It was great renewing acquaintances and talking to people who care so much about Louisiana duck hunting and, especially, Ducks Unlimited, at the recent fundraising event for sponsors and general members of the New Iberia Ducks Unlimited Chapter.

That banquet on Oct. 3 at the Isle of Iberia RV Resort was the 43rd I’ve attended and it meant just as much to this local outdoors writer as it did the first time in 1976. It’s a smaller scale now and tamed down from the early years but there is no hint of a dropoff in duck hunting passion and/or fervor for waterfowl conservation across the land, particularly the Sportsman’s Paradise.

After I talked at length with veteran DU committee member Burt Cestia III of New Iberia, Troy Dubois, a local duck hunter and one of the young men who has taken up the baton, spoke with me about something near and dear to his heart — Green Wing membership in Ducks Unlimited.

Dubois, DU’s district chairman for New Iberia and Jeanerette, emphasized there is a statewide drive to sign up DU Green Wings in 2019. Youngsters who become Green Wings this year have a chance to win a lifetime hunting and fishing license from the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Five lucky boys or girls will win the lifetime license, he said.

For more information call (985) 637-3469.

Cestia, a local waterfowler and longtime lawyer, appreciated the number of Green Wings who attended the event as well as the family atmosphere inside the center and under the pavilion at the Isle of Iberia. He talked about the old days and the older days, touching on subjects close to his heart as a collector of duck hunting items, including one of the first hunting license in Louisiana.

His eyes brightened when he discussed one of his favorite books, one that might interest other duck hunters from in and around New Iberia. It’s about the history of hunting in Louisiana, he said about author Jason P. Theriot’s “Great Game Paradise: A History of Vermilion Corporation.”

According to Cestia, it’s well worth the read.

The book is an in-depth history of the vast marsh under private land management during a century of change along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast. The story touches on the area’s resources, its culture, its appeal and its peril.

The 125,000-acre tract of marsh habitat has been the site of land conservation, sustainable development and environmental restoration since the 1920s under the Vermilion Corp. and its predecessors.

Some well-known Louisiana residents have spoken highly of “Great Game Paradise,” including Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster of Franklin, who said, “Having had the pleasure of hunting waterfowl for 25 years on land managed by Vermilion Corp., I have personally observed the challenges the company has faced in the preservation and restoration of this magnificent marshland. Theriot does a masterful job in ‘Great Game Paradise’ of eloquently describing the unique history of this often overlooked area of our state and delineates the movement from its conservation based conception, to its learning curve in striving to balance the energy industry and conservation, to its present battle to restore and preserve the marsh for future generations to enjoy, appreciate, and respect.

Another book high on Cestia’s reading list is “Chenier Plain” written by Richard B. Crowell, who writes about the area around Gueydan in southwest Louisiana and its transition from market hunting to sport hunting. Crowell writes about the opportunistic land purchases by a U.S. president, British and American businessmen and an illiterate French-speaking Acadian whose property became the nexus of the oldest hunting lodge in the region, The Coastal Club.

Crowell also chronicles the background of six other hunting clubs established before 1929 and modern methods of waterfowl habitat conservation. It’s all wrapped around the connection between sport hunting and the life and preservation of the region with its remote ridges and marsh.

Cestia treasures those two books and his rare fishing license. I’m glad he let me know about them.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.