Happy Birthday Federal Duck Stamp

by
posted on August 22, 2014
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
gunclub2015_fs.jpg (28)

undefinedThe first duck stamp was sold 80 years ago today, on Aug. 22, 1934. Its price was $1. Its story is a bright spot in conservation history and the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

Today, waterfowl are abundant, but in 1901 few remained at the end of an era that included market gunning and rampant draining of wetlands driven by agricultural interests, and the Dust Bowl years of the 1920s also hit waterfowl hard. In 1927, members of the Boone and Crockett Club formed the American Wild Fowlers, which would later become Ducks Unlimited. American Wild Fowlers pushed passage of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929, which established our federal refuge system.

Major funding for waterfowl and their habitat was enabled in 1934, when the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act was signed into law. Boone and Crockett Club member Jay N. “Ding” Darling, a Nobel Prize-winning political cartoonist, illustrated the first Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp; 635,000 of them were sold in 1934. Within five years, sales of the stamps had raised more than $1 million for waterfowl habitat restoration. Today, 80 years later, sales of federal duck stamps have raised more than $800 million to help secure more than 6 million acres of waterfowl habitat nationwide.

Latest

LEDE John&Jim
LEDE John&Jim

Member's Hunt: A Tale of Two Moose

This month's Member's Hunt comes from John R. Bean of Tucson, Ariz.

Breeding Duck Numbers Decline Again in ND

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s 78th-annual spring breeding duck survey conducted in May showed an index of about 2.66-million birds, down from 2.9 million in 2024 and 3.4 million in 2023.

2025-26 Pennsylvania Migratory Game Bird Seasons Set

Pennsylvania’s 2025-26 migratory game bird seasons have been set. There are two significant changes to waterfowl seasons. The regular season daily bag limit for Canada geese in the Atlantic Population Zone has decreased from three to one, and for northern pintail, there will be a flat daily bag limit of three.

New for 2025: Christensen Arms Evoke in 450 Bushmaster

Christensen Arms has announced the release of the Evoke rifle chambered in powerful 450 Bushmaster.

Oklahoma Wildlife Commission Passes Rules for Nonresident Hunters, Public Hunting Lands

New emergency rules and resolutions for public hunting lands were approved last month by the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission.

First Look: Premium and Premium Deluxe Die Sets From Redding Reloading Equipment

Redding Reloading Equipment has expanded its Premium Die Set and Premium Deluxe Die Set product lines, including over seventy of the most popular cartridges in the industry today.

Interests



Get the best of American Hunter delivered to your inbox.