A little more than two months after a blissful and rewarding deer hunt with his young son, Derek Louviere of Catahoula experienced another outing as special or, perhaps, even a little more blissful and rewarding because of the weather conditions.

Louviere and his young daughter, Annalise Louviere, braved a post-cold front deep freeze and heavy snow that blanketed their destination for a deer hunt Jan. 23 in the Atchafalaya Basin. It was well worth the effort as it resulted in an 8-point buck, the second deer she’s killed in her life.

Annalise, 12, the oldest of Derek and Rebecca Louviere’s three children, is a seventh-grade student at Louisiana Christian Academy. Her brother, Gabe, a third-grader at LCA who celebrated his 9th birthday Dec. 21, had a show-and-tell photo for his class on Monday, Nov. 18, the day after he killed his first-ever deer, an 8-point, 130-pound buck in the same area.

Ever since then, Annalise’s goal has been to get a bigger deer to her credit than the small spike buck she downed with a great shot last season.

“She was excited for her brother and she wanted to get a big one. (But) two good bucks in a season … that’s a task,” her dad said with a chuckle.

Louviere realizes it won’t get any easier. While his wife, Gabe and Lillian were driving to meet them on the levee, the youngest siblings discussed who’s the next in line for a shot at a big buck, he said, plainly referring to Lillian, 7.

Louviere was surprised, pleasantly, by the second big buck downed by a young family member. Can he keep the string of successes, unbridled pride and big bucks going for a No. 3? The Area 5 primitive weapon deer hunting season closes Jan. 31. (It’s legal for youths to shoot with modern firearms.) The area’s archery season ends Feb. 15, so the window is closing.

“Again, I don’t think I can pull off three (big bucks this season),” he said with a laugh.

Annalise appreciated the two days she enjoyed with her dad on a deer hunt.

“I was very excited and I want to thank my dad for giving me the chance,” she said.

The snow on the ground and in the trees as far as they could see in the woods was close to being a blinding white but, Louviere said in the same breath, “It’s gorgeous. You could see tracks in the snow. You could see better in the woods – birds, squirrels, two possums …”

Nevertheless, Annalise was eager to hunt despite the rarest of weather events.

“Oh, she’s been determined. We went the day before but it was much colder. We saw a young deer,” Louviere said about their hunting trip on Wednesday, Jan. 22. “Yesterday she was real excited to go. School was closed.”

Louviere and his family hunt on Catahoula Hunting Club land in the Atchafalaya Basin across the levee from Gov. Jeff Landry’s Camp. He and his daughter settled into an area close to Bayou Cocodrie on the first day following last week’s whiteout Jan. 21.

That hunt was cold enough to fire up the heater inside the enclosed box stand.

“We were in the box stand so we’re a little pampered, out of the wind. Ah, we used it that day. We didn’t have to use it yesterday,” he said.

Louviere, a 40-year-old oil and gas consultant and owner of AGLL (acronym for the Louvieres’ children Annalise, Gabriel and Lillian), and his oldest daughter climbed into the boxstand Thursday around 2:30 p.m. They waited, appreciating the scenery, waited a few more hours, enjoying the father-daughter hunting experience, and then a doe came out, looking back.

“I looked with my binoculars in the woods. I saw movement. A buck was 20, 30 yards behind her. She took off and he started easing toward her,” he said, noting eventually the buck was on the fringe of the shooting lane, poised to move across.

The veteran outdoorsman had a feeling the buck might start running, so he warned Annalise.

“I told my daughter it’ll probably be on the move and it’d be a tough shot,” he said.

The buck was 95 yards away. The girl shouldered the same AR10 .308-caliber rifle her brother used to shoot his first deer a few months ago, paused and fired at the running target to send a bullet into the back of the lungs at 5:43 p.m.

“He dropped, got up, took a few steps and fell. Just like with my son, we were cheering, excited and eager to get down and see him,” Louviere said. “We still had some daylight. By the time we loaded him, it was dark.”

While they got the deer up on the four-wheeler they also ran through a cell list of near and dear relatives and friends, taking advantage of the first few proud moments.

“Oh, we called her mom. A friend of mine had just texted me asking if we’ve seen anything. We talked to him … uncles, friends …,” the young huntress’ father said.

Annalise harvested the first deer of her life last season when she killed a spike buck with a “perfect heart shot” at a distance of 106 yards. A memorable day for all, for sure, but her character and outdoors spirit shined on another hunt that season that proved to be far less productive, according to her father.

The father-daughter hunt found them in a different area on the lease. They saw a deer, he said, but it saw them before they got a glimpse of it. Alarmed, that deer bolted.

“It took off blowing hard,” the girl’s dad said, still remembering the buck’s long, loud wooshes through its nostrils that alert other deer . “I said, ‘Look, the hunt is ruined. Do you want to stay?’ She said, ‘Dad, I don’t really care whether we get a deer or not. I just enjoy spending time in the woods with you.’ That brought tears to my eyes. The success we had yesterday makes it even more worth it.”

That the big-bodied deer she killed weighed 157 pounds mildly surprised Louviere. His brother, Dusty Louviere, shot a 170-pound buck two weeks ago that was much plumper than his daughter’s deer, he said.

The rut obviously made the difference in body condition and weight between the two bucks, according to the U.S. Army National Guard medic who was 21 when he served in war-torn Afghanistan in 2005-06.

“You can tell Annalise’s deer had been chasing. You can tell it’s been moving. There was no fat,” he said.

Her second deer will be mounted, Louviere said.