Federal Duck Stamp Trivia

While Darling didn’t conceive of the duck stamp, he did design the first one. He sketched out several experimental versions for the original stamp design on pieces of cardboard and sent them to the Bureau of Engraving for review pending further discussion. But when Darling met with the engravers, he was disappointed to learn the engraving process was already underway. Even years later Darling said he wished he could re-do the stamp.
Darling’s original duck stamp sold 600,000 copies.
The word “conservation” did not come into the English language until 1907 when Gifford Pinchot used it in autobiography Breaking New Ground. Pinchot discussed the coining the word with President Theodore Roosevelt, who made “conservation” they keynote of his administration.
The daily duck limit was slashed from 25 to 15 for the 1930-31 hunting season. In 1935, Darling cut the daily limit to 10 ducks, the season was shortened to 30 days, and live decoys, sinkboxes and shotguns holding more than three rounds were all banned.
When Darling accepted Franklin Roosevelt’s offer to head up the Bureau of Biological Survey, he gave up a six-figure income as a cartoonist for an $8,000-a-year government job.
The idea for the duck stamp originated with U.S. Game Warden George Lawyer, who often discussed it with his deputy Ray Holland. Holland, who later left his position to become editor of the American Game Protective and Propagation Association’s Bulletin, passed the idea along to AGPPA President John Burnham, and director Frederic C. Walcott.
In his book on the AGPPA, William Haskell estimated that if the 1921 duck stamp bill promoted by Walcott had passed, it would have provided $10 million worth of habitat protection by 1934, the year the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act finally became law.
The highly successful Pittman-Robertson Act came about because of the Special Committee on the Conservation of Wildlife Resources started by Frederic Walcott. After Walcott retired from the Senate, the committee was expanded to seven members under the chairmanship of Key Pittman of Nevada, and a similar committee was established in the House under A. Willis Robertson of Virginia. Under their leadership, the Pittman-Robertson Act was passed in 1937.