It's clear that a buck with one unbranched antler is a spike. But what makes an unbranched antler? It has only one point. The guide says anything under 1" is not a point. So this buck in front is a spike. I've had a guy try to tell me it's not. (The other antler is a fork.)



Your thoughts?

He's legal to shoot as he has one unbranched antler. In order to be branched, a second point over 1" must be present. If his other side has two points, I would not call him a spike, I would call him a 3-pointer. But that's just semantics.

Interestingly enough, I always thought that buck fawns could be tagged as does. In reading about this, if either nub is over 1" in length, even if the velvet is intact, they must be tagged with a buck tag if harvested.

That's my understanding, too.

Thanks for bringing this subject up. I didn't notice the new text on what is a Buck Deer. This is the new rule. Now I have to do a whole lot more reading to see what else I missed.

Buck deer
"A deer with an antler point protruding through the skin or a deer with antler growth in velvet of greater than one inch."