Division of  Migratory Bird Management Harvest Surveys

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Duck Stamp Sales & Revenue generated from Duck Stamp Sales

PURPOSE

The Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, commonly known as the Federal Duck Stamp, was established in 1934 to provide a funding source for wetland conservation.  All waterfowl hunters 16 years old and older are required to carry a current Federal Duck Stamp whenever they hunt waterfowl in the United States.  From the original $1 fee, the Federal Duck Stamp’s cost gradually rose to the current $15.  Federal Duck Stamp sales have generated more than $670 million since 1934, and that money has been used to help purchase or lease more than 5.2 million acres of waterfowl habitat in the United States.  For more information about Federal Duck Stamps, please see the following web site:   www.fws.gov/duckstamps/

LIMITATIONS

Federal Duck Stamps were initially sold only at post offices across the nation, but sporting goods stores and other privately owned stores began selling the stamps in the 1980s.  Since there is money involved in these transactions, duck stamp sales are the subject of rigorous accounting efforts.  This enables us to get actual counts of the number of stamps sold each year, rather than estimates.  However, accurate duck stamp sales records must be kept at thousands of individual post offices and stores, so inevitably some errors are made.  Although most of those errors get corrected, sometimes it takes a year or more to detect and correct them.

POINT OF CONTACT
Ken Richkus
Wildlife Biologist, Harvest Surveys
Division of Migratory Bird Management, USFWS
10815 Loblolly Pine Drive
Laurel, MD 20708
voice mail:  (301) 497-5994
fax:  (301) 497-5871
ken_richkus@fws.gov

DATABASES

This database contains the cost per stamp and the number of Federal Duck Stamps sold each year from 1934 through 2003.  Stamp sales are reported by state and summarized by Flyway, with a subtotal for the continental United States.  Note that because the Central and Pacific Flyway border bisects four states (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico), there are two annual entries for each of those states: one for the Central Flyway portion of the state, and the other for the Pacific Flyway portion.  Stamps sold in Guam, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico are reported separately, as are stamps sold at the U.S. Postal Service’s Philatelic Unit in Kansas City, Missouri, and those sold at a few other unusual outlets.  Those stamp sales are all included in the grand total for each year.  

DOWNLOADABLE FIELD DESCRIPTIONS