No offense to you coonfinder, or anyone else for that matter, but I looked at those chronological photos of Reartree's spike and I question their scoring ability for each photo. But then they are in the business of selling every hunting gadget imaginable and are prone to exaggeration almost as much as a Michigan fisherman.
Another issue is that all knowledgeable herd managers would have culled that deer after its third year since it lacked the genetics to produce at least 10 points by that age. The remaining photos of ages 4,5,6,7, and 8 confirmed this.
OK so it ended up being a deer every single one of us would like to shoot, but over its 7 breeding years it polluted the herd's gene pool with its inferior genetics.
Are all spikes doomed to be inferior once fully mature? Of course not. Are most of them doomed as such? Very likely.
The best parallel has been brought up about knowledgeable cattlemen not choosing runts to become their breed bulls.

Because THEY Can!

In its infinite game management wisdom (dripping with sarcasm), the PGC has taken away the opportunity to harvest spikes and 4-pointers here in PA. Up until the time of this change, we had no concerns with lackluster overall deer populations, we kill tons of them on the roadways each year with vehicles. Rather, it seems to many that the PGC has taken a bad turn, focusing on the antlers and not the harvest of natures abundance for the meat. Many hunters and the PGC report that more mature antlered deer are now seen in the woods than in decades previously, citing the great work they've done limiting the harvest of smaller antlered deer. I view this as offering nothing but tremendous support to ant-hunters who claim we only hunt for the antlers and not really for the meat. This whole focus on antler size is, in my opinion, going to be used against us some day soon, even in what are hunter-friendly states. We really need to get off this kick and get focused on harvesting the excess, the abundance in our herd.

For me, I could give a rats tail about the antlers, I hunt solely for the meat. I purchase numerous doe tags and hunt most seasons in an effort to put a years supply of red meat in the freezer for my family. there is nothing more nutritious than organic venison taken directly from the wild, in my opinion. Sure, if I get a nice rack, I'll get a plaque mount done, but every harvest of a whitetail is both a trophy to me, as well as me fulfilling my internal drive to provide for my family.

Yep, it's a no-brainer that a spike one year will likely have greater antlers the next year, but please tell me how to cook those bony growths as I have yet to find a way to make them palatable.

My 2 cents....worth less today than a week ago.

you want to see bigger horns put mineral lick in spring they really work for me see a lot more bucks an larger ones

What is the outlook for spike bucks? If passed up, do they amount to much of a rack in future year(s). Any thoughts on how big/how quickly they're rack will grow from year to year. I've seen enough little guys on camera, like this 1, and am wondering.

Eating a tender spike that provides 40 pounds of venison, instead of an adult doe that provides 50 pounds of venison, is silly.

Saying you cant eat the horns, but refusing to shoot does is silly.

Saying you just love to hunt, but end your season at 7:30 a.m. on the first deer you see is silly.

In its infinite game management wisdom (dripping with sarcasm), the PGC has taken away the opportunity to harvest spikes and 4-pointers here in PA. Up until the time of this change, we had no concerns with lackluster overall deer populations, we kill tons of them on the roadways each year with vehicles. Rather, it seems to many that the PGC has taken a bad turn, focusing on the antlers and not the harvest of natures abundance for the meat. Many hunters and the PGC report that more mature antlered deer are now seen in the woods than in decades previously, citing the great work they've done limiting the harvest of smaller antlered deer. I view this as offering nothing but tremendous support to ant-hunters who claim we only hunt for the antlers and not really for the meat. This whole focus on antler size is, in my opinion, going to be used against us some day soon, even in what are hunter-friendly states. We really need to get off this kick and get focused on harvesting the excess, the abundance in our herd.

For me, I could give a rats tail about the antlers, I hunt solely for the meat. I purchase numerous doe tags and hunt most seasons in an effort to put a years supply of red meat in the freezer for my family. there is nothing more nutritious than organic venison taken directly from the wild, in my opinion. Sure, if I get a nice rack, I'll get a plaque mount done, but every harvest of a whitetail is both a trophy to me, as well as me fulfilling my internal drive to provide for my family.

Yep, it's a no-brainer that a spike one year will likely have greater antlers the next year, but please tell me how to cook those bony growths as I have yet to find a way to make them palatable.

My 2 cents....worth less today than a week ago.

PAtrappernut has a valid point. To non-hunters it does look like the deer are killed only for their antler size. We may not have a problem with that but the perception of the non hunting (and not necessarily anti hunting) public is that they are killed for the trophy.