do you kill cull bucks

If you can tell a buck has deformed antlers, 3 on one side and 1 or 2 on the other, do you take him out?

My goal is to kill mature bucks. I killed a 3 year old 5 point this year because I don’t see him having potential. I’ve let many 3 year old deer walk over the years that had more potential. I also let a 1 year old 4 point (3 on left, 1 on right) walk because I don’t believe you can judge potential at this young of an age.

I also don’t think you can change genetics through “culling” but you can let the deer with more potential have the resource to develop into their potential by shooting deer with less potential.

not unless I know he's old, and by that, I mean 4.5 or older (older preferably). The conventional wisdom is that there is no way to tell what a buck's antlers will do from year to year, AND, even more importantly, a buck is only HALF, the equation. How are you going to "cull" does that produce only subpar antlers. Good luck figuring that one out. Thus, we kill only mature deer.

I have a 3 year old this year with 4 on one side and one long beam on the other that goes straight out. I'm not gonna kill him just to see if it corrects itself next year. If he's s mess again I'll pop him first chance I get next year.

I’ve seen many of them grow out of injury or spike on one side and turn into dang good deer.

Deformed antlers can be caused by a number of factors most of which have nothing to do with genetics. Most people think a cull buck is a deer that has a normal rack on one side and maybe a spike or not matching other side. An injury to any part of a deers body can cause rack deformity. Breaking a leg, foot, wound, or fighting injury can affect the next seasons growth. Im going out on a limb with what we have witnessed but most of our one horn deer have a damaged pedicle from the shedding of the previous seasons horns. The two biggest deer on our farm experienced this at one point in their life. One of them had a perfect 4 point side last season and a short main beam with like 3 brow tines. This year at 4 he still has his perfect 4x side and now a third main beam that splits and 3 other points. I have no doubt he damaged his horns in velvet the year prior. Point is we had two guests that texted us can we shoot this cull buck the year before. They don't always fix themselves but they aren't by definition a cull. They don't have inferior genetics. Not to mention you can't kill enough deer to change the genetics of a property. So my two cents is if he isn't a mature deer allow him to try and fix it or kill him if it makes you happy.

The part about does is a valuable consideration. In many ways, taking your best(read most impressive racks) bucks is counter-productive over time.
I base this on the history of the European red stag in the UK. If you’ve ever gazed upon some of the racks hanging in castles etc that are now hundreds of years old compared with what is taken today, it’s like a comparison of elk vs mule deer. They are impressive now but wow did they make for amazing racks back then. But the king and his lords had exclusive legal rights to the deer and they shot the finest. Over time they eliminated those bloodlines and the less desirables proliferated.

If I think they are 5+ years old.

What about a 3.5 + that’s still a spike on both sides? Spikes that look like a elk spike.

the problem with your thinking is that you do not know what that buck may or may not of had happen to him. I know of a high fence buck that was one of four fawns born by one doe, same night. He weighed 2 lbs at birth, very low. Two of his womb siblings died within hours. At 1 year he had uneven 4" spikes. At four he had 17 points and scored in 180s. Unless you have intimate knowledge of a bucks life you cannot make an informed decision on culling.

a young deer with a skeletal injury will usually grow out it in 2-4 years.

[quote=Wapiti55]What about a 3.5 + that’s still a spike on both sides? Spikes that look like a elk spike. [/quote

Shoot him. But to have the affect you want you need to kill the Doe too. She has as much or more to do with the horns as he does. So shoot him if you want because you're right he isn't going to amount to anything and is consuming resources beneficial to other animals. The genetics have not been removed though. Boy they look funny with massive main beams and no points though.

I'd probably shoot him. In 60 years of hunting deer I have NEVER seen a 3 year old spike and have only seen ONE two year old spike. Out of thousands of deer I have seen

I’m not under the impression that I change the genetics of the herd. He’s probably already passed his genes on. I’ve let him walk twice now, mostly because I was waiting for a shooter and had plenty of daylight left.

Cull is usually an excuse to just shoot something and one man's cull is another man's trophy.

We view those deer that are 4+ with deformed antlers, spike on one side, etc that we have seen with these malformations for more than 1 year as culls (excuses to shoot, whatever you want to call it) for kids, guests, etc. We pass on several nice 3.5-4.5 year olds every year and never see them again - it’s nice to have identifiable target deer that you can let someone pull the trigger on if they want.

