Delta Waterfowl announced July 25 its Million Duck Campaign, a fundraiser aimed at adding “one million ducks to ever fall flight, forever,” raised an impressive $284 million in contributions and pledges.
Launched in 2022, the fundraiser started with a goal of $250 million. CEO Jason Tharpe announced the three-year fundraising total at the Delta Waterfowl Duck Hunters Expo in Oklahoma City.
“I am excited to announce that we have exceeded our $250 million goal for the Million Duck Campaign and have secured more than $280 million in commitments to produce one million ducks each year, forever,” Tharpe said during the Duck Hunters Grand Banquet to a sold-out venue of 860 people. “Delta’s MDC campaign represents the largest shift in waterfowl conservation philosