# Legal spike in UT or not?



## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Is this one legal on the left in a spike only unit?








Stolen from RL on facebook.


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## delement87 (Sep 18, 2012)

you worry to much


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## silentstalker (Feb 19, 2008)

Yep. Brow tines don't count. Must be a branch above the top of the ear.


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## polarbear (Aug 1, 2011)

From the guidebook, 
"_A "spike bull" means a bull elk which has at least one antler beam with no branching above the ears. Branched means a projection on an antler longer than one inch, measured from its base to its tip (R657-5- 2(2)(r)."
_


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

Yep he is legal.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

i know the answer I dont worry at all, but thanks... I was just surprised at how many gave the wrong answer on an FB hunting page. Certainly not what you picture as one. Brings up the question as to why it is defined the way it is, possibly to weed out the whacky genes like the ones this guy has?


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

My first year spike hunting on the muzzleloader hunt I passed on one just like that thinking it wasn't legal. Talked to a CO a few days later describing the bull and learned that I could have shot it no problem!


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Definitely legal. It is a goofy definition. But by definition, that is a spike in Utah.


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## trackerputnam (Dec 21, 2014)

WOW! Just amazing that counts for a legal spike. Here in Washington you would be in trouble. They have what is called a true spike rule. No branching at all on either side!


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## silentstalker (Feb 19, 2008)

The CO's I have talked to say that its written that way so that they don't have to write tickets to the many spike hunters who killed bulls with a one inch trash point coming off the base. The very small downside to the rule is a bull like that gets shot. 
I think its a great rule and totally support it. I love that bulls that will never get shot on the LE hunt due to a goofy side, can be cleaned out by general season hunters.


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## torowy (Jun 19, 2008)

Huge29 said:


> i know the answer I dont worry at all, but thanks... I was just surprised at how many gave the wrong answer on an FB hunting page. Certainly not what you picture as one. Brings up the question as to why it is defined the way it is, possibly to weed out the whacky genes like the ones this guy has?


I think the rule is this way because brow times can be very hard to see, so you see a spike sticking up, blast it. Then walk up and it has more points... Thats my guess.


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

I'd have to have some pretty good glass on that animal for awhile before I pulled the trigger. Things like that make me nervous. Definitely a legal spike but I probably wouldn't have known that and passed on that elk.


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## mjensen1313 (Jul 29, 2015)

All the above being said....is the below elk considered a spike?


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

Ah??? No


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## silentstalker (Feb 19, 2008)

polarbear said:


> From the guidebook,
> "_A "spike bull" means a bull elk which has at least one antler beam with no branching above the ears. Branched means a projection on an antler longer than one inch, measured from its base to its tip (R657-5- 2(2)(r)."
> _


No that is not a spike because he does not have one antler beam with no branches above the ears. Not a legal spike.


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

Here is a legal spike that I would love to take...


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## mjensen1313 (Jul 29, 2015)

I just wanted to throw it out there..
found him on google search..


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

It doesn't take long to find a hunter who will tell you that you shouldn't have shot this or that because of X or Y. It seems like the normal hunter progression has a branch that no one talks about, guys who never manage to limit out and rarely fill a tag and think the reason is that someone out there shot "their" animal due to a breach of some imagined ethics code. They're the coulda-woulda-shoulda sportsmen, stuck in a blame loop. (Have to say, I remember being in this funk myself and like to think I'm over it.)


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## Vern21 (Jul 8, 2010)

Here's one more question Sat I saw a bull that was missing its right side. Pretty sure it was broke because it looked like it still had G1 & G2 then broke above it so it wouldn't have branched above the ears. Is it legal if he is broken


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## mjensen1313 (Jul 29, 2015)

Vern21 said:


> Here's one more question Sat I saw a bull that was missing its right side. Pretty sure it was broke because it looked like it still had G1 & G2 then broke above it so it wouldn't have branched above the ears. Is it legal if he is broken


that's exactly the point I was trying to make with the picture of the bull with the broken side (couldn't find a pic of one like you saw online).

I would say Not legal; but I'm sure there is someone who will argue that it is...


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## Vern21 (Jul 8, 2010)

Ya I sat and looked at it for awhile making sure there wasn't a big long spike I couldn't see. But I know he had some antler on his right side and I know it didn't branch above the ear.


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## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

This bull was out at Hardware Ranch a couple years back. The Ranch people said that his one antler had been shot off.


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## Vern21 (Jul 8, 2010)

Ya so would that be legal during a spike hunt if it was broken or shoot off. If so I would think you would have those hunters that give us a bad name, shooting a bull and either breaking points off or shooting points off.


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## silentstalker (Feb 19, 2008)

By mere definition that is a legal bull. 

I would pass that bull for personal reasons. I would gladly shoot a naturally occurring freak bull but pass a broken bull.


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## Vern21 (Jul 8, 2010)

silentstalker said:


> By mere definition that is a legal bull.
> 
> I would pass that bull for personal reasons. I would gladly shoot a naturally occurring freak bull but pass a broken bull.


I agree and thats why I passed on the one sat I wouldn't feel right about shooting something that had broken and made him legal to shoot


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

Verdict on the Hardware Ranch bull.... Legal Spike!

I like to spice up these threads that come up every year. Breaks count as long as they were not caused by the hunter. I asked the DNR officer how he can tell and they can 100% tell if the hunter shot the antler or manipulated it after harvest or if it occurred prior.

Here is another Legal spike in a legal spike unit as well to feast your eyes on... I could play this game all day long and never get bored......


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## Vern21 (Jul 8, 2010)

So what your saying is I should have shot that one Saturday ha ha It would have been a cool trophy 6 on one side G1 and G2 on the other. I like these games also. 2 years ago the week before the spike hunt me and a friend called a bull in that was 6x1with a narly club off the 1 never saw him during the hunt though.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

I watched a pretty cool spike x 5 last year on the Wasatch muzzy hunt. I was tempted to buy a spike tag and go back and try and find him. He would have made a really cool Euro mount. 

Now that I think of it...I really should have bought the spike tag and went back. Oh well.


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

If it's legal, whether it be by accident or genetics I will shoot it. I'm not too proud to take out a 6x1 on a spike hunt. 

I wouldn't ever remove points intentionally to try to make a bull into a spike...what would the point of shooting a bigger bull be if you were just going to cut or shoot the points off anyways?


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## Josh (Oct 27, 2008)

So just to clarify, does "no branching above the ears" mean the branch cant start above the ears or the branch cant extend above the ear?


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## torowy (Jun 19, 2008)

Josh said:


> So just to clarify, does "no branching above the ears" mean the branch cant start above the ears or the branch cant extend above the ear?


start above the ear. it can start low and stick up above it.


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