Duck Walk: A Birder's Improbable Path to Hunting as Conservation

In fall 2016, lifelong birdwatcher, naturalist, and esteemed Texas artist Margie Crisp decided to take up a shotgun and start hunting ducks.

Few nature enthusiasts understand the role that the hunting industry plays in the conservation of wildlands and wildlife—protecting far more critical habitat than birdwatchers do. With many bird species in a precipitous decline, duck and geese populations continue to rise steadily year after year. Why? Because of the money waterfowl hunters spend on ...