Biology And Management Of White-tailed Deer In Alabama

Mississippi study found most yearling spikes were not inferior and if
allowed to mature, developed antlers at least as large as forked antlered
yearlings. Researchers also concluded nearly all antler
characteristics appear to have low heritability from sire to male offspring,
so culling of the smaller antlered yearlings should not improve
overall antler size of a deer herd over time (Demarais 1998, Jacobson
and Lukefahr 1998). They also concluded many other factors, such as
birth date, birth type (single or twins), milk production, etc., all appear
to have a much more pronounced effect on the size of a buck’s first set of
antlers than his sire’s antler size (Jacobson and Lukefahr 1998). Based
on these results, the MSU researchers felt deer managers should not
expect to improve overall antler quality on a piece of property by removing
genetically inferior yearling spikes. Rather, if improvement in
average antler size is the management goal, deer managers should protect
yearling bucks to maximize the recruitment of these bucks into the
older age classes.
So which one of these approaches is correct? In short, no one
really knows. In Alabama, where most breeding occurs in January and
most fawns are born in August, it seems likely most yearling spikes are
a result of late birth dates rather than poor genetics. Instead of having
15 or 16 months to grow before developing their first set of hardened
antlers, most yearling bucks in Alabama are only 13 to 14 months old
when their first set of antlers are fully developed. They simply have
not had enough time to grow a larger set of antlers. If these spikes are
removed as culls in an attempt to improve the antler genetics of a deer
herd, deer managers could potentially be removing 80 percent or more
of a single age class of bucks.
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