# Help Age This Spike... Take it?



## warcat (May 22, 2004)

I cut down one panel on my feed pen to around 36", and finally got some deer to jump in. I got a few pictures of a freaky spike that I think needs to go. How old is this guy and should I take him out or not?

































How old is the other guy running with him?


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## BigTOM (Jul 14, 2008)

That big bodied bad boy needs to be ground pounded......


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## 300 R.U.M.-DUM (Jun 4, 2008)

Ground check the spike..no consistency in the antlers


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Yes, I agree plenty old enough to shoot and get him out of the gene pool.

Charlie


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## br549 (Jan 17, 2006)

Im not sure that you have enough corn on the ground. You might want to turn your timer up!


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## Blue Water Breaux (Feb 6, 2008)

time for a dirt nap


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## Spec-Rig.006 (Nov 2, 2007)

You need to shoot that bad boy ...


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## Blue Water Breaux (Feb 6, 2008)

and holy #$%^&! thats a 50lb bag of corn you've got on the ground! if you didnt do that, get a varmit screen asap!


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## big john o (Aug 12, 2005)

br549 said:


> Im not sure that you have enough corn on the ground. You might want to turn your timer up!


Was thinking the same thing. How many times a week do you fill your feeders.


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## Silverspoon (Jun 1, 2005)

SAUSAGE TIME for that spike!


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## Josh5 (Jun 27, 2007)

shoot him!


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## cameron00 (Mar 6, 2007)

I age him "ugly as sin".


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## Silverspoon (Jun 1, 2005)

His running buddy needs a little more time IMO. I would guess they are the same age, my best estimate is 2.5 maybe 3.5 years old. Hard to tell though.


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## bohunk1 (Nov 12, 2006)

shoot him!, shoot him!, shoot him!


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

Guess I'll take him out. I had the opportunity to do it this past Saturday, but didn't feel like cleaning him (evening hunt)... He and his running buddy showed with a few does, but niether were interested in the does. I don't think he'll have the chance to breed even if he wanted to.... don't think the does will want anything to do with him!

The feeder in the pen has been running for about a month with no deer jumping in. I finally got some to jump in on 12/5 (first time) after cutting one panel down a week earlier... I'd say there's about 200# of corn on the ground!!!! LOL! Small hogs have been getting in thru the squares though....


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## TomL (May 1, 2007)

Yep, turn that sucker into sausage!


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## Tiny (Dec 19, 2006)

Shouldn't even have to ask.


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## BOOM VANG (Jul 14, 2008)

gettem asap. i'd go back today and dustem down.


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## Bucksnort (Jun 29, 2004)

Bad thing about spikes is once you let em walk they seem to never show back up.


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## Randsims (Oct 7, 2007)

Bucksnort said:


> Bad thing about spikes is once you let em walk they seem to never show back up.


 I will second that when you are ready to take them out there never around


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## TXPalerider (May 21, 2004)

BUST HIS ARSE!!!!!!


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## espanolabass (Jul 20, 2006)

Put him on the spit


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## outdooraggie2011 (Nov 24, 2008)

Take him out!


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## 2x Drop Tine (Sep 24, 2006)

Stick a fork in him.


