Drop Tine Spike

[netman9]

Offshore started a thread "Give him a few more".
I first saw him in low light and thought it was velvet shed hanging down, then my brother spotted him. He ask, have you seen the drop tine spike? Wish I had taken pictures of him, turned out to be my best bow kill to date. You never know how a scrappy little buck will turn out if you cull everyone you see thats not perfect! We mainly hunt for meat but will take a shot at a buck if he's better than the last. Hadn't shot a buck in 5 years now trying to top this heavy beam beauty. You can see where the drop tine broke from the main beam on the right side. Pretty cool deal to see this guy develope... final score was a touch over 140.

[thoffman]

beautiful buck. Congrats

[thoffman]

how old was he, or how many years ago did you see him as a spike?

[offshore]

Ill tell you that is a pretty buck right there. For looks wise the drop tine would have been nice but it always hurts the score if you are scoring them. Looks like the split brow tine 12pt I shot this year will have 6" of deductions due to the split brow tines!! That hurts but still one of my favorite bucks.
Ten years ago I would have shot just about anything that moved. After what I have seen happen with the property we hunt now over the past ten years I wouldn't even shoot a spike. We have taken a few really messed up bucks but for the most part Doe's or nice 8pt or better are the order of the day. Im guessing we are about 3 does to each buck right now.
Taking my video camera with me has curved the urge to pull the trigger. I carry way to much crap in the woods with me!!For me now it is all about getting close as possible and seeing what they look like next year.......Nice buck right there.....Mark

[netman9]

The spike was 1 1/2 and developed into the 9 pointer over the next 3 years shown as a 4 1/2 year old buck. Our property has been crushed from new owners/hunters, we went from a single farmer that didn't hunt and allowed 2 hunters. They didn't pressure much taking a few deer and some awesome bucks over the years. Now the farm hands all have guns in the trucks and a ton of hunters. Last year on less than 300 mostly open acres they killed over 80 deer before the winter kill we had. We still have plenty of deer, just the quantity/quality of the bucks is way low. We watch the deer just shorter time frames. 5 year observation of a single buck will never happen any time soon.

[Bird Dog]

Really nice buck. Good mass

[scattered_grass]

what a heavy-horned, STUD of a buck!

[Ace1st]

Yes, its a common misconception that a Spike is a cull deer. If the deer is 3-5 years old and still a spike, yes he needs to taken out of the gene pool. But a yearling spike can produce into a fine buck. Some years ago we caught a button buck that was on the roadside after his doe was killed by a vehicle. We put him in a pen and the first two years he was a spike. But started to branch out his third year. By his 5 th year in the pen he was a 145 incher. The buck became very dominant and Dangerous at 5 years old, it was then that he was taken from the pen. Hes now on my uncles wall and he is proof that spikes are not always culls.

[Ace1st]

Is it me or is he a very small bodied deer? Maybe its the picture or the young man holding him thats making him look small.

[netman9]

Is it me or is he a very small bodied deer? Maybe its the picture or the young man holding him thats making him look small.

He was not in rut and not huge by any standard. He had been busy and burned off alot of fat by mid December. I think we put him on scales after hanging for 2 days and he was around 110#. A mature doe will dress from 90-100# in this area with the occational Horse Head Doe that may dress over 110#. A nice heavy body buck may go 130# dressed. A couple buddies started putting them on scales before field dressing and I'll have to get a few weights to compare.