Show and tell in a Catahoula youth’s third-grade classroom was special Monday, Nov. 18.

Gabe Louviere’s teacher had a photo submitted by the 8-year-old student’s mother of the 8-point buck he killed late the previous afternoon while hunting in a tree stand with his father, Derek Louviere of Catahoula. The educator called him last to talk to the class about the deer, his first-ever kill as a deer hunter.

Gabe told his classmates about yet another weekend spent hunting but one with a happy ending for a hunter of any age.

The family hunts with the Catahoula Hunting Club in the Atchafalaya Basin. Louviere’s tree stand is near the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee, close enough to home to squeeze in as much hunting time as possible.

The 40-year-old oil and gas consultant who owns AGLL (acronym for Derek and Rebecca Graham Louviere’s children Annalise, Gabriel and Lillian Louviere), currently working with Hess Corp., is an all-around outdoorsman who enjoys getting out on the water and in the woods, fishing and hunting.

He grew up hunting rabbits, squirrels and, mostly, ducks with his father. He killed his first deer at 18 or 19, he said.

Louviere graduated from St. Martinville Senior High, where he played wide receiver under Coach Carroll Delahoussaye. After graduation, he served as a U.S. Army National Guard medic in Kandahar, war-torn Afghanistan’s second-largest city, in 2005-06, turning 21 on his way to the global hotspot in south central Asia.

Several years after his return, he married Rebecca Graham. Their three children are all students at Lafayette Christian Academy.

The Louvieres’ oldest daughter, Annalise, 12, a seventh-grader, killed her first deer late last season. Their youngest child, Lillian, 7, just might harvest her first deer next season.

One of Louviere’s most memorable deer hunting moments was the day Annalise squeezed the trigger and downed the spike buck at a distance of 109 yards in the waning days of the 2023-24 season. It was a testament to many shooting practices, as well as safety and hunting ethics lessons he has shared.

“It was a hard shot, a perfect heart shot (that took down his oldest daughter’s spike buck). We spend a lot of time talking about shot placement. When Gabe shot his, it (the 8-point buck) wasn’t straight sideways,” said the firefighter at the Catahoula Volunteer Fire Department.

Louviere was in his element that recent Sunday afternoon he climbed into the tree stand with Gabe. He was far from optimistic, he confided, because the season so far hasn’t been one to write home about.

He discussed those low expectations and said, “We haven’t been seeing anything on camera. The hogs are taking over. I moved our feeder farther away to a more protected area (trees and bushes with water nearby).”

They waited and waited for what seemed like an eternity for something to happen.

As often happens, a doe entered the scene in front of them first. It was around 4 p.m., around 30 minutes after they settled in the tree stand 15 feet off the ground. The doe headed to the water, then looked behind her.

The Louvieres did the same. They saw another deer on top of a hill and, at first, believed it was a doe. That deer turned enough, however, to reveal a rack.

An uncontrollable but audible cough nearly railroaded the deer hunt at that point. Gabe tried unsuccessfully to suppress it.

“Gabe struggles with allergies and the pollen was high that day,” his father said about the cough that spooked the two deer.

“Both deer left. (But) they didn’t see us. I said, ‘Don’t move.’ ”

Sure enough, about 10 minutes later the two deer meandered back to the area. The buck stood quartered to their view but the doe wandered alongside and then behind it.

Louviere has impressed on his children about refraining from taking a shot that might injure another deer close by. So Gabe waited.

The buck eventually pushed the doe out of the feeding area and again showed itself, quartered approximately 70 yards away. That was an opportunity, the dad told his son.

“If you hit it perfect on the point of his right shoulder, he’ll drop,” Louviere said.

He uses a “shooting stick” in the ladder stand because the rail “is kind of low.” He picked it up to help cradle the AR10, .308-caliber rifle with a suppressor but he wasn’t very stable with it.

“I had to stop shaking so the stick stopped shaking,” Louviere said.

Gabe, who shot and missed an 8-point buck a few weeks ago during the area’s youth weekend, was shaking, too. His shooting practices took over.

“I was really nervous” Gabe said.

Louviere said, “I reminded him to take a deep breath.”

The young hunter aimed, waited and fired. The deer crumpled to the ground instantly.

“I was really excited and happy,” Gabe said.

His father said, “Anybody within 100 yards knew we hit our target because we were cheering! Ah, I was super excited, still shaking, both of us. I think we did a little dance in the woods when we walked up to the deer.

“I was so nervous … You know about bloodying up after the first deer? I forgot. He reminded me right before we dragged him out. He said, ‘Hey, wait, what about my blood.’ ”

Per the time-honored tradition, especially among his family, friends and beaucoup deer hunters everywhere, Louviere readily obliged to swatch the boy’s cheeks.

The outcome was different than a couple weekends ago when the youngster shot and missed the spike buck. In his own words, Gabe said, “Yes, I missed a deer because it was dark (near sunset). This time it was bright (daylight).”

Gabe obviously has listened to his father because earlier this season he let a doe with twin fawns in tow, still with their spots, walk. Louiviere’s lesson that reached home emphasized it is “better to let her live so she can take care of her babies and they grow up.”

Gabe, a third-grade student, has let two or three other deer pass this season with the expressed intention of harvesting an “8-pointer,” according to his dad. His glorious four-wheeler drive up the levee showed his pride and exuberance as he pumped his fist in the air for the cameras.

Louviere said he was pumping his fist, too. He got help from his nephew, Evad Louviere, dragging the 140-pound buck across and up a ditch, then loading the 140-pound buck onto the four-wheeler. Evad, Annalise and Lillian helped them celebrate once the four-wheeler got on the levee road, Louviere said.

With Gabe’s deer meat, plus deer meat from a buck and a doe Louviere killed on a recent Texas hunt, the veteran hunter knows what’s for supper Nov. 28.

“We’re eating backstraps for Thanksgiving,” he said.

The head and shoulders mount of Gabe’s first deer probably will be done by Chancey Lee Frith’s K & K Taxidermy in Ragley.

“They do really good work,” Louviere said about the taxidermist who reportedly mounts 450 trophy deer annually.

“I can’t wait to get it mounted,” his son said.