For over 75 years the United States has issued stamps for Duck Hunting. To go hunting, each year a hunter must purchase a (now $15) Federal Duck hunting stamp and usually a state duck hunting stamp as well. The proceeds from the sale of the stamps are a user tax, going back to wetlands and duck management programs. The Federal Duck Stamp program is one of the oldest user fees that the government has imposed. Duck stamps have long been very popular among stamp collectors and have also gotten a boost from the fact that many non-philatelic duck hunters also maintain collections of these stamps as a memory to their times hunting. The popularity of Duck Stamps has ebbed and flowed. When they first were issued in 1935, the high face value of $1 during the Great Depression made them unpopular with general stamp collectors. When the stamps became popular in the 1960s because of their beautiful engraving and interesting subjects, these early Ducks rose greatly in price. As a result of the rise in price, collectors flocked to these stamps, and Duck collecting was a popular adjunct to mainstream US Philately. In recent years, Duck stamps are less popular and can be purchased now at, what appears to me, to be attractive prices.
