Building lasting memories

Larose native Kristin Fagan has been an avid hunter for the majority of her life. She’s said she’s made dozens of trips and has harvested plenty of bucks over the past 20 years.

But no matter how many successful trips Fagan and her family may make, she still gets excited and filled with joy every time she’s preparing to leave the house and head into the woods for the next adventure.

Deer hunting season is a joyous time for thousands of men, women and children across Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes – a time that builds both skill within the hunters, but also creates memories that will last a lifetime for everyone involved.

Fagan and other locals shared their stories this week, giving the tales of their first-ever harvests. Each lit up like a bulb when sharing the stories.

“Being in a deer stand is truly my favorite place to be, but it is my most nerve-wracking place, also,” Fagan said with a laugh. “No matter how old I get or how many hunts I go on, I get so excited every time I head out to the stand that it’s hard to relax once I get there.”

Fagan said that she was being groomed for her first harvest since she was about 3.

Equipped with just headphones, a coloring book and a blanket, Fagan said she used to sit quietly in the corner of the deer stand while her father worked on nabbing his deer.

“I had to stay very quiet and on the floor until a deer came out or it was time to shoot,” Fagan remembered. “Then I would get to slowly stand up and if he shot, my job was to pay close attention to where the deer ran or if it ran anywhere at all.”

From there, Fagan said she was “around 6 or 7” when she killed her first deer in the same stand with her dad.

It’s a series of events that she can still break down second-by-second, several years later.

“To say that I was excited is an understatement,” Fagan said. “I can still remember my heart pounding out of my chest and my body shaking while I tried to hold the gun still.”

The Larose native said she slowly composed herself and gathered her wits, thanks to the calming effect of her father, who was mentoring her every step of the way.

“I remember my dad whispering, ‘Just breathe and take your time. Don’t rush your shot or you will miss,’” Fagan said. “I tried to remember everything he ever taught me in that one quick moment. I took slow deep breaths. I squeezed the trigger and didn’t jerk it, and I remembered him saying to me that if I felt shaky to relax and regroup.”

The deer stopped walking, and it was now time to make the shot.

She pulled the trigger and sent the bullet out of the gun and into the air, piercing the deer clean.

“The next thing I knew, my ears were ringing, and I was searching frantically for where the deer went,” Fagan said. “It went a few yards and then it dropped. I almost jumped out of my skin when I realized I got it. I remember my dad being so pumped up and so proud of me when we brought back my first deer for all of the guys at the camp to see. You could even see the excitement later that night in the pictures when they splattered my face with blood, which is a tradition hunters have to do when they kill their first deer.

“The crazy thing is that I still get that excited every time I hunt. It’s a feeling that never goes away. I still get nervous, my heart still pounds out my chest – every, single time.”

While Fagan’s first kill came as a small child, Houma native Bryce Guidry said his first harvest came when he was 20. Guidry said he didn’t hunt much as a kid, because he was always active in sports during the hunting season.

But when he got to college, he picked up the sport with some of his friends and family. Guidry said he was hunting in Mississippi in the fall of 2011 at a lease one of his friends possesses. After sitting in the stand without activity for one whole day and three hours of the next, he saw his buck – a big eight-pointer walking his way.

“My eyes got huge,” he said. “It was like an adrenaline rush like you could never recreate anywhere else. I sat there and watched him walk to me for probably five minutes, but it felt like five hours. When he got close enough to me, I aimed the gun, fired, and I nailed him. Honestly, looking back, I don’t know how I hit him. I was too excited. I was too rushed. Anytime you do things too quickly, you usually miss, but I got him. I’ll never forget that day.”

Since that time, Guidry said he’s killed a half-dozen bucks. But he’ll never forget his first – a day that ranks as one of his best.

“That was awesome,” Guidry said. “I won’t ever forget that. What I love the most about doing this is those bonds and memories you make with the people closest to you. It’s amazing, man.”

For Morgan City native Jimmy Dupre, his first kill came a little later in life. Dupre said he picked up hunting when he retired in 2000 at the age of 61. His first harvest came in 2001. A former oilfield hand, Dupre said he, too, killed his first buck in Mississippi.

“It’s a rush of excitement that is hard to describe,” Dupre said. “I don’t really have the words to paint the full picture. It was incredible man. It really was.”

Fagan, Guidry, Dupre and thousands of other hunters will take to the woods in the coming months in search of the big-time prized buck.

Triggers will be pulled, bucks will be harvested and memories will be made. That’s what it’s all about – good times with good people.

“It’s the best,” Fagan said. “There is nothing like it. The excitement never goes away and never gets old.”

Memories