two year olds.

Yup, he is a spike. Got lots of pics of him in groups and alone. He likes to travel with another smaller spike. I thought this pic was able to show his body size relative to more accomplished bucks.

He will most likely be my first deer taken off of this place as I'd hate to see him pass on his head gear to anything else in the future.

They sure make good sausage...

This one probably 7, but he wasn’t exactly breeding anything with his lack of ability

even if the deer was a 4pt 2.5 year old......

All three of these deer are two year olds. The 4 point was a spike last year. Sorry for the poor image quality, and bad angle on #3. Anyone who says they've never seen a two year old spike, well...

I shot a very long spike in late December that was still in full velvet. When I was in the blind I swore that I had just shot a spike with the heaviest horns. I rolled him over and he was missing some parts. They probably just never dropped. We called him the LGBT buck.

if everyone would put the same focus on the overall deer herd, getting deer to maturity and range conditions as much as they do to spikes, we'd be killing a lot more 150+ deer every year in this state.

it's like worrying about getting attacked by japanese kamakazis in 2019, while half the population is dropping from cancer and heart disease.

We do all of those things on our place. Glad you removed the words "mythical 2 year old spikes". I gave you evidence above that it is not a myth. We don't shoot yearling spikes, but may need to start based upon that slick 4 point 2 yr old that was a spike last year.

Bingo. We have a winner!

I said "mystical"... as in people are fascinated with them, and at the end of the day it means practically nothing. as far as those photos.... debatable. That deer in the 3rd pic isn't a 2 year old, and I think the top one only looks that way because he's all hunched up.

bad angle
poor photo quality
I'd bet a dollar there are photos of those same deer and they don't look like they do in the pics you posted.

Kyle, I have photos of all three deer from last year, but believe what you want. I'm done with this debate.

kill all three and post pics of the jaws. maybe I'm wrong... I just dont' get the fascination with "spikes" when they make up about 1-2% of the entire deer population on most places. BFD

Ok why do you care so much that some care about them if they are such a small % and its not really a BFD?

Ive shot a couple 2 year old spikes on our LF place since 2007. They both weighted in around 130 lbs and yes I pulled the jaws on them. Id post pics, but its been 3-4 years and I don't know where they are. I know at least one of them is on here if you can find it.

You guys realize that toothing is also an inexact science as well, right? I've toothed a 14 month old Rambouillet at our place that had not only cut his yearling teeth but also his 2s. I've seen a 22 mo old ram with his lamb teeth.

Shoot what you want if it's legal and makes you happy; in the end that's all that matters. I just have an issue with people that shoot young ones while griping that there aren't any old ones.