[BayStateSuks]

I own about 95 acres of hunting land in VA west of the Blue Ridge (too difficult to try and hunt in the Commie-wealth of Mass.), and I always pass on spikes. Yes, many spikes probably have poor genetic makeup, but some are small because of poor nutrition, late birth, etc. I figure that a genetically inferior deer won't likely have a chance to mate anyway (will lose to the larger ones), so the odds of the genes getting passed on are low.

One thing is for certain, if you kill enough young spikes, then the odds of having a deer distribution of various ages in the population is way low. At some time, you want the larger bucks to have to fight it out with some other bucks.

Also, you have to remember that the size and shape of the rack depends on a lot of factors not necessarily tied to genetics. For example, my brother shot a 4-pointer last year with a very small rack yet the deer weighed 125-130 lbs field dressed and was probably 3-4years old. It was a large healthy deer even though the rack wasn't that large.

So, I say wait for the 12+ pointer to come along.