Just saying

Oh that’s funny right there

You're gonna get so many opinions on this! I've seen the same thing over and over on penned deer.
I'm just wondering to myself if folks are gonna say that this only happens with penned deer and that with wild deer, once a spike...……..

We had a buck that made it to 11 years old some years back. He was a spike as a yearling. At 11 he threw double drop tines for the first time. I've actually never seen a 2 yr old spike. Teeth aging from a 1 yr old to a 2yr old buck is really easy. If you shoot a spike...….do us all a favor and pull the lower jaw bone.

You're right scooter. Those are all game camera pics. He is in a 380 acre pen (my ranch). I've seen him once on the hoof while mowing on the tractor earlier this year. But since he turned 2 just on game camera. Here's another pic of him off the cards taken yesterday.
Everyone can have their own opinion about high fences, but you aren't going to see their
full potential on small acerage. When everyone around you would have shot him at 2. Heck I even thought about letting one of my boys shoot him as a cull last year because of his messed up side. I feed 20% protein year around free choice, that helps with the 1 yr old spike jump to what he did. I got tired of seeing a nice young bucks one year then not the next. Wonder what he might score. Atleast 160 hopefully!!!

Do these deer have tags in their ears?

While I don’t think it’s common deer do make it to two and older as spikes. These are always fun

No tags they are born on the ranch. they are not pets and about as wild as they can get. I don't corn roads to get them to come out in the open. I just keep 3 corn feeders at the 3 protein feeders going with cameras on them. If you drove around you would swear there are no deer on the place. Several years of management. If a buck isn't a 10 pt by 3 yrs old he's a cull. Try to keep a 1.5-1 buck to doe ratio. Plant lab lab and feed free choice 20% yr round. Ranch was old farm land years ago letting mesquite and weesatch come back, and planted about 150 acres of native grass mix. been spraying my butt off think finally got sunflowers, broom weed, cockleburs and giant rag weed almost gone and under control. Buried 3 ft predator wire to bottom of fence on outside. Killed ALL the hogs 3 yrs ago. Havent seen one in 3 yrs and they cant dig in. Or haven't yet! Killed All coyotes also. Have one or two get in after a flood thru my 1 water gap, but I keep a gut pile and camera on it so as soon as I see one they are pretty easy to get with the call and thermal. Bobcats play hell with me though. I've killed over 20 in the last 5 yrs. people who think they don't do damage on a deer herd are totally wrong. When I find a dead deer covered with grass I set up a camera and guess what shows up? I have seen them thru thermal climb up fence to first big square about waist high and just go thru fence. Cant keep them out, and cant kill them all just can control them. Don't think they will kill a mature deer but fawns and yearlings, yes. Here's a pic of a 4 yr old with the above buck behind him back in August. He was also a 1 yr old spike about like the other one, but since 2 his brows have pointed backwards so easy to follow him so far.

Yes, but just think what they would be like if they weren't spikes and had forked horns at that age!

2 years ago, shot an OLD, blind, cancer-ridden spike. Came out with a cull that my buddy shot. Pretty sure the cull buck was leading the spike around. Buddy shot the cull, and the spike started running in circles around the dead deer. He didn’t know where to go. Put him down. He was boney as could be. His spine stuck up like a blade 1.5-2” over his back straps, and had a big ol’ tumor hanging off his hind leg. Not a single tooth in his head, and eyes were ghostly white. Last archery season I had a monster spike duck me at about 50 yards. Biggest spike I’ve ever seen in person. 4.5-5 year old deer. 12-14” on one side with what looked to be 16-18” on the other. Never saw him again.

It has nothing to do with whether or not they grow antlers after being a spike. True herd management has more to do with carrying capacity. Would you rather feed a yearling spike or a yearling 6 point? There are always exceptions

don't shoot 1-2 year old male deer. Ever. spikes or otherwise.

that should be a fact at this point in the game if you have any intent of managing a deer herd.

if you're managing a place correctly and need to get mouths off the forage, there should be a plethora of 4+ year old deer to remove to get numbers right .

If the deer is not tagged how do you know that the spike and that big boy are the same deer?

And that’s how bar brawls start!!!!

I could maybe go with 1, but once they are on their second set of horns and still a spike they better not stand in front of me with tags in my pocket and a gun in my hand.

probably happens about the same frequency as a winning lotto ticket though

Shoot whatever buck you want to as long as it is legal. The tag is yours and it is nobody's business what you hang it on. The fascination with nothing but big antlers will ruin hunting.

Same here. And I have only seen one on camera. Had pics of him 2 years in a row and then he vanished. People that kill 2+ year old spikes year after year don't know how to correctly age a deer or are just looking for excuses to shoot one. 2 year old spikes are probably more rare than a typical 12 point.

I shoot deer that still taste good....you can trophy hunt all you want but it is just vanity. Yes, I try to get an older buck but not some leather tasting geezer that doesn't feed me or my family. Praise God it is still a free country boys!

Nothing like a good ole spike debate. Choot em.... Don’t Choot em!

My

Low fence... to shoot a spike on the vast majority of Texas low fence properties makes little difference in any way other than adding meat to the freezer and reducing one less buck in the field.

High fence... depends on the goals of the owner and his or her level of commitment to herd management.

yup

Typical 12's are not that uncommon in some areas.

No brawl here! This subject gets way more complicated than it should be. Carrying capacity should be of primary importance and within the buck to doe ratio. If you can accomplish something reasonable in that area you will shoot bigger deer.

We all know 5'6'' Jose Altuve is a really good major league baseball player, we also know the average height of an MLB player is 6'2''. Not saying don't play baseball if your short, the odds just aren't in your favor to play in the MLB.

I hunt in Red River County, with AR rules. Spikes or unbranched antlered bucks die. Does die when legally available. Bucks with an outside spread past their ears die. Age be damned. Meat rules!