Sure, we can call them cull bucks. Sounds a little better than "I just clobbered a spike".

If i like it, i kill it. Theys a good sized forkhorn running around up here that looks like a stick of summer sausage every time i see him. Hes living on borrowed time.

one just has to accept hat when you let nice 3-4 year old bucks walk you will never see a lot of them again, depending on size of property, pressure, neighbors, whatever. Just a fact of hunting big old deer.

I don’t disagree. But below is the 5 point I killed this year as a 3 year old. Could he jump and turn into something good in 1-2 years, maybe. Is it likely, not in my opinion.

What's the verdict on this one?

Big Ol Alabama 4

I'd kill him

Shoot it. Cool euro mount.

Not no more.

If you want cool 4 point get him. Some people are mounting one of all points spike to a big as they can get.

I kill mature bucks. Cull is a term used as an excuse to kill something. You can’t cull genetics out.

This is the correct answer. Even “cull” bucks can produce some interesting antlers at 4+

Quailman will be along shortly with answers to all spike questions.

No such thing

In my experience most of them never show up again. I think the death rate from natural causes for 3-4 year old bucks is pretty high.

The term cull has become badly misused

I’d much rather someone just say they killed the damn thing

I’ll say congrats and move on

Every time I hear the word cull from someone I know they are making excuses for what they killed

And honestly I don’t care. Shoot what you want for all I care. It’s just a deer.

Hate is such a strong word but occasionally I find myself using it. I hate the term "cull" when it is paired with the word buck. Too many people use the term "cull" way too loosely. Most of the time it is used just to justify shooting a buck for the sake of shooting it.

If you want to shoot a small or a younger buck that has not had the potential to grow into something better, by all means go ahead and shoot it. Just don't go around telling everybody that you shot it because it was a "cull".

I have a buck on one of my hunting spots this year that I have seen 3 times. He has 5 points on his left side and a beam on his right side with a small point coming off of it up near the top. He is not a fully mature deer. He looks to be a 2.5 year old.

I have considered shooting him and still may do so before the end of the season. Why? Because he is a "cull"? No, the reason I have considered shooting him is because I haven't put a deer in the freezer this year yet. I killed one doe with my ML and gave it to someone who needed it worse than I did. I need to put at least one deer in my freezer for the wife and I. I'd rather shoot this buck at this spot than to shoot a mature doe that may possibly drop a couple of fawns on the ground late summer, thereby helping to increase the numbers there.

Shooting him doesn't have anything to do with him being a "cull". If I kill him it will be simply because I wanted to and I needed the meat.

In my opinion, there are very few bucks roaming around out there that genuinely fit the term "cull".

Just the way I see it...

Cull is usually either 1) A term used by someone to justify killing something that they want people to think that they normally wouldn’t of killed or 2) Something that someone does when they are too lazy to actually spend time and money to improve their property and deer habitat.

You aren’t going to make any change on a free range property in Alabama by “culling” a buck. All you’ll do is ensure that you have 1 less deer on the property.

IMO you’ll do more help to the deer herd and future prospects by ensuring your deer have proper minerals, food sources and cover than you will by “culling” that buck.

I use to word cull so do most of the people I hunt with or around. However we don’t use the word to describe a deer that needs killing to improve the genetics. More like an old deer low scoring buck that needs to be killed to make room for something else and to end its days of eating food a more promising buck or a doe could be eating.

X2. 2nd most popular excuse to my neighbor would've shot him if I didn't

A few years ago Auburn University tagged some deer around our land. One of the deer had tags in both ears with the number 22 on it. We had pictures of him as a 2 1/2-year-old with a spike on one side and three on the other. We got pictures of him the next year as a nice eight point. Pictures are included.

Perfect example moody. Even if a bucks horns don't correct themselves like number 22 there, it still doesn't necessarily mean they have inferior genetics. They could've damaged their pedicle when they cast their antlers previously causing it to grow a spike for the remainder of their life.

If it’s a 6pt or better. I like the character.

There’s two different mindsets I would have on this depending on what kind of situation I was hunting…..If I were hunting a typical club or property that sees a lot of pressure and has a moderate density then I would take the mindset that every buck gets to mature no matter of his rack…..This is because in this situation you’re more likely to be lacking an older age buck structure in place and you may also be lacking an influx of very many new bucks to replace the ones you take out…..so we’ll take anything we can get.

In the other situation though…….this would be something like a private Bullock Co landowner or an Enon Plantation type situation…..In these situations there are plenty of deer and we can be a little pickier about picking and choosing if we want to more intensely manage. In this case I would take the mindset of weeding out some of the ones that appear to be on the lower end of the curve at 3 years old…..Sure, yes some of those spikes on one side may recover or that 6 pt may magically blow up into a booner…..BUT……we have plenty of deer to choose from in this situation and I’m not worried about the ones that “might” nor am I worried about his genetics he may or may not pass on…….There are plenty of deer that obviously DO have potential like 3 year old 120-130 inch 10 pts for example that we can choose to let grow old on our property. What does it matter if we cap a few who “might” have been something if there are plenty that obviously WILL. It’s simply picking and choosing the bucks we let get old on our property…..and again its only in situations where we have the luxury of having a very vibrant well structured herd where this would likely be a feasible approach. These places are few and far between

The one mindset I’ve seen that I could agree with regarding cull bucks came from a large landowner that was very intensely managing their property for wildlife. They shot “cull” bucks not as an attempt to get rid of their genetics, because as mentioned here before that is very difficult, but merely to remove an additional mouth from the herd that is eating food that a deer with much more potential could eat that could allow the better deer to produce better antlers. This guy was in MS and they kill several large, mature bucks off their place every single year.

There is zero difference in shooting a doe now vs. shooting one during ML season.

A dead doe doesn't have babies no matter what part of the season it died in.

You are a pure genius. I woulda never figured that out on my own had you not come along with your helpful and insightful self to enlighten me.

Thank you for your willingness to help me see that truth.

ignore him, all he does is stir shitt.

Per the wildlife biologist we had come out, we are severely overbrowsed and need to thin our herd. Not the same as culling but we are shooting deer that we wouldn't have shot before, based on his assessment.

Everyone on this site including myself knows that is all he has ever been about here.

I'm not the one who said that i shot a doe during ML season but then turned around and said that I don't want to shoot one now because she may have twins in late summer. That was you reasoning behind the excuse...not mine.

No excuses made anywhere.

You don't have enough info to even make a valid comment on what I posted so I will enlighten you.

I did kill a doe during ML season, on the hunting club property, of which I am a paying member.

The buck I was referring to, when I said I was thinking about shooting now, instead of a doe, is on private property in a totally different county.

I choose to make a different choice on the private property, that I happen to own, than what I do on the club property.

I choose not to shoot does on that property.

I was not speaking of what I do or have done generally throughout the season.

Now, go find somebody else to stir your crap with.

Not unless he is mature buck. But I don’t consider mature bucks culls. Lol

Would you consider this a cull. He was aged at 6+ and was 212#

Y’all just ignore him. You’re making his little pecker hard getting riled up over his posts.

BB,

I know you aren't speaking directly to me but I'll throw my opinion out there anyway.

I absolutely would not consider that buck a cull.

I would consider him a trophy.

A mature, 6+ year old, heavy bodied buck is a trophy to me all day long, no matter what he is toting on his head.

A buck doesn't have to have 130-150 inches of perfectly symmetrical bone on his noggin' for me to consider him a trophy.

Congrats on that kill.

X2.

I'd be happy and proud to shoot that buck.

I have killed many deer and seen tens of thousands. Never seen a 3 yo or older spike. Saw a 4 yo killed in russel county back in 1992 that only has one huge beam on one side an 3 huge points on the other! He was a swamp freak! Probably weighed 240 or so.

Mature deer!
Mature deer!
Mature deer!

Just shoot mature deer! I promise it will be a very rewarding feeling!!!

Oh and x3 for what cuz pat said.

I agree with this:

I agree with this:

Cull as in he's a young buck with an ugly rack then no, we don't shoot them unless someone misjudges the age. Cull as in he's an old buck and not going to get better and all he is doing is taking up food a young deer needs to reach potential, then we shoot them and are glad to do it.