Youth Outdoors - January

Allison Cosma, Age 11
first deer, crossbow
Columbiana County, OH

By Allison Cosma

Since my mom wasn’t home one Friday, my dad, my grandpa and I decided to go out into our woods and hunt some deer. I have been out in the woods with my dad lots of times but this was the first time I was going out to hunt. Grandpa got into his tree stand and dad and I got into his hunting blind. We were only in the woods for maybe 8 minutes when we heard something. A deer came out into the open. I waited to get a good look at it. I was so excited!! My dad said this was my chance so he handed me the crossbow. I waited until the deer turned to the side and then I let the arrow go. The deer took off running and then it suddenly dropped.
After we got the deer out of the woods, I called my mom to tell her that I got a deer. For some reason she thought I was kidding. Maybe it was because she didn’t know dad and grandpa had taken me out hunting. She was finally convinced when she saw it in the back of my dad’s truck.
This was the best experience I have ever had. It was so awesome! I will be back out in those woods again soon. Next time I want a big deer with a huge rack. Hopefully it will be a buck bigger than any my dad or grandpa have ever shot.

Mason Clutter, Age 11
8-pt., first deer, shotgun
Columbiana County, OH

By Mason Clutter

My name is Mason Clutter, I’m 11 years old, let me start at the beginning of my first deer season. My dad woke me up at 4:30 in the morning, it was finally Saturday, the first day of the Ohio youth shotgun season. We loaded up and went to our spot and waited on it to get light. Dad spotted a deer and I put my gun up, but the buck saw us and ran away. Dad says it was a small buck. I was kind of bummed out that I didn’t get a shot. We waited for more deer, but none came. We went to the truck after lunch and went to try one of dad’s other spots. Then it got colder and started to rain at about 2:00pm. We had a long wait in the rain until about 4:30pm, Dad told me the deer would be starting to move to come out and eat for the night. At about 4:40pm Dad nudged me and said there was a deer! It was behind us and going across the hill above us. I turned my head and it looked right at us, I could see it was a buck! It wasn’t there, and then it was there. Dad was wispering to me to be still and that it would calm down, and it did after about 3 minutes. It started walking again and I got my gun to half draw and it looked at us again, Dad was shaking with excitement and telling me to stay still. When he started walking again I got my gun to full draw and aimed right at the shoulder. He stopped just facing me a little and was looking right at me! My dad was talking to me the whole time until I aimed at the buck. I asked my dad, “Shoot it now?” and he said YEAH! I shot and it rolled down the hill!! It got up and walked 10 yards, fell, and died. Dad was yelling and jumping up and down, he said it was a 20 yard shot and it was perfect in the heart. He is an 8-point buck, when we got to him he looked bigger than ever! Dad said people hunt all their lives to find bucks like him. He weighs a lot, and he’s huge! Dad said he probably wouldn’t even been able to shoot it when he was 11. I was kinda shaking when I shot him, then me and dad were both shaking! I can’t wait to get a buck next year too!

Zach Williams, Age 14
first deer, crossbow
Columbiana County, OH

By Zach Williams

We had been hunting for several weeks in our ground blind. We haven't seen a single deer. Everybody else who had been hunting that property had seen a deer and a few of them got one.
My friends Cody and Brett Geer who we hunt with have been the lucky ones to see and harvest a deer. Cody shot a three point buck and his dad Brett get a doe and a huge 10 point buck.
Brett told me that I could use his tree stand whenever I wanted to. He said that because he was done hunting with his bow. So I said ,"Thanks!"
So the first day I went to the tree stand I was amazed how much you could see up there. The next day I hunted there we got into the woods at about 6 A.M. We sat there for about thirty minutes to an hour and here comes a big doe. I kept on saying to myslef, "Don't blow this Zach, don't blow it." I was shaking because I was nervous. I did what my dad told me to do. That was take deep breaths and hold my breath when I shoot.
The deer was comming in pretty fast. At about twenty yards it stopped and turned broadside. I was getting ready to shoot then it ran behind a tree. It came back out but not broadside. It then stopped, it saw my dad. He was sitting on the ground. It's tail went up getting ready to run. I took aim at it's chest and fired. My dad ran over asking "Did you get it?"I said "Yes!"
We looked for it but there was no blood to be found. We walked a little further, still no blood. I was getting discouraged. When then my dad yelled "Zach there it is!" I ran back and got my bow and loaded it up but it was already dead!
My dad taught me how to gut it. But I did my share by dragging it out of the woods. We then loaded it into the truck. We took it to Quality Deer.