Attention duck hunters, wildlife enthusiasts, and stamp collectors: beginning today, July 1, 2015, the annual Virginia Migratory Waterfowl Conservation Stamp is available for purchase. The artwork for the stamp, painted by Guy Crittenden, depicts a pair of tundra swans flying over the James River. 

VDGIF Executive Director Bob Duncan said of the winning entry: “This stunning artwork, with its warm sunlit glow, brings me back to many memorable trips to Hog Island Wildlife Management Area in Surry County.  We are fortunate to have these magnificent birds, with wingspans of up to six feet, migrate all the way from Alaska to Virginia each fall.” 

A judging panel made up of Mike Lambert and Richard Hudson from Virginia Ducks Unlimited, and Emily Pels, Gary Costanzo, and Bob Duncan from VDGIF, selected the artwork from a number of entries submitted by Virginia artists.     

Guy began drawing and painting at a very early age and exhibited in his first art show at age thirteen.  Growing up in the rural county of Gloucester, Virginia, on the Chesapeake Bay, he found his passion in the natural wonders of the world around him.  Hunting, fishing, and crabbing were just a way of life for the young man who was a self-described “river rat”.  His connection to wildlife began almost as soon as he could walk as a child.  When he was 5 years old, his grandfather would wake him an hour before sunrise to go fishing in secret spots on the Ware River. As Guy grew older, he embraced his curiosity of nature.  With an academic approach to his observations, he began to draw and paint the world to which he was so connected. Today, his work is still grounded in the influence of those early years, Guy prefers to work in oils and his subjects are best described as landscapes, wildlife, and sporting scenes.  He is a five-time winner of the Virginia Duck Stamp.  In a new agreement with Virginia Ducks Unlimited, Crittenden Studio will be the exclusive publisher of the 2015 Virginia Duck Stamp print, which became available March 21, 2015.  To get more information, visit http://crittendenstudiostore.com/.

A Virginia Migratory Waterfowl Conservation Stamp is required of all persons (unless license exempt) 16 years of age and older, hunting or taking any migratory waterfowl (ducks, geese, brant and swans) within the Commonwealth.

Funds generated from all sales of the Virginia Migratory Waterfowl Conservation Stamp are placed in the Department’s Game Protection Fund and are accounted for separately, designated as the Virginia Migratory Waterfowl Conservation Stamp Fund. After administrative costs, fifty percent of the monies in the fund goes into the Department’s waterfowl program to use to protect, preserve, restore, enhance, and develop waterfowl habitat in Virginia; while the remaining fifty percent is used to contract with appropriate nonprofit organizations for cooperative waterfowl habitat improvement projects in Virginia and for projects in eastern Canada that provide habitat conservation and improvement on the breeding grounds of ducks and other migratory species that winter in Virginia.

The annual Virginia Migratory Waterfowl Conservation Stamp can be purchased for a fee of $10.00 (resident or nonresident) at license agents or clerks who sell Virginia hunting licenses or from the Department’s website.

A Federal Duck Stamp is also required to hunt migratory waterfowl in Virginia.  The Federal Duck is now available. 

A photograph of the winning artwork is available by contacting Lee.Walker@dgif.virginia.gov.