Dale Bordelon honored for keeping Louisiana’s waterfowl heritage alive

By A. Guillot

Dale Bordelon received the Louisiana Tradition Bearer Award on Oct. 10, at Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in Lafayette, recognizing his dedication to preserving and passing down Louisiana’s traditional waterfowl hunting culture.

Presented during Louisiana Folklife Month, the statewide award honors individuals who keep the state’s distinctive customs, skills and cultural knowledge alive. Bordelon was among six honorees selected this year.

“I’m very honored to get this award,” Bordelon said following the recognition.

At the festival, Bordelon demonstrated duck call making and decoy carving and said Smithsonian Institution representatives filmed his work.

His work extends beyond craftsmanship to storytelling, preserving traditional cane duck calls, cypress decoys, dugout pirogues and the knowledge passed down through generations of Louisiana hunters.

Bordelon is working on a book expected next year, featuring a century of hunting tales and firsthand accounts gathered at Louisiana hunting camps and gas station hangouts, where local legends often begin.

During a recent conversation, he shared one such story from Avoyelles Parish.

In 1932, a 12-year-old boy wanted a $26 Winchester shotgun from Guy Prevot’s Mansura shop. Unable to afford it, the boy was allowed to take it home and pay with cleaned mallard ducks.

The young hunter accepted and paid off the shotgun before the hunting season ended. According to Bordelon, Prevot operated a store with an icebox where game meat was sold, allowing the shopkeeper to sell the mallards while the boy earned a gun his family otherwise could not afford.

The story reflects more than a hunting tradition. It captures the resourcefulness, relationships and everyday life of Louisiana communities nearly a century ago.

Through his craftsmanship and storytelling, Bordelon keeps Louisiana’s waterfowl heritage alive for future generations.

For those of us in “da parish,” Bordelon’s recognition is a source of pride. His dedication to preserving our traditions and stories makes him someone to look up to and reminds us just how much of our heritage is worth passing on.