Hunting Heritage

First Harvest and Youth Division Entries in the Texas Big Game Awards

Article by KARA STARR Photos courtesy of TBGA

Four-year-old Clay Steen with his 2021-2022 First Harvest. Chloe Schulz with her 2020-2021 Youth Division entry.

Let’s talk about the two Texas Big Game Awards categories that don’t require an animal to be scored: the First Harvest category and the Youth Division category. Every year we get questions about what qualifies for these categories and how they differ from one another, so we want to clear it up.

First, how are these two categories similar? There is no minimum score requirement and entries are accepted as long as the animal is one of the five that qualifies for entry into the TBGA: white-tailed deer, mule deer, pronghorn, javelina, and bighorn sheep.

The First Harvest award shows you are never too young or too old to take up hunting. To date, our youngest awardee was 3 years old and our oldest was 90. Hunters are eligible for this award if it is their first ever big game harvest in Texas, not your first time entering TBGA. This award can only be received one time.

The Youth Division award can be awarded to any hunter under 17 years old when they purchase their hunting license and harvest a qualifying animal. This award can be awarded once yearly until the hunter is older than 17.

Also be aware that a hunter can qualify for both a Scored Entry and a First Harvest or Youth Division award in the same year.

At 84 years old, Bobbie Blesh was a First Harvest Awardee in 2014-2015.

We look forward to receiving those First Harvest and Youth Division awards and, as always, if you have any questions, refer to the website www.texasbiggameawards.org or give us a call at (210) 236-9761.