John K. Flores: Find something special outdoors in 2025

Drive anywhere anytime around St. Mary Parish and the one thing you’ll notice is, besides a car or truck in the driveway, there’s also a boat — sometimes two. It’s the same on the various roadways. It seems like every fourth or fifth pickup truck you see is towing a boat.
Essentially, every day there is always something going on in the outdoors. What’s more, 2024 was no exception when it came to stories reported.
We started off the year talking about deer. Chase Sonier’s huge 14-point buck that he bagged in Lafourche Parish, unofficially scored 189 Boone & Crocket points. I’m sure by now Sonier’s deer has been mounted and is displayed in a prominent location on a wall in his house or man cave.
We also reported how the Theriot brothers, Nathan (13) and Thomas (11), harvested big Mississippi deer moments apart last winter. Nathan’s 9-point scored 130 BC and Thomas’ 8-point buck scored 125 BC.
The guys weren’t the only ones hunting deer in 2024. Eight-year-old Addalynn Dugas from Centerville got her first deer. No, the young spike buck didn’t measure up to the aforementioned bucks the boys’ harvested, but from the smile on her face I doubt that it mattered. Besides, she has plenty of years ahead of her to catch up on bragging rights.
Redfish frequently made the news in both 2023 and 2024, where the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officially set new size and creel limits for this popular game fish. What’s more, despite all of the public acrimony and finger pointing, the department settled on regulations that set the size (slot) limit at 18-inch minimum total length and a 27-inch maximum total length.
Anglers also saw the bag limit reduced to four daily per person, down from five, with none over the 27-inch maximum, where one over 27-inches was previously allowed. Apparently, fishermen have adjusted to the new regulations, because the social media hating has since quieted and there are plenty of trophy catch pictures being posted online.
Speaking of fishing, the 2024 Morgan City Oilfield Fishing Rodeo was once again a huge success. The organization, with the help of its sponsors, has donated in excess of $200,000 in support of higher education and other charitable causes locally.
We also love our bald eagles and our parish papers east, west and online, have done their share bringing you what’s happening with this iconic bird. One of those things is the Annual Eagle Expo. This popular event continues to draw folks from across the country to the Tri-City area. I won’t spoil 2025’s Eagle Expo, but mark your calendars for Feb. 20-22.
You never know who you will meet outdoors and I’m always looking for interesting people to write about. Two of those in 2024 were Art LeJuene and Dillon Delaney.
LeJuene, 78, was old enough to be Delaney’s father, but what makes them uniquely similar are ducks. The only job LeJuene has ever known is making duck calls for Faulk’s Game Calls, where Delaney has always been a guide. If you missed those issues of papers, you can always look them up online at www.stmarynow.com.
In his lifetime LeJuene, no doubt, has tuned over a million calls while working at Faulks. Delaney, who started competition duck calling at age 7 and 10-years later started guiding with his father, no doubt, has had millions of ducks and geese pass over his blinds over the years.
I’ve had folks stop me in the aisle at the grocery store who said they read this week’s paper, only to whip out their cell phone to show me pictures of their recent catch. Recently, my doctor in Houma, after he examined me, took out his cell phone to show me pictures of the ducks he and his son-in-law shot on a hunt over the holidays.
It’s stories like these, about regular people, who bring us something we uniquely connect with all across Louisiana.
St. Mary Parish is what I refer to as the southern gateway to the Atchafalaya Basin and the entrance to the central coastal marshes. Our people are a diverse people with a specific heritage and history that helped shape our region economically while connected to the outdoors.
In looking forward to 2025, I can’t wait to see what outdoor stories come with the New Year. I just know, because of you, they’ll be special. Happy New Year to you and your.
John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflo@cox.net.