duckDNA | Gamekeeper Grants x Ducks Unlimited

Last fall, we hosted Dr. Phil Lavretsky on the Gamekeeper Podcast to discuss the new initiative from Ducks Unlimited and the University of Texas at El Paso, the duckDNA Project. We were startled to learn of the challenges that wild populations of ducks, and particularly the mallard duck, face. 

As if habitat loss, hunting pressure, and historic droughts in key nesting grounds aren’t enough, ducks are also challenged by a less visible and pervasive issue, the degradation of wild duck genetics due to the hybridization with game-farm (released) mallards. We are eager to learn more, but early observations and data suggest that when wild ducks breed with game-farm mallards, their broods may be poorly adapted to natural habits, natural forage, and historical migration patterns and behaviors. In short, they are less productive breeders, less efficient migrators and spread these traits further into wild populations. 

Mossy Oak is proud to join the duckDNA project and other conservationist-hunters in gathering the crucial samples and important field data needed to understand the scope of the issue and what we can do as Gamekeepers to come alongside the animals we care so much about to ensure that wild ducks stay wild. 

The duckDNA Project is a first-of-its-kind project that asks hunters to be hunter-scientists. Hunters submit a piece of tissue and accompanying information from their harvested birds (i.e. presumed sex, location information, and relevant weather information, along with photos of the duck.) The hunter gets the genetic ancestry information of their birds, and thereby learning, at the fundamental level, a host of information of about their birds. Dr. Lavretsky and his team have "grown a dataset unparalleled among wildlife. The dataset is currently being used to study consequences of hybridization, but also to understand the genetic underpinnings of migration and plumage variation, and is being used to build new methods in identifying birds (hybrids especially). Of course, more questions will be asked as we continue to build this dataset," per Dr. Lavretsky.

A few of us were headed to Canada just a matter of weeks after meeting Dr. Lavretsky to hunt ducks on the prairies of Saskatchewan. We then had the opportunity to work officially with duckDNA and collect 50 samples from ducks in hopes of determining whether or not game-farm mallard DNA was present in mallards in north/central Canada. It was an incredible privilege to participate in this field work and to join the ranks of generations of normal, everyday conservationist-hunters who care for and love the resource.

We look forward to supporting this work broadly and in our own hunting and seeing more folks in our community of Gamekeepers do the same. 

From Chesapeake Bay to the Pacific, Stuttgart to Saskatoon, the ducks depend on everyone. The cycle of migration, breeding, nesting and hatching is one of the great miracles of nature, and a healthy population depends on everyone from Gamekeepers on their local woods and wetlands to the experts at Ducks Unlimited keeping a broad view and historical perspective.

If you’d like to support the team at duckDNA, every penny from Mossy Oak’s 2025 Waterfowl Conservation Stamp will help fund the ongoing work being done by Ducks Unlimited and UTEP’s duckDNA team.

And if you want to participate through your own hunting, there are a limited number of test kits available each season for hunters across the country. Apply now for the upcoming season.

To learn more, visit duckDNA.com or listen to Gamekeeper Podcast Episode #243 for a deep dive into the full story.

Original artwork for our 2025 Waterfowl Conservation Stamp by Blake Gore