Electronic duck stamps now available to hunters

The White House announced Dec. 18 that President Barack Obama signed legislation permitting states to issue electronic hunting-permit stamps, commonly known as duck stamps.

The legislation gives the green light to expand a program that proved its worth in six years of testing in eight states.

Under the law, the secretary of the interior is empowered to authorize states to sell electronic versions of the stamps, which have been required for waterfowl hunting since 1934.

The law won’t affect production of the printed stamps because every state that opts for electronic sales of the migratory bird hunting and conservation stamps, as the federal duck stamp is known, will be required to give each hunter an actual stamp.

When the legislation was introduced June 3, 2013, Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., told the House “timeliness is a factor in people being able to enjoy waterfowl hunting.”

The law allows hunters to use their personal computers to acquire the stamps as late as the evening before their hunt, he said.

“Allowing the purchase of duck stamps online is an important technological advancement,” Witt­man said.

He predicted “this convenient 21st-century delivery system will be utilized by thousands of American sportsmen in the future.”