According to the current regs, anything under 4" from where the base meets the skull does not count as a point in either spike or true spike areas.
That is what is printed as law, I would not trust what I was told by anyone in WDFW because if push comes to shove, certain things will come into play:
The written law is what will be applied to determine if a violation has occurred.
People tend to "forget" conversations, especially if they are wrong.
And has been proven in the past (most recent thread about putting a camera on a bow), they sometimes just plain give out wrong information or backpeddle on what they said.
Some have said, if in doubt, let it walk. Best advice by far.
Maybe it is time to start a letter writing/email campaign to try and change that 4" standard which is near impossible to really accurately gauge in a hunting situation and go to something easier to judge out in the field, like no branching above the tops of the ears...just a thought.