The Management of Spike Bucks in a White-Tailed
Deer Population
by:
Bill Armstrong, Kerr WMA, TPWD
Donnie Harmel, Kerr WMA, TPWD
Butch Young, White-tailed Deer Program Coordinator, TPWD
Fielding Harwell, Technical Guidance Biologist, TPWD
* Reproduced from PWD LF W7000-247 (8/94).
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As Texas Parks and Wildlife biologists, we
often receive calls from hunters or land managers
asking if they should or should not harvest spike
bucks. The caller has usually read an article that
says it is genetics or nutrition or being late born
that caus deer to produce spike antlers. “If poor
nutrition caus spikes,” the article says, “then you
shouldn’t harvest spikes.” The article may state
that if a fawn is born late in the fawning ason, it
will probably be a spike.broom
The article may suggest that it is okay to shoot big spikes becau genetic factors cau spikes in older deer, but it says to protect small spikes becau that’s a nutritional problem. The article usually clos by relating the experience of someone who raid a deer that was a spike and it grew up to be an eight-point buck. The article’s conclusion is that maybe spikes shouldn’t be killed at all.
Our answer to callers is that if they want to improve the overall antler development of their herd, then they should harvest spikes. We often say something like, “If two spikes walk out in front of you in a 2-buck county, shoot the smallest one first and don’t let the cond one get away.”
Why do we give such radical advice? First, let’s define the terms. We u the term “spike” for any deer at least a year old that has two hardened antlers that do not branch or fork. We don’t u it to refer to a “nubbin buck” fawn that has skin covered knobs or bumps on its head. Buck fawns occasionally have a protrusion of chalky white bone tissue through the skin up to ½ inch long, but this is rare and we don’t call them spikes.
White-tailed deer have their first t of hardened antlers when they are yearlings. While some ranchers and hunters u the term “yearling” to mean a 6 month old animal, biologists are referring to a deer between 1 and 2 years old. At the opening of hunting ason a “yearling” would be 1 ½ years old.
What the Rearch Shows
When we discuss antler development in a deer herd, the discussion is about the antler performance of a population, not that of one or two individual deer.
Our conclusions about spike hunting are bad on studies on antler growth published by rearchers throughout the United States. Our primary source of information has been the deer rearch pens on the Kerr Wildlife Management Area. At that Hill Country facility, over 20 generations of deer have been scientifically studied and antler and genetic data analyzed by Texas A & M University geneticists and Texas Parks and Wildlife biologists. Studies in Louisiana confirm the findings on the Kerr. Many years of harvest data collected by biologists throughout Texas support the conclusions as well.
The following are our conclusions bad on penned rearch:
1. Antler development is genetically bad. Not all deer have the same
genetic potential. All white-tailed deer are born with a genetic potential for吸血鬼日记19
antler development. This means that some deer have the genetic potential to
produce big antlers while some deer don’t. This potential is limited by the
environment, so even if a deer is genetically programmed to produce big
antlers and it doesn’t get enough to eat, it may not produce big antlers. On the
other hand, if the genetic potential is for small antlers, no amount of highly
nutritious food will make does in pens, a high percentage of the male offspring
were spikes, even when nutrition was good.
2. Nutrition does affect antler growth. In two deer which have the same
说明方法有哪些genetic potential, the one receiving better nutrition will produce the better
antlers. We consider good nutrition for white-tailed deer to be a 16 % protein
diet with adequate amounts of calcium and phosphorus for maximum antler
and bone growth. A simple fact is that deer are nutritionally deprived on
many Texas ranges with mineral deficient soils and/or a shortage of food
plants becau of overpopulation.
3. Early or late birth does not affect antler development if deer receive
adequate nutrition. The time of birth of a deer does not change its genetic
potential. A deer with spike antlers could be born in May while a 6-point
yearling may be born in July. In south Texas, where the largest bucks in the
state are found, the average fawning date for deer is July, a month later than
the birth date for Hill Country deer. Fawns born very late in the ason
(August or September) may very well become nutritionally deprived becau
their greatest energy need occurs during a poor forage production time, late
summer and early fall. Energy intake is diverted to maintaining and growing
body tissues first when nutrition is low. There will be little excess energy
available for antler growth.
4. The majority of yearling spike bucks will produce smaller antlers and
fewer points in following years than will fork-antlered yearlings. Two
rearch studies, one conducted on the Kerr Wildlife Management Area and
the other at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, demonstrated
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this conclusively. There were a few exceptions to the rule, but the statement is true for the vast majority of deer (Table 1).
5. You can improve a herd by lectively removing inferior antlered deer
and allowing the deer with good antlers to breed. The question is: If all spikes were removed from a herd and only 6 point yearlings were left to do the breeding, would you or wouldn’t you e improvement in antler development?
Geneticists call this “heritability”. If a trait is highly heritable then little improvement will be en. Texas Parks and Wildlife and Texas A & M studies demonstrated that antler development in deer is a highly heritable trait.
Antler traits are pasd from one generation to the next. The mass or heaviness of the antler had the highest heritability. Main beam length and number of antler points are also highly heritable (Table 2).