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

Well, I set out this morning to take him out... but today was not his unlucky day. I corned my usual hunting area around 5:45 this morning- a long narrow field approx 40 yards wide by 400 yards long. Corned both sides of my ground blind out to 100 yards or so. Those Moultrie road feeders are the best! I parked my truck at the ranch house and walked to my blind in the moonlight. I was in my blind about 5 mins til 6:00. Right at 6:00 I could see a deer shadow not 30 yards away from me on my right. Over the next 20 minutes or so, it moved closer and closer and was around 15 yards away just before daylight- guess I corned too close to my blind. Just then three more deer (does/fawns) come out right across from my blind and slowly head towards the deer to my right. As they are walking, another two deer come out from the same general area- right across the field from my blind and head towards my left- later when I could actually see, it turns out these two were bucks. Way down on the end of the field I see another two or three deer shadows cross the field. Then beyond the deer to my right another 4 or so does/fawns show up. There were deer everywhere.... and around 4 of them were between 15 and 30 yards away from my blind! Daylight finally breaks well enough for me to get my binocs and make out that the two deer that walked towards my left are bucks, but it is still pretty hard to tell how good they are.. still no direct sunlight. They are around 100 yards away now. I can tell that one of them is a pretty good buck for my place, but the other is blocked by a tree (the field hasn't been plowed in over a year and some brush is coming up). I keyed on that one buck for around 5 minutes and finally decided that he might be a real good buck for my place- I see a small drop tine and count 5 points on one side. So I pulled my rifle out to get a real good look. Two of the deer around me start alerting, snorting, stomping, and moving off a bit. This makes the two bucks get a little ansy. I finally get a look at the second of the two bucks, and it is a young 4-6 pt, not the spike I was looking for. My neighbor's feeder goes off..... my feeder goes off.... all the deer are getting ready to hightail it! Over the next 5 seconds or so, so many thoughts go thru my head.... if I don't shoot this buck, certainly my neighbor will... he's with another buck that he probably fathered... there are tons of fawns all over the place... he has a gut, and is big bodied... they're leaving... make a decision...BOOM!...the shot goes off, and he falls. It's around 6:50 now. Most of the other deer scatter. I sit in my blind for another few minutes thinking if I'd done the right thing.... I'm still wondering right now. I haven't aged him yet, but I think he is probably 4.5 (I really hope he's not 3.5). He was a mainframe 9 point with a little over a 2" drop tine (or drop kicker) on his 4 side. I have never seen or heard of a drop tine buck killed on our place, and it's been the family for over 60 years. I'll post up some pics soon... Can't help but feel that I should've let him walk. He's the one that should be breeding, not the freak spike in the original post.


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## Bucksnort (Jun 29, 2004)

where is his picture. DUDE, you tell us a story like that with no pix? Do we need to send the 2cool mafia to your house? That second guessing your doing is part of being a mature hunter. I've had that feeling on more than one occasion. BUT LET US LOOK AT HIM!


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## asolde (May 22, 2004)

Kill him plain and simple. Who knows how old he is. Congrats on the nine pt.


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## Fishdaze (Nov 16, 2004)

Shoot the spike now! And I'm glad I don't have to pay your bill for corn.....

Get the pics up soon please. This place can't function correctly w/o horn pics.:hairout:


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

Bucksnort said:


> where is his picture. DUDE, you tell us a story like that with no pix? Do we need to send the 2cool mafia to your house? That second guessing your doing is part of being a mature hunter. I've had that feeling on more than one occasion. BUT LET US LOOK AT HIM!


There was a major case of ground shrinkage on this one. On the hoof, I figured he was in the 130's but he'll tape out in the 120's. I misjudged the tine length thinking they were each a couple of inches longer. He was big bodied though, near 200 lbs. I was solo on this trip as my son had a school function, so the me pic is "up close and personal".


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## bobbyoshay (Nov 29, 2008)

congrats on a nice buck!


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## Bucksnort (Jun 29, 2004)

Thats a nice buck. Of course we can't age him with those pix so you need to look at the teeth. But you said it all. If you let that buck walk he was headed right over the fence and he was going to die. So you popped him and in this case you deserved him. After all he was at your stand. Unfortunately our low fence neighbors and sometimes the very guys we hunt with make us alternate our management ideas and plans. Congrats on him.


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

Bucksnort said:


> ... But you said it all. If you let that buck walk he was headed right over the fence and he was going to die....


I know you're probably right... low fence in Duval County, surrounded by small ranches- biggest is probably right at 400 acres with the others 100-200 (and my place is 265). But just last week I finally got some deer to jump in my feed pen. In that week, I count 5 different bucks coming to my feeder on game cam. The buck I shot and the one with him were not among those 5. Then there's the tons of does/fawns I see each sitting... I'm starting to wonder if my neighbors are finally getting management minded... By the way, this deer is the first I've killed in 4 years on my place. Prior to that it was leased. I'm still beating myself up for it... gonna take cooking that backstrap up and making some great jerky and tamales to make me feel better.... Hey just saying it makes me feel a little better already


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## baldhunter (Oct 8, 2004)

Congrats on your buck.You're right,all those good meals he'll make will make you feel much better.


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## gimp6969 (Feb 20, 2008)

Once a spike always a spike, let the air out of himASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Brassnadz (Jun 18, 2007)

Better yet, let me come out and take him for you!:cheers:


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## Africanut (Jan 15, 2008)

Switch him off!!!!!!


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## El Cazador (Mar 4, 2005)

Congrats on a nice buck. Don't beat yourself up about taking that buck. It doesn't sound like you are trigger happy; having killed one deer in four years? You earned him, be proud! 

