Free Republic

Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska is the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 1865, which would raise the price of the federal duck stamp to $25. At its current price, the buying power of the federal duck stamp, which is required by the U.S. government to hunt migratory waterfowl, has never been lower over its 79-year history, according to a news release from Ducks Unlimited. Since the federal duck stamp’s enactment in 1934, the price has only been raised seven times. It has been 23 years since the last increase to bring the price of the stamp to $15, the single...

A 6-year-old South Dakota girl who was initially accused of cheating in a federally-sponsored art contest was restored as a winner, and her painting of a duck is again on track to be used on a U.S. postage stamp. A 9-by-12-inch oil painting of a canvasback duck by Madison Grimm, of Burbank, S.D., was declared the winner from some 29,000 entries in the 2013 Federal Junior Duck Stamp Contest. In addition to having their artwork immortalized on a stamp, winners receive a $5,000 scholarship. But days after the April 19 announcement, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials said Madison —...

The federal government says it has no choice but to reluctantly keep distributing to millions of waterfowl hunters a toll-free phone-sex-service number that features a breathy woman promising callers that they can "talk only to the girls who turn you on" for $1.99 per minute. About 3.5 million federal "duck stamps," featuring artwork by a Plymouth artist, are affixed to a card that bears the misprinted number, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday. All waterfowl hunters age 16 and older must buy and carry the current Migratory Bird Conservation and Hunting Stamp, commonly known as the duck stamp....