State Duck Stamps are issued annually. The stamp is purchased and usually affixed to a hunting license and signed across the face by the license holder.

The first State Duck Stamp Program began in California in 1971 to raise critical funds for waterfowl habitat efforts in the US and Canada. Since then, many states have successfully implemented their own programs. Each state produces their own high-quality art designs that portray regional, unique waterfowl species in their picturesque habitats.

The State Duck Stamps and their limited edition companion prints are highly prized and collected by hunters, art collectors, and wildlife enthusiasts. State Duck Stamp Programs have raised many millions of dollars in revenue dedicated to waterfowl conservation work, and their success has helped to attract hundreds of thousand of dollars in private and federal funds, and well as strengthen partnerships with organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and Safari Club International. The funds generated by the sales of prints and stamps are used to protect, preserve, restore and develop waterfowl habitats.

Duck Stamps have, for example, helped to acquire valuable wetland habitats and public access sites, to implement conservation projects such as the construction of breeding ponds, the improvement of salt marshes, ponds, lakes, and associated agricultural areas, and to replace water control structures. The funds also enable conservation programs to assess waterfowl resources, and to create public information products and wetlands and wildlife school curriculum. The results of these projects have been vastly improved habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife. Your contribution through the purchase of State Duck Stamps and prints is crucial to long-term protection of our fragile environment.