Maybe it's time you meet your neighbors and find out what their management goals are. Maybe you have the same goals, but everybody thinks, that everybody else will just shoot the future trophies. Who knows??? Good luck with the rest of the season.


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## shifty2002 (Jul 20, 2006)

DIRT


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## SSMike (Aug 15, 2005)

I don't see anything wrong with that one..... hard to age but I would guess he looks mature to me..... good choice. Still take out the goofy @ss spike..... How high was the fence around the feeder?


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

SSMike said:


> I don't see anything wrong with that one..... hard to age but I would guess he looks mature to me..... good choice. Still take out the goofy @ss spike..... How high was the fence around the feeder?


The fence is made of 6 cattle panels. It is 52" tall on all but one panel, the one I cut down. That panel is now right around 36". So far (two weeks since I cut it), only bucks have jumped in, no does. Before I cut it, no deer had jumped in (around a month). I am allowed one mature buck (the nine will have to count), one spike, and one doe per season (self imposed limits), so taking out the spike is still a probability.


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## Tin Can (Dec 12, 2008)

I agree, that deer needs to die


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## texasbagman (Oct 1, 2007)

warcat said:


> There was a major case of ground shrinkage on this one.


WOW... Shrinkage?

I wish some of my deer had shrunk UP to that!!!

Nice buck and don't worry so much about horns. He was a mature buck from the look of it.

Oh yeah, kill that spike.... kill it soon.


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

texasbagman said:


> WOW... Shrinkage?
> 
> I wish some of my deer had shrunk UP to that!!!
> 
> Nice buck and don't worry so much about horns. He was a mature buck from the look of it.


As more time passes, I'm feeling better about it. He was a very big bodied, heavy deer- I had a hell of a time picking him up into my tractor bucket which was only a few inches off the ground, and I'm not a weak guy. I'll be getting the lower jaw to age him from my taxidermist who is doing a euro mount for me. When he saw the head, he did mention that it looked mature to him- roman nosed, very big head and neck. He told me that I should've caped it out as if for a shoulder mount, even if I never intended to get it shoulder mounted. He said it wasn't real common to get a head/cape of that size... and he could've used it for a remount. You learn something new everyday.

Maybe somewhere down the line this guy will be small compared to the deer growing on my place. That's what I'm hoping for at least. All I can do is try to control things on my side of the fence.


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## JWS.HOOKEM (Jun 24, 2008)

way over 90% of all spikes are 1 1/2 old. Very rare for anything else age wise.
Let the air otta him.


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## jaybird1 (Jan 21, 2008)

*toomuch corn*

Raise your spinner plate.


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## Redfishon (Nov 10, 2005)

I like the pic of the Chubracabra on the right of all the photos..


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## Rob S (Jan 8, 2007)

gimp6969 said:


> Once a spike always a spike, let the air out of himASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!


There is a study going on at LSU about WT's. Pretty interesting stuff.

For me, the jury is still out on those dang spikeshwell:


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

I'm not too sure the spike in that pic on the left wasn't born the same year. 105# seems a little light for a 1.5 yo.


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## Encinal (Jan 18, 2008)

heh... yearlings are just about foolproof to age with tooth wear... 

I'm sure they got it right...


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

...


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

Picked up my european mount of the 9 point with the drop kicker today- two week turn around time, with Christmas inbetween to boot! John Baker (Safari Taxidermy in CC) did an excellent job! Thanks again John, I really like it alot. I'll try to get a picture up soon- it's at work and I won't be there til Monday.

For those interested, I got the lower jaw and aged it as best I can with an online guide. Going by what I read and comparing it to what I saw in the teeth, he aged out at 5.5 years old (possibly even 6.5). So I'm feeling pretty good about taking the shot now.

Headed back to the ranch on Saturday, so the freaky spike could be in for a bad day...


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## RAYSOR (Apr 26, 2007)

ok, next question how much corn does it take to kill a spike, LOL


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## KILT610 (Feb 24, 2006)

BOOM


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## warcat (May 22, 2004)

RAYSOR said:


> ok, next question how much corn does it take to kill a spike, LOL


The deer had finally just about knocked it out this past week, but then the strong winds (40+ mph) hit, and another 200# hit the ground :hairout:

Oh well, once it was on the ground like that, the bigger boys started jumping in!

I'm only feeding once a day for 3 seconds...


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