Cannon Leger’s second trip in his second season of deer hunting was rewarded Oct. 29 on a day he and his young cousin both harvested a deer in St. Mary Parish.

The 105-pound doe was the first deer for Leger, who went four or five times in 2022-23. His patience and practice paid off during an early morning hunt with his dad, Mark Leger of New Iberia, on the Oak Bayou Hunting Club lease along the Wax Lake Outlet.

It happened quickly at a time when mosquitoes swarmed so much the young outdoorsman had to keep an ungloved hand, his trigger finger hand, in a pocket, according to his dad. Thankfully, it wasn’t an overly long wait for action.

Cannon’s cousin, 9-year-old Cade Burgess, was in a nearby blind, Cannon said, adding, “We were pretty close.”

Burgess, who was hunting with his dad, Bruce Burgess, got the first look at a deer that morning, fired and shot the doe in his sights.

“When my cousin shot the deer, my dad said that since my cousin had shot, it might scare the other deer over my way. When it popped out, like right in front of our lane, I saved the gun, took a shot and it dropped. It felt really good. I couldn’t get the feeling off till the next day,” Cannon said, proudly.

His 60-yard shot with the Ruger American 5.56-mm Rifle hit the doe in the high part of the loin area.

“He’s a good shot. He’s taught to shoot above the shoulder. I think he was nervous,” Cannon’s father said, noting his son practices safety and marksmanship often with the rifle. “She didn’t run off. We didn’t have to track her.”

The 43-year-old automation engineer for Talos Energy Inc., who just began deer hunting in 2019 after so many seasons of duck hunting, said the moment won’t be forgotten.

“We probably both had the most silent scream you ever heard. Pure joy. Pumping our firsts. Hugging each other. He was super excited. He was ready to get down” right away and see the deer, he said.

“It definitely was a fun memory. I’m still excited.”

Both does probably weighed approximately 105 pounds each, Cannon said. His father confirmed the weights.

The CHS sixth-grade student/athlete helped process the deer and make the deer sausage himself, he said.

His mother, Tracie Burgess Leger, said she was excited her son harvested his first deer in his second season of deer hunting. Cannon said while this is his second season hunting deer, he has made only about five trips.

Cannon, a midfielder, is the second player on the Iberia Soccer Association’s U12 Panthers team to kill his first deer this fall. Cole Olinde, a goalkeeper/midfielder, brought down his first deer on Oct. 22, the day after rifle season opened in Area 3.

Cannon also joined the CHS Fishing Team in late August and has fished the first three Louisiana High School B.A.S.S. Nation tournaments of 2023-24 in the Junior Division with Greyson Young.

The elder Leger said the memorable “first deer” occasion happened on a whirlwind weekend.

He “captained” his son and Young in the third LHSBN tournament of the season held at Calcasieu River on Oct. 28, waking up around 1:30 a.m., then leaving New Iberia at 2:45 a.m. to check in at 4:30 a.m. Weigh-in for the juniors was at 2 p.m. that Saturday.

They retraced their path, trailered his center console boat and returned home around 5:30 p.m. Cannon surprised him and said he was hopeful of going deer hunting Sunday.

“I said, ‘You don’t want me to get any sleep this weekend,’ ” he said with a laugh.

Still, it was a done deal for father-and-son. They got another early start the next day to be in the tree ladder stand before sunrise, he said.

They cleaned up the stand a few weeks earlier and set up a trail cam that showed beaucoup wildlife – some does, hogs and a black bear (the lease is located near the Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge).

The activity got the youngster’s attention, his father said.

And Cannon got the doe.