#2968805 - 10/04/12 03:31 PM
Spike begat spike
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Great White Stalker
6 Point
Registered: 11/29/09
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Loc: Tn, Bradley
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I'm sure this how been discussed before but what is your take? If your managing a property for not only a healthy heard but also antler genetics, do you shoot spiked yearlings? Or do you only shoot mature animals period?
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#2968825 - 10/04/12 03:47 PM
Re: Spike begat spike
[Re: Great White Stalker]
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Diehard Hunter
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Registered: 08/01/08
Posts: 5370
Loc: East Tennessee
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Shooting spikes to improve the herd is a fallacy. Let them walk, you have no idea what that bucks potential is.
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#2968826 - 10/04/12 03:47 PM
Re: Spike begat spike
[Re: Great White Stalker]
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catman529
spiderboy
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Registered: 11/10/10
Posts: 11086
Loc: Franklin TN
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they say a spike can also become a big racked deer when it is older. You won't know unless you let it grow
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#2968852 - 10/04/12 04:05 PM
Re: Spike begat spike
[Re: catman529]
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bowhunter163
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Registered: 09/24/07
Posts: 1537
Loc: knoxville,tn
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Shooting inferior bucks to improve antler genetics is a losing battle unless you have a controlled population of deer in a high fence . IMO . The best option is to keep the herd below carrying capacity of the property . And let the bucks grow to maturity .
Edited by bowhunter163 (10/04/12 04:06 PM)
Edit Reason: Autocorrect
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#2968860 - 10/04/12 04:13 PM
Re: Spike begat spike
[Re: Great White Stalker]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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Registered: 03/11/99
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Loc: Nashville, TN
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I'm sure this how been discussed before but what is your take? If your managing a property for not only a healthy heard but also antler genetics, do you shoot spiked yearlings? Or do you only shoot mature animals period?
In mant areas, at least 50% of all yearling bucks are spikes. Yet you don't see any spike 2 1/2 year-olds.
You cannot "manage" the antler genetics of a free-ranging deer population.
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"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#2969100 - 10/04/12 07:48 PM
Re: Spike begat spike
[Re: BSK]
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Bigg'un4214
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Registered: 05/10/04
Posts: 2403
Loc: east tn
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BSK, I will have to disagree with the statement of no 2 1/2 year old spikes. I have saw several deer over the years that were in that catagory. My son killed a buck 2 years ago that was 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 (depending on who aged it) that had 1 inch nubs. But typically a spike will grow a larger rack.
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#2969531 - 10/05/12 07:34 AM
Re: Spike begat spike
[Re: Bigg'un4214]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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Bigg'un4214,
You're right, I shouldn't have said "you don't see any spike 2 1/2 year-olds." I should have said they are extremely rare, which is more accurate. But still, when 50% of yearlings in some areas are spikes, and 0.001% of 2 1/2s are spikes, obviously, spikes don't beget spikes, except for in rare instances.
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"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#2969603 - 10/05/12 08:27 AM
Re: Spike begat spike
[Re: BSK]
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Rockhound
8 Point
Registered: 04/04/11
Posts: 2003
Loc: Lawrence Co. TN
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I'm sure this how been discussed before but what is your take? If your managing a property for not only a healthy heard but also antler genetics, do you shoot spiked yearlings? Or do you only shoot mature animals period? In mant areas, at least 50% of all yearling bucks are spikes. Yet you don't see any spike 2 1/2 year-olds. You cannot "manage" the antler genetics of a free-ranging deer population.
I would go as far as to say in alot of areas it would be more like 75%,
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#2969628 - 10/05/12 08:42 AM
Re: Spike begat spike
[Re: Rockhound]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59670
Loc: Nashville, TN
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I'm sure this how been discussed before but what is your take? If your managing a property for not only a healthy heard but also antler genetics, do you shoot spiked yearlings? Or do you only shoot mature animals period? In mant areas, at least 50% of all yearling bucks are spikes. Yet you don't see any spike 2 1/2 year-olds. You cannot "manage" the antler genetics of a free-ranging deer population. I would go as far as to say in alot of areas it would be more like 75%,
That really depends on the area, due to either habitat quality or birth date, or both. In the Deep South, where breeding dates are very late (late January into early February), fawns are born so late in the summer that they are still trying to grow out of the "fawn" stage when antlers begin to grow in late spring. Antler growth takes second place to body growth, and if all resources are going to rapid body growth, little is left over for antler growth. Hence, young males in this region are almost exclusively spikes.
Even in regions with November or very early December breeding dates, if habitat quality is poor, many yearling bucks do not have the resources available to grow anything but spike antlers. A few areas of the East TN mountains may fit this description.
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"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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