In 1934, the federal government began requiring duck hunters to register themselves annually with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in accordance with the Migratory Bird Conservation Act, issuing them a “duck stamp” to place on a backing card that is to be carried with them at all times while hunting. Like with postage stamps, a collector’s market soon emerged for duck stamps, with many special alternate versions of varying secondary value put into circulation over the decades. Starting 1949, the USFWS began an annual contest for selecting the next year’s duck stamp design, which to us seems like an extremely prestigious accolade for waterfowl sketchers.

Because Trump ruins everything, on May 8th, 2020 USFWS proclaimed “We are instituting changes to design elements and judging requirements beginning with the 2020 Contest. Beginning in 2020, the Contest will include a permanent theme of ‘celebrating our waterfowl hunting heritage,’ and it will be mandatory that each entry include an appropriate waterfowl hunting scene and/or accessory” meaning the art had to depict a duck getting shot or maybe the stump where the head used to be after it was blown off with a shotgun whatever. A cursory search of images of duck stamps dating back to 1934 yields a single winning entry from 1959 that might have qualified under this criteria, as it shows a dead duck hanging from the mouth of a Black Labrador Retriever.

While the contest page on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s website hasn’t been updated yet, on Thursday the Associated Press reported the Biden administration “said this week that artists competing to have their work featured on the stamp will ‘have more freedom of expression’ without a mandate to include a gun, dog or some other hunting component” which is great news for those who don’t want imagery depicting acts of violence against wild animals on their license to commit acts of violence against wild animals. Quack back better.