{"id":9113,"date":"2025-10-18T00:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T00:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/9113\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T00:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T00:05:09","slug":"connection-between-sanibel-refuge-duck-stamp-sanibel-captiva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/9113\/","title":{"rendered":"Connection between Sanibel refuge, duck stamp – SANIBEL-CAPTIVA"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\n
\n \/News
\n
\n <\/a>
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

1 \/ 2<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

REFUGE\/DDWS
\nBrothers Jim, Bob and Joe Hautman.<\/p>\n

2 \/ 2<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

REFUGE\/DDWS<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

[expand]<\/p>\n

close
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

As the J.N. \u201cDing\u201d Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel celebrates the latest Federal Duck Stamp Contest win for James \u201cJim\u201d Hautman \u2014 the only seven-time winner and a longtime friend of the refuge \u2014 the \u201cDing\u201d Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS) is taking a look at the long, entwined relationship between the duck stamp program and refuge.<\/p>\n

The refuge\u2019s namesake, Jay Norwood \u201cDing\u201d Darling, was instrumental in creating the Federal Duck Stamp program in 1934 and designed the first duck stamp himself. As head of the agency today known as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), he \u2014 also a Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist \u2014 championed the conservation of wetlands. Since its inception, the program has preserved more than six million acres of fragile habitat across the United States and its territories.<\/p>\n

The DDWS reported that since the stamp, which waterfowl hunters today are required to carry, a competition annually selects the winning design from July through June for the following year. Ninety-two duck stamps through the years have become highly collectible entities. After the design first was selected by competition in 1949, winning the contest has become the top honor for wildlife artists. As part of their award contract, the winners agree to make a personal appearance at the Sanibel refuge.<\/p>\n

In 2007, the FWS celebrated the 75th anniversary of the contest of the art competition on Sanibel to honor Darling. All contests were held in Washington, D.C., or Memphis, Tennessee, before that.<\/p>\n

Joseph \u201cJoe\u201d Hautman won the 75th contest. Already by then, the three brothers \u2014 including Robert \u201cBob\u201d Hautman \u2014 had made a name for themselves in the world of federal duck stamps. The Minnesota brothers even made the script for the 1996 comedic movie, \u201cFargo.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, Jim has won seven contests, Joe has won six, and Bob three. Jim broke the tie with Joe on Sep. 19 at the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland, with an acrylic painting of three bufflehead ducks. His artwork will become the 2026-27 Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, as it is formally known, which will go on sale in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all so super excited for Jim and his family,\u201d DDWS Executive Director Ann-Marie Wildman said. \u201cThey are a huge part of our \u2018Ding\u2019 family, and we can\u2019t wait to welcome Jim back in October 2026 for a special celebration of Darling\u2019s 150th birthday. We\u2019re hoping all three of them are able to make it, as they did in 2023 after Joe\u2019s sixth win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DDWS noted that Wildman has a special connection with the Hautmans. Her late husband, Don, a former DDWS board member, befriended the brothers early in their careers and encouraged them \u2014 along with their father \u2014 to enter the contest. At one time, he owned 13 original first place federals by the Hautmans, recently housed in the Bruce Museum in Connecticut. He would often lend them to the refuge to display.<\/p>\n

Former board president, the late Jim Sprankle, also became close to the family. An accomplished wildlife sculptor himself, he judged two contests, including the one held on Sanibel in 2007.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t talk about the duck stamp program without talking about \u2018Ding,’\u201d she said. \u201cOctober 2026 will bring a whole lot of talking about both to Sanibel Island. Besides the Hautmans, we are planning appearances from Teddy Roosevelt reprisor Joe Wiegand and \u2018Ding\u2019 Darling reprisor Tom Milligan. Jim will be signing duck stamps, and we are envisioning a Hautman art exhibition and sale. I imagine \u2018Ding\u2019 would be plenty proud of our efforts to keep his artistic and conservation legacy alive.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \/News 1 \/ 2 REFUGE\/DDWS Brothers Jim, Bob and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-9113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}