6. Does provide half of the genetic potential for antler development. Each
x supplies 50% of the genetic material for antler potential. It is obviously not possible to tell if a doe is carrying spike-antlered or forked antlered genes, so most of the lectivity options are with our management of the bucks. The good news is that one buck breeds many does and a good buck’s genes are pasd to his progeny.
7. Average yearling bucks on good range should have six points. The vast
majority of yearling deer harvested in Texas are fork antlered yearlings. Even on the worst abud ranges, some fork antlered yearling bucks will be produced and the are the ones that should be left for breeding.
Unfortunately the are often the ones hunters most desire. If a buck is a spike, it is below the potential of most bucks (Table 3).
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8. Even when most bucks are spikes, removing them will not endanger the
breeding potential. There have been no reported cas of does not being bred in Texas becau there were not enough bucks to do the breeding. In studies of captive deer, a single buck has been known to breed more than 40 does.
9. Antler development improves with age up to a point. In the Hill Country
and much of the rest of the state, deer antlers improve up to about age 6 ½, after which the antlers decrea in quality. This may be related to decread nutrition as tooth wear takes its toll on a deer’s ability to process forage.
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Good antler mass usually can’t be expected in young deer, but good habitat management improves t
he antler quality of even the young deer. You should expect bucks to have good antlers when they are 4 ½ to 6 ½ years old.
10. The best time to manage for genetic improvement is during periods of
nutritional stress. Yearling bucks that perform well during stress and produce good antlers on abud ranges should be allowed to be the brood
bucks of the future. The best time to tell if antler development is below
average (for whatever reason) is when a buck is a spike.
kaxWhat this all means to the landowner and hunter…
It means that it is okay to harvest spikes. Don’t worry if it’s a “nutritional spike” or a “late born fawn”. Remember, even on abud ranges there are forked-antlered yearlings.
Grown on same range, the odds are that the spike-antlered deer will NOT produce as good a t of antlers later in life as a fork-antlered counterpart. By saving that spike to become next year’s big buck all you have really saved is a poor quality buck which will now be your brood stock.
Protecting spikes will insure that you will have spike bucks in the herd in the future, even if the one you protect produces fork antlers the next year. Consistently removing spikes from the herd will eventually improve the antler quality if the range is in good condition.
What is most important, nutrition, genetics or age?
People often try to rank the importance of genetics, nutrition, and age. That’s like saying about a car, “Which is the most important - the transmission, the electrical system, or the carburetor?” They are all important. One does not work without the other. So it is in deer management. Without good nutritional management, deer cannot obtain their genetic potential. Without a good genetic ba, good nutrition does not produce better antlers. Even with good nutrition and a good genetic ba, improper harvest (overharvest of older age class males) will not allow deer to mature to reach the age of maximum antler potential.微博实名注册
Where do I start if I want to improve antler quality?
Deer management consists of good range management practices to produce adequate nutrition. The deer produced on tho ranges must be kept in balance with their food supply. This is accomplished through harvest. If you are interested in eing good antlers, tho deer with the least
antler potential should be removed from the range to allow deer with the better genetic potential to become the brood stock.
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Begin by removing young deer with poor antler potential (yearling spikes) to allow the better antler potential deer (fork-antlered yearlings) to enter the breeding population. This has the added advantage of shifting hunting pressure away from older age class bucks thus improving age structure. On many Texas ranges, over 60% of the harvest is yearling males. Approximately 60% of tho are fork-antlered (Table 3). Spikes are left to grow another year. When the yearling spikes are 2 ½, the ones that produced forks are then harvested. Tho that don’t are left to grow another year.
If you have a choice between a spike and fork-antlered yearling, take the spike. If you have a choice between a small yearling spike and a large yearling spike, take the small spike rather than the big spike. By shifting hunting pressure to the bottom gment of the herd, age as well as antler quality can be improved.
Doe harvest is also important to producing good antlered males. The doe carries 50% of the genetic material for antler development. You cannot look at a doe and tell
what her genetic potential is. You can, however, manage for that genetic potential. Male deer becau
they breed many does, influence the herd’s genetic makeup more so than the does. If bucks with poor antler potential (spikes) are removed from the herd, this leaves more of the bucks with higher antler potential to do the breeding. Both male and female offspring from the bucks are more likely to carry the potential for fork antlers.
By removing older does from the range, you can increa the odds that matings will be between the better antlered males and females with better antler-producing genes. Over time, the lection will cau a better antler potential gene pool in the doe gment of the herd. Doe harvest had an added benefit in that it helps maintain deer numbers in balance with food supply so nutrition will improve, fawn survival will be greater, and antler growth better. Proper doe harvest is important to improving antler development in the herd.
Quality deer management is an integrated management system. It consists of range, livestock, and deer herd management. Harvest of spike bucks and proper doe harvest are important components of that system.
When people tell you about that spike that grew up to be a big deer, ask about the other spikes that didn’t and ask about how the forked antler yearling turned out. Remember, on well managed (even
mediocre) ranges, there are lots of forked antlered yearlings out there. When a deer is removed from a herd, the genetics of that herd is altered. It does not matter why that deer is taken. If you protect fork-antlered yearlings from harvest long enough to allow them to mature, you can improve antler quality in the herd through proper range and herd management.
