Newer residents or visitors to the area unsuspecting of any commotion after Labor Day often inquire about the sound of “fireworks” piercing the otherwise soft stillness of winter on Barnegat Bay. Those fireworks are actually the sound of duck season gunfire, which is how area natives have sustained their culture since the first settlers arrived to what was named “Barendegat,” Dutch for “inlet of breakers,” in the 1600s.

Sergio Introna, a seasoned duck hunter from Barnegat, sat down with The SandPaper to give his take on the centuries-old…