A 7-year-old New Iberia boy squeezed in a few deer hunts around a busy schedule of New Iberia Pee Wee Football games and Iberia Soccer Association matches in October.

David Bourgeois III will never, ever forget his last deer hunt of the month in the Four Bayous area of St. Mary Parish. Neither will his father, Nick Bourgeois, who watched his son, a fifth-generation Bourgeois hunting on land that’s been in the family for that length of time.

David shot and killed the first deer of his life the morning of Oct. 23. He was in a box stand with his dad in the marsh that memorable day.

“We saw one deer down one of the airboat trails. He was walking down the airboat trail toward us when we noticed him,” Nick said. “He got about 60-65 yards in front of our box stand in thick grass and we couldn’t see him anymore. Then he popped out in another airboat trail. I was going to have him shoot it then but the deer started walking away from us, so David held his shot.

“He turned and walked back in the marsh grass toward another airboat trail, about 75 yards away, never stopped walking. He was walking back into the marsh (but) before he got to the marsh he turned broadside.”

His son was ready with a recent birthday present, a youth model 6.5 Creedmoor, a small-caliber rifle, popular over the years for long-range shooting. It had a 120 Grain Round in the chamber.

“He had his gun propped up with the gun (butt) on his shoulder. He did everything himself,” Nick said. “I was a little concerned because the deer was actually walking into the tall grass. He had five seconds.”

Young David decided when to shoot, he said. The young outdoorsman, eye to the ’scope, pulled the trigger at 7:30 a.m.

“As soon as he shot I thought he was going to miss. The deer was halfway in the grass. (But) it just fell in its tracks. It was a perfect shot, right behind the shoulder,” his father said. “I told him, ‘You hit him. You knocked him down!’ He was pumped up, excited. We gave each other high fives.”

David, who has a twin sister, Evangeline, who duck hunts “a little,” according to their father, showed a lot of patience immediately after the shot rang out. They stayed in the box stand nearly 3 more hours.

Nick’s father, David Bourgeois II, was deer hunting 700-800 yards away. When David II finished his deer hunt he drove the airboat over to pick up his son and grandson, who were waiting to go find the kill.

The youngster left the box stand and walked alone, proudly, to the edge of the marshy grass to lead the small hunting party to his first deer harvest.

“When we got to back to the camp he didn’t want me to skin it (field dress) till everybody was able to see his deer,” Nick said.

Approximately 10 family members and friends got their first look at the 5-point, 95-pound buck.

It was a “weird” 5-pointer, Nick said.

“One side had three horns. The other side was, like, split on the main beam. I told him it was a trophy,” the proud papa said.

Young David sent texts to his mother, Camille Lancon Bourgeois, who was at home with the Bourgeois’ 10-week-old daughter, Isabella, then sent her photos of his first deer.

“He was excited. After he shot the deer he was already talking about going out hunting the next weekend,” his father said.

The 7-year-old first-grade student at St. Edward School got the traditional blood swipes on his cheeks, a ritual that dates back to the 700 ADs as a tribute to St. Hubert, credited as the source of ethical hunting behavior and the patron saint of hunters.

With soccer matches and football games on Saturday mornings, David’s deer hunting trips have been limited to getting out to the camp if possible on Saturday afternoons and Sundays.

The boy got his first deer much earlier than his dad, who downed his in his early 20s. Nick explained the family, including his brothers, Blake Bourgeois of Youngsville and Garrett Bourgeois of Dallas, did more duck hunting in the marsh back then. They have a sister, Cali Bourgeois Weisz, who doesn’t hunt.

Nick, an operations manager more than nine years for Broussard-based Javeler Marine Service LLC, said he plans to make a European mount with the special buck’s horns.