CC Duson was the son of Cornelius Duson McNaughton, an Irish Scotch Canadian infamous for rebelling against the English in Canada. At age 21, he started work as a deputy sheriff in 1867, under Sheriff James G. Hayes. Hayes and Duson had been friends since the Civil War when they met as POWs in a POW camp in Washington, Louisiana. James Hayes was assassinated, and the job of sheriff went to his younger brother Egbert Hayes. As sheriff, Egbert appointed Curley as his executive assistant. Curley Duson held this job until 1872, when he campaigned for the office of sheriff in 1872. During his career Duson was known as a crack shot with a pistol. In 1882, an Opelousas newspaper reported that Sheriff Duson has killed 96 alligators with 96 shots from a boat near Morgan City, Louisiana. The same article mentioned "Duson got his man in Texas, for murder north of Chicot." The wording and placement of the news implied that his capture of the wanted man was commonplace.