Great Game Paradise

A History of Vermilion Corporation

by Jason P. Theriot

Great Game Paradise is an in-depth history of a vast, bountiful marshland under private land management during a century of enormous change along Louisiana’s now threatened coast. As stewards of a 125,000-acre tract of prime marsh habitat, Vermilion Corporation and its predecessors have since the 1920s perpetuated the sport of duck hunting through a relentless pursuit of land conservation, sustainable development, and environmental restoration. As one of the largest privately managed wetlands in the state, this story represents a microcosm of the history of the Louisiana Gulf Coast—its resources, its culture, and its lure and peril.

“Big Blue Goose” filmed and narrated by famed wildlife writer Van Campen Heilner in the 1940s. This scene takes place in the great marshlands of lower Vermilion Parish, owned and managed by Louisiana Furs, Inc., predecessor to Vermilion Corporation.

Vermilion Corporation and Its Predecessors Through the Years