![]() Remember, the mother is often responsible for 60% or more of that little buck’s DNA. I’ve been to so many locales over the years that declare war on spike bucks in efforts to “weed them out” of the gene pool. ![]() Long story short, follow-up research during recent years has shown that it’s futile to try to manage against spikes by implementing “green light” shooting missions. Disclaimer: Some biologists in Texas will argue otherwise, and there is some evidence to show that genetics can play a role in spike development in Southern deer, but it doesn’t override the first two factors. Genetics would be a distant third on this list. Hence the reason why so many Northern states have higher percentages of spike bucks in the herd as yearlings.ĭon’t despair, they catch up! More on that later. Overwinter habitat is critical, especially in Northern areas. It’s important to note that nutrition goes way beyond our good-intentioned efforts of providing supplemental feed through protein (where legal) and food plots. ![]() Without quality nutrition, especially in the late winter months, antler growth is going to suffer for those late-borns and, hence, a higher probability for spike antlers. A late-born fawn that does not have unlimited, high-value nutrition is further behind the 8-ball, so to speak. ( Heffelfinger, DDH) The Nutrition FactorĪll three of these factors go hand-in-hand, but nutrition is huge when combined with age. (Incidentally there was a single 3-1/2-year-old that was recorded to have spikes.) Some of these older Wisconsin deer recorded to have unbranched antlers on each side might actually have had broken antlers rather than natural spikes. In the farmland where deer have access to better nutrition, only 12 of 1,826 2 1/2-year-old deer (.6%) were spikes. He tallied spikes in a subset of Wisconsin data and found 29 of 1,588 deer aged 2-1/2 years old (1.8%) were spikes in forested northern Wisconsin. Anything else (antlers) is relatively unimportant when the skeleton has to grow.Īccording to a scientific study conducted by Keith McCaffery, Wisconsin DNR deer researcher and manager for more than 30 years, there are very few animals older than yearlings with spikes. Late-borns invariably have to put their energy into body growth. By the time hunting season rolls around, they’ll be pushing 18 months of age and will be sporting their first set of antlers. Key term there is, “first.” By and large, spikes are the result of late-born fawns from the previous season that are entering their first growing season. Age, or lack thereof, is the key reason why a whitetail buck will grow spikes as its first set of antlers.
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