Everything I have heard is that you can't judge a buck until he is 2 1/2 years old. 1 1/2 year old rack doesn't necessarly show bad genetics. An interesting side note to this is hunters shooting a "injured" buck that grew abnormal. If the buck was injured and grew an abnormal rack that does not mean he has bad genetics. If he is fully recovered and can survive than his genetics may not be bad enough for Quality Deer Management. (His preinjury rack will be what he will pass on.)
1st you should read up on what QDM is really about.2nd the doe has something to say about what genetics are passed on also. It's not just about the buck.
Maturity is the true measure of "trophy" caliber. Just because some young 3 1/2 year old buck has more on his head doesn't mean jack to me. Give me maturity...so a spike that is 1 1/2 old is walking....if a spike that is 5 years old exists and walks by I'm shooting. IMO.
Crummy genetics isn't even possible, some of the coolest and most desired bucks I will chase are the ones that are old and weird (crummy in some eyes). I blame it on the whole inches measuring for destroying the term trophy. Maturity over inches any day for this guy.
Tynimiller are you saying that the deer that vermontwhitetail was talking about did not have bad genetics? If that is what you are saying, what would you say was his problem?
So Pat, if you owned a thousand acres of intensively managed land to try and produce the largest trophy bucks you could grow and you had a 6 1/2 year old small 6 pointer that you wanted off the property, what would you call it? Obviously, my point is, that on the right land there are in fact "cull" or "inferior" bucks that some property managers kill so that they don't pass on their genetics. On some ranches, ANY 8 pointer would qualify as a "cull". Call it what you want, but it in no way means that the individual was shooting a buck they normally would not. That is not to say that some guys don't use the term "cull" as an excuse for killing a small buck so as not to bruise their ego. But that does not mean that there is no such thing as a cull buck.
My feeling, is that you should shoot what makes you happy. If any buck/doe does the trick for you, then let the spike have it. If you are just wondering if you should shoot the spike because you are afraid he has bad genes, then I would say NO. There is no way to tell what a 1.5 year old spike could blossom into. In fact on my land I have only once seen a 2.5 or older Spike. Despite me seeing dozens of yearling spikes each season.
I more or less mean there is no such thing as truly poor genetics, it's all opinion based as some have said. Also there is no way of knowing if this buck has had an illness or injury at a young age to cause the underdeveloped headgear. It could be from a various amount of causes, but either way that deer will still mature, and become a mature whitetail trophy in my opinion. I understand why some people shoot "these" so called "cull" deer, I'm simply saying it's a rarity that the term is used by everyday hunters (non-outfitter or ranch people) properly...it's just an excuse typically.
Let em grow at least another year to see what he will turn into then if he's freak nasty even better!!!
