By Colleen Leahy
There’s government money, institutionally entrenched traditionalism, a fraternal dynasty, art and millions of acres of land involved.
Welcome to the annual Federal Migratory Bird Hunting And Conservation Stamp Contest, commonly known as the Federal Duck Stamp Contest. It’s being held this year on the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point campus Friday, Sept. 15 through Saturday, Sept. 16.
The Federal Duck Stamp Contest didn’t start out as a competition. First it was legislation, known as the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law required all waterfowl hunters age 16 and older to purchase a valid federal hunting stamp each year, with the revenue going to the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund.
The stamp was designed by a different artist commissioned by the federal government each year until 1949. Then the annual competition began, and any artist who wished to flaunt their skill at drawing one of the approved species — whether it was cackling geese, mallards, gadwalls, canvasbacks, King Eiders, mute swans, ruddy ducks or any other number of migratory waterfowl — could enter.
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