re: Culling Deer / Management Bucks / always a friendly topic on the OB

Can't eat antlers.

What I gathered was an average difference of only 14" between spikes and fork horns by 4.5 yrs and spikes ranged up to 145" at 4.5. 145" is a damned good deer in my way of thinking. BTW has anyone mentioned that trail cameras have proven while you're dragging out a cull buck a ten point will stroll past your unoccupied stand.

Was this conducted all on high fence ranches? If so the results aren't going to apply to free range whitetails. When you control the population, buck/doe ratios and hunting pressure you have a short intense rut. This results in most fawns being born in a relatively small window leaving genetics and food being the determining factor on what a bucks first set of antlers look like. There will be very few doe that enter estrous twice in a year.

Free range whitetails, especially in the south, go through a much longer rutting period. Skewed buck/doe ratios, overpopulation, and long gun seasons result in doe being bred anywhere from October to January. This can absolutely result in a buck with great genetics being a late born fawn and having spikes as a 1.5 year old.

It seems age is the biggest factor with regards to antler size, but spikes do on average end up being a bit smaller than their buds. I'd take a 145 inch deer regardless of how he started.