Are the folks that are culling bucks able to pick out the “cull” does that are carrying the inferior genes?

You know they ain’t lol. Makes me wonder how some of these Midwest states that only allow one buck tag a year aren’t run over with these inferior cull genes. You know folks that only got one tag in their pocket ain’t gonna shoot one of them

Agreed. I'll also add this. After watching tons of youtube videos where people are tracking a particular bucks growth year after year by trail cam pics and other footage, along with tracking bucks on the family farm... ill say sometimes you dont know what you got until the buck gets way older. Not 3 or 4. More like 5 or 6. Sometimes the rack will stay somewhat mediocre up until that 5 or 6 year mark, then just pile on the mass out of nowhere, and sometimes develop all kinds a gnarly points and unique features that you would never see coming. It's pretty amazing actually. You can see this stuff when you let them grow. This is not the case with every buck, but some are special like that. You don't know until you let them grow.

My point is, that if you're just after a giant rack, sometimes you have to let them do their thing and reach a higher level of maturity than 3 or 4 years old. Personally my objective is to just kill a mature deer. That's when I know I've accomplished something.

I’ve got 2 that are at least 5 years old and both have have a perfect right beam with 4 long times and mass and the left side has a 10in spike with a nub for brow tine. I’m not wasting a tag on them but consider them a cull.

Or back in the day when dog hunting was so popular. A lot of management was going on with that split second when that deer crosses the logging road. Lol

They’re all culls at 5.

In my honest oppinion..you can thank tv..and texas for the term.."cull".

Yes they are.

For me it is hard to age one past 4 unless he has some unique feature and I have pics. I am pretty good a 1, 2, and 3. After that I just say he looks 4 or older because I really can't differentiate between 4, 5 or 6 for that matter. If he looks 4 or older he is fair game for me. Of course I have let several of those walk to for whatever reason. I let a 180-190 lb 7 point walk Saturday, but may not let him walk the next time.

We do not have "Cull" bucks in our club. That can get out of hand very quick.

My favorite seer I have ever killed were a spike that was old as dirt and a 6 yr old 5 pt who had been a 4pt the previous 3 years. If they are 5 or older I shoot em.

To each his own. I prefer a fat 2 year old buck to eat then I'll hunt a better one. It is within the law & its my choice. I I don't shoot baby's or mama's & I don't need a bunch of antler farmers telling me which deer to "harvest". That butterball 6 point suits me just fine.

We have cull bucks. Details later.

I can't speak for the rest of the group , I don't tell anyone what to shoot. Shoot what makes you happy. But don't shoot a 1 or 2 YO and call it a cull when I'm around , I might use it as a teachable moment. Don't shoot a SOOS 2 YO or a buck that has pedicle damage and call it a cull just as an excuse to shoot a deer , that dog won't hunt.

Nothing wrong with that at all. Just dont start spewing the normal 'CULL BUCK" needed to be shot BS that most people want to spew. Just say I shot it because I wanted to and be done with it

Yeah, but in Texas they don't start referring to them as cull bucks until they are 4+ years old, and a lot of places won't shoot trophies until they are 6 or older.

The only "cull" buck would be one that simply doesn't grow antlers at all. Some of the coolest, most impressive deer I've ever seen and/or personally killed, were the huge bodied old bucks with heavy mass on a screwed up rack. Like a huge normal side with 4 tines, then a big ol' heavy slick beam on the other side. Guy killed one on a club I was in once, it was just big slick beams maybe 16" wide, but both bases had multiple stickers/kickers. I LOOOOVE stuff like that, so I think people are dumb for shooting a skinny teenage deer with "a bad side" (or some other dumb reason for calling it "cull")

And although this kind of talk for whatever reason just pisses off the masses, there truly is SCIENTIFIC management reasons for trying to grow and maintain as many adult males in the herd as possible. This is true for ALL living species. Literally thousands (if not millions) of data points inarguably prove it....the health of any local herd is heavily dependent on the overall number and health of adult males. Studies have told us over and over and over and over NOT to take the big "bull bream" males off beds....if you want to keep some bream (for example), try to throw back those big huge males and only keep the females. The males are the physical protectors of the bed. The males who have made it that far have superior DNA. The reasons go on and on and on. Same is true for deer.

Is a 2 year old cowhorn spike a cull? If not, why not? It's definitely a deer with inferior antler genetics. Whether killing the deer will effect the gene pool has no bearing on my question.

You for real? Shoot what makes you happy, if it makes me happy I don't need a teachable moment from you. Sounds like you're going tell any hunter what they can or can't kill.
Jwalker was spot on with his post.

Some of y'all are unreal.

To me he wouldn't be, Fur. When I see deer like that I assume that's likely his first antlers.... but also, I'm the dude who'd like to see that rascal in 3-4 more years even if he was just still a "spike". Interesting that we call spikes "main beams" on older deer.