Shot a spike last weekend that although having full lenglth beams, had no tines. The beams came up and bent outbound and then circling forward and around to the front and then inbound and curved up. He looked just like a jersey cow when he looked my way(no, it was a deer). The teeth showed he was a yearling. I wonder what his rack would have looked like at maturity? Anybody else ever seen one like this?

Leo - From your description this sounds like a deformity. I wonder if he would have ever had "normal" horns?

I have seen one deer comparable to this in the Sandia Mountains bohunting area in Albuquerque.
His antler condition I think was age and genetics I would guess.
He was full bodied (mature) deer with long beams the ended with just the slighest of splits to "two" points to a side.

LouisB

They are all trophies,
a great hunt guarantees that!

Spike-antlered yearlings often grow into excellent multi-point mature bucks. Some will argue that the fact that as a yearling your deer grew such long spikes indicates that he might have made a very good buck at age 4 to 6. Others will say that spikes never have the potential that branch-antlered yearlings have. I think it is safe to say that when you find a spike like yours which is 2 years or older, it it unlikely to make much of a rack.

But predicting a buck's future rack is "iffy" in most instances. It's kinda like the class runt in first grade -- he may turn out to be a 285 tackle as a high school senior.

I have seen one that matched your description. It was a few years ago now, and I was at work - not hunting. It must have had at least a 20" main beam, and not a single tine or bump on it. I went back to find it on the next weekend, as it would have made an interesting European mount, but had no luck.

Canuck

I wonder if this deer that my game cam caught a couple of weeks ago had at one time been what you are talking about... very long, tall antlers with only little tines at the top... I've seen a number of these in my woods over the years, and believe it or not, had one come after me shaking it's head after I jumped if out of it's bed. That was about five years ago. I thought for sure I was going to get my rear kicked... anyway, here is the pic... take a look and see what do you think?

looks like a young buck to me...chris

Guess I should have been more specific. What I am looking at is these nearly vertical, long, thin antlers with only little "forks" on the end. What I call a "high rack"... They are very different than most deer in my woods which typically start with a nice "basket" rack and if they live, progress into a more normal looking, thicker antler... These just look long, thin and spindly to me... and my thinking was that perhaps they started out as cowhorn spikes... just a thought. Dave

My cow-horned spike had low set beams in the same configuration as the normal dairy cow that hasn't been dehorned.

Four years ago I shot a 3 1/2 year old four point buck that weighed 171 lbs. I am quite sure it is the same deer that I watched as a button buck and I am very sure it is the same deer I watched as a fork horn at 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 years old. At 3 1/2 he was still a fork horn the beams had just got more lenght and mass to them and his body size increased every year. At 3 1/2 I decided he wasn't going to get any better head gear so I took him. And last year I saw another fork horn that I am sure was a 2 1/2 year old buck. I guess maybe he passed on his genes. The genetics are for the most part good as is the available food. This deer was taken in Gibson county Indiana. I hunt Ohio coujnty Kentucky as well. Spike bucks are quite common at 1 1/2 years of age and a good one will have 6 pts and weigh a little over 100 lbs field dressed. The forage in Ohio county Ky is not near as good as here in farm country Indiana.

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight...RiverRat