A former special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and currently a professional hunting guide, David L. Hall ('61, M.S. '62) has amassed over the years an amazing collection of historical sporting photographs, stories, and memorabilia.

That collection and his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of duck hunting in the South, coupled with the outstanding decoy collection of fellow Louisiana resident Brian Cheramie, have come together to produce Louisiana Lures and Legends, an impressive coffee table book that chronicles more than 100 years of waterfowling tradition in the state known as the Sportsman's Paradise.

This book is a delightful mix of color photographs of examples of the decoy carvers' craft, black and white photos of those artisans past and present, historical photos of early hunts on the bayous, and charming biographies of the eccentric characters who shaped a primitive and distinctive American art form. Characters with names such as "Duck" Whipple, Odee Vizier, "Papa Dunc" Savoie, Charles Numa Joefrau, and Hyacinthe "TeTe" Jack Scobel.

What true sportsman, artist, or collector could resist learning more about men with such names, who fashioned graceful masterpieces from blocks of cypress?

Hall lives in Slidell, La., and is retired after 33 years in wildlife law enforcement. He has won a National Wildlife Federation Award, the Izaak Walton League Outdoor Ethics Award, and three times has been named Louisiana Wildlife Federation-Conservationist of the Year. He also is the 1996 Alumnus of the Year for the College of Forest Resources at Mississippi State. He spent most of this spring in Russia, guiding 40 hunters in quest of Siberian brown bears.