The
Wild Duck Chase. Inside the Strange and Wonderful World of the Federal Duck
Stamp Contest. Martin
J. Smith. Walker and Company, New York. 262 pp. $25.
Despite a resemblance to the subtitle of Hunter S.
Thompson’s Hell’s Angels: A Strange and
Terrible Saga, this is an uplifting and positive book about a program aimed
at preserving and “ensuring the future of wetlands habitat conservation in
America …” And the way to do it is buy a duck stamp for a mere $15. According
to www.duckstamp.com, 98
cents of every dollar goes toward the purchase of wetlands.
What the author, Marty Smith, has done is provided not just
background on the program, but given us some nitty gritty as he follows several
artists in their quest to win the annual contest. For example, you will learn
about the Hautman brothers, who combined have won the competition at least 10
times since 1989. I know that because even though the story is based on the 2011
competition, Smith was able to include a list of winners through 2012. And even
if he hadn’t, you would have Googled “duck stamp contest” to find out.
Smith has written a good book at about the right length. He
was one of my students when I was a beginning journalism instructor. It’s nice
to see that I did no harm.
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