Jason Cousino, like a lot of hard-hunting hunters, spends a lot of time in the woods. He has been around a few decades and still hunts from a treestand. From talking to him, he is very proud of it. Jason enjoys every minute especially hunting with his son. He has raised his 16-year-old son to hunt, who has already harvested a few good bucks of his own.
Jason is always hunting hard, passing on smaller bucks, and hoping his opportunity to harvest a truly big buck will happen. Watching neighbors harvesting good bucks every year can be difficult while passing on smaller ones. There is a lot of hunting pressure in the area which adds to lower success rates on harvesting a big buck.
Hard-hunting, Jason Cousino harvested this monster, 200 plus pounds, 19-point buck, during archery season in Monroe County.
The 2024 hunting season was about to change Jason’s hunting career in a big way.
Jason hunts a small piece of property in Monroe County. Jason has taken some good bucks in his hunting career. A 9-pointer and a very large 7-pointer in Michigan, a 10-pointer in Ohio and an 8-pointer in Nebraska. In 2024, Jason harvested a good 8-point buck on November 2 with his bow.
On November 7, Jason and his hunting buddy had driven to his taxidermist in Ohio to drop off the 8-point buck he had harvested on November 2. They wanted to hustle back to get in the woods for an evening hunt. As they were driving back, they were discussing if and when it was going to be their turn to harvest a true trophy whitetail, and Jason said it was going to be tonight.
After all, Jason said, November 7 is the time a lot of big bucks are harvested. It is the prime time for mating, and big bucks are up on their feet moving.
Jason was in his stand with about 45 minutes left to hunt. He noticed that a cornfield just a short distance away was being harvested. Jason was on his phone with his hunting buddy and learned that another friend had just shot a buck. As Jason just happened to look down, a big buck seemed to just appear below his stand at 20 yards giving Jason a perfect broadside shot. Without any hesitation, Jason, whose bow was still hanging on a hook, cautiously retrieved it and released a nearly perfect shot.
He watched his trophy run about 50 yards and fall. Jason called his wife; at that moment, with all of the emotions he was feeling, he was unable to get the words out of his mouth that he had just shot a big buck. At first, his wife thought he may have injured himself. But finally realized Jason had harvested a big buck.
Jason said everything happened so fast he did not get a chance to get nervous. All he did was react. He said it was better that it happened that way. But he really did not know how big his buck was at this point.
He texted his hunting buddy, told him what had happened and found he had also just harvested a buck.
When Jason and his son-in-law approached his buck, Jason realized he had just harvested a trophy buck he had only seen on trail cam photos before this day. A buck that he thought had 16 points but turned out to have 19 points.
Jason said when he and his son-in-law got to the deer, he could not repeat the words that his son-in-law said in excitement, but as he got down and put his hands on his trophy he just started crying. It was very emotional for Jason.
Another hunting buddy had harvested a buck that night as well in the state of Pennsylvania, on November 7, which was also the same day his friend and his friends’ deceased father had harvested a buck together many years ago.
Jason’s buck had 19-points with triple brow tines on both sides. Jason figured that his buck was between 4 ½ and 5 ½ years old. His buck weighed 225 pounds on the hoof and unofficially scored out at 200 4/8 inches.
Even though Jason had never seen this buck before in person, he knew it was around. He figured that this monster was bedded in the corn field and waited until the last row was harvested and then headed out in his direction for a safe spot to bed. Several farmer buddies have told me that it is common for bucks to wait until they are in the last row of corn before they take off.
Jason said there has been a lot of pressure on him trying to do all of the right things and he said it finally happened to him. A world-class whitetail harvested in the state of Michigan. He said what he appreciated even more was all of the congratulations he received from many people, saying if anyone deserved a buck like this, it was him. That meant a lot to him.
Having been told the story of his hunt I could tell that Jason is a humble guy. That November 7 will always have special meaning for him, with so many people close to him as well as himself harvesting a buck on this day.
Especially a buck that scores 200-inches. In total, Jason’s two bucks scored over 300 inches. What a great season to have.
The author is Jeff Pendergraff, a retired Captain from the MDNR Law Enforcement Division.
