PLEASE DON’T BUY DUCK STAMPS – THE CONSERVATION MESSAGE: DUCK CALLS AND PLASTIC SHOTGUN SHELLS
All waterfowl hunters MUST purchase a duck stamp every year, it’s their permit to hunt waterfowl. Every year the stamp art changes. Selection of the new art gets a lot of attention.
Not only do hunters purchase the stamp, but many non-hunters purchase the stamp believing that they are supporting conservation, but not fully understanding how they are supporting hunting.
A recent Audubon article about the new federal guidelines for duck stamp art is a must-read. You can see it here: https://www.audubon.org/news/duck-stamp-artists-turn-spent-shotgun-shells-meet-new-pro-hunting-mandate
Incredibly, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has now changed the stamp’s name to “The Bird Hunting Stamp.” The money goes toward the purchase of land for waterfowl hunting. They claim that 98 percent of the purchase price goes directly to help acquire and protect wetland habitat and purchase conservation easements for the National Wildlife Refuge System.
The new contest rules demand that the message of hunting be put into the picture of conservation. This demand to prospective artists unbelievably appears on the FWS website: https://www.fws.gov/birds/get-involved/duck-stamp/duck-stamp-contest-and-event-information.php
It says:
You must also include waterfowl hunting related accessory or scene that illustrates the theme “celebrating our waterfowl hunting heritage.” Waterfowl hunting related accessories include, but are not limited to, such elements such as hunting dogs and waterfowl decoys.
Now that the election has been called for Biden, C.A.S.H. is free to say that Trump has been a disaster for wild animals. It’s not a secret that his son, Don Jr., has been working overtime to ensure more hunting opportunity in the country, as hunting is a favorite pastime of the two Trump sons. Even the Audubon, which has cooperated with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in furthering their goals, and never speaks out against hunting, voiced their disapproval of guidelines that wanted hunting litter added to the bird stamps that waterfowl hunters need to purchase.
In the photo here, the winner of the 2020 contest shows a bird next to lost duck calls used by hunters to lure them to their death.
Understandably, someone at Audubon feels that spent shells floating in the water, along with other hunting debris counteracts the conservation image.
At C.A.S.H. we know that this is truly the CONservation message.