The January 2010 issue of the Louisiana Sportsman had an article about spike bucks titled “Once a Spike, Always a Spike?” Is a spike a genetically inferior deer? Hunters have been asking those questions for 50 years.
Some of you may be old enough to remember that Louisiana had an “Antler Restriction Program” during the early days of its deer-management program. During the 1960-61 deer season a legal buck was defined as a deer with antlers not less than 3 inches in length. Small spike bucks were protected because hunters thought these young deer would grow up and become big bucks to hang on the wall. The spike buck issue has been something that has yet to be cleared up by the researchers.
For the most part, a spike is not a genetically inferior deer. Spikes usually produce branched antlers as they grow older. Yes, there probably are some that may remain spike their entire lives because of genetics, but genetics is generally not the problem.
A spike is a buck that is basically a product of poor nutrition and/or high deer-herd densities. Too many deer and /or not enough food will do it every time. Spikes in the deer herd should be an indicator to the hunter, hunting club or landowner that there are problems with either the habitat or the number of deer eating on the habitat; as I already mentioned, it is often a product of both.
What about the deer in the late breeding areas such as in Areas 1 and 6. If the nutrition is poor and the deer numbers high, fawns born from mid-August through September will more than likely be spikes. But just because deer are born late doesn’t mean they have to be spikes at 1 ½ years of age. There are plenty of examples of late-breeding and fawning deer herds that produce good branched antlers at 1 ½ years because of good habitat and proper herd management.
In the Louisiana Sportsman article, Deer Study Leader Scott Durham hit the nail on the head when he said nutrition is the key for addressing the spike issue.
The late John D. Newsom (one of the first biologists when LDWF became an agency in the late ’40s, and who later became chief of the Game and Fish Division) was heavily involved with the early days of deer restocking and management work. In the ’60s and ’70s he was the leader of the LSU Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit where he directed numerous deer research projects. In an interview with the Louisiana Conservationist (May/June 1973, “Racks, Rations and Heredity”), Newsom discussed the issue of spikes, and stated that they were inferior deer from the standpoint of growth and development.
He did not say that they were genetically inferior deer, but many interpreted it that way. He said in the article that spikes should be harvested. His research with deer indicated that if proper nutrition was available, 1 ½-year-old bucks should have anywhere from 4 to 8 antler points and average 125 pounds or more (live weight).
The key is nutrition. If good year-round nutrition is available on the habitat, the growth and development will be good also.
One-and-a-half-year-old spike bucks on low-quality habitat generally become adult bucks with low body weights and small branched antlers. If deer numbers are really high and the habitat is basically “eaten-up,” many of the 2 ½-year-old bucks will have spikes. Eventually they will produce a rack that would be typical of a 1 ½-year-buck on good nutrition.
Those 1 ½-year-old spike bucks on habitat that has good year-round nutrition probably will catch up with their branched-antlered brothers. However, if their body weight is 20 or more pounds less that the bucks with branched antlers, it may not happen. That is why it is important to keep annual deer-harvest records of current growth and development conditions.
A club where the yearling (1 ½ years old) buck population is 70 percent branched-antlers bucks weighing 130 pounds and the other 30 percent are spikes averaging 110 pounds should probably seriously consider shooting some of this spike segment and pass up all the branched-antlered 1 ½-year-olds. Obviously the spike segment of this herd is below the desired average.
However, if the average live weight of the spikes is the same as the branched-antlered bucks, then it wouldn’t matter. Decisions like this can only be made if current and accurate harvest records are available. Shooting a specific number of bucks from all age classes keeps harvest information coming in for the manager to make these management decisions.
As a personal aside, the weather has been very cold the last two weeks, and I have made some all-day hunts hoping to catch an adult buck getting ready for our last round of breeding in Clinton. Unfortunately, the deer movement has been poor despite this excellent weather.
I did connect with an adult doe this weekend with ovaries that indicate she had ovulated back in mid-December (during the first peak of breeding), so hopefully this second round will take place over the next two weeks.
In the Atchafalaya Basin parishes of Area 6 and the Upper Mississippi River Delta Parishes of Area 1 things are just now heating up, and if the cold weather continues there should be a good harvest of quality and trophy bucks in these parishes.
I looked at some reproductive tracts collected from does in the Morganza Floodway in Pointe Coupee that were killed from Christmas through Jan. 9, and none of them had ovulated. There appeared to be follicle development taking place, so these deer herds should be starting their first round of breeding over the next two weeks. It is unfortunate that hunters in these areas only get to hunt a small segment of the breeding season, the time when deer are really active.
