9/28/2023 0 Comments Spike deer in tx![]() ![]() Numbered, color-coded ear tags were placed in the ears of each buck along with tattoos in case the ear tags were lost." "As of 2006, we captured, marked and released a total of 884 buck fawns and 1,132 yearlings. Our plan was to capture as many buck fawns and yearling bucks as we could each year, and then attempt to recapture them over the next eight or nine years so that we would have a large enough sample size for statistical analysis. Because so much controversy exists about aging deer by tooth wear, we wanted to make sure we knew the age of the bucks we were capturing. "First, we decided to capture only buck fawns and yearlings. "Our research methodology was simple," says Dr. Kroll and Ben Koerth had worked with many ranch owners in the area on previous projects, it was decided to conduct the landmark study in the Brush Country of South Texas. So about ten years ago we decided to add a field of study to our program that would examine the issue and try to answer a very basic question that went beyond genetics: Can we look at a yearling buck and predict what he will score at maturity?"īecause of geographic conditions and the fact that Dr. "Secondly, neither study really was a study of genetics in the classical sense. "And social pressure has been shown in other deer species to have a significant impact on antler growth. "Because these studies were conducted on penned animals, the effects of social pressure could not be measured," Dr. Upon having these studies analyzed by independent scientists, several design flaws were recognized. While one study in Texas suggested that spiked-antlered bucks never reached the antler quality of yearling bucks having forked antlers, another Mississippi study indicated that there was no correlation between a buck's first set of antlers and those at maturity. One of the primary reasons the spike question was never easily answered is that all of the research done in the past involved penned deer. However, throughout all of their years of study and publishing various papers, the nagging spike question always seemed to loom at the forefront. Austin State University in Nacogdoches have done cutting-edge research on whitetail genetics, aging and judging bucks in the field, and refining food plot and natural forage strategies that benefit the herd. Koerth of the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management and Research at Stephen F. A new, ten-year, landmark study done in South Texas on free-ranging deer by two renowned Texas biologists addresses the question and offers some profound, enlightening answers. Now it's safe to say that there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. Much of the research supported the idea that spike bucks never grow big racks and are therefore inferior, while other studies indicated the complete opposite. ![]() Perhaps one reason for all of the confusion on this subject is that a lot of past research addressing this issue has resulted in conflicting results. Even today, all these years later, hunting clubs and landowners in many places still insist on culling yearling spikes from the herd. "Once a spike, always a spike" seemed to be a common battle cry among trophy hunters and land managers, even though we knew then that virtually all yearling spikes go on to develop some type of rack beyond that of two pencil prongs. I can also remember hunting in South Texas as well as several other states during that same time period when every legal spike was culled from the herd because of widespread belief that these animals would never produce a decent rack. I can remember reading at least two columns in Petersen's Hunting back in the '80s written by my predecessor, John Wootters, on this very subject. Since the early 1980s, few debates in whitetail management have been as heated or as long-lived as the question of whether yearling spike bucks are "genetically inferior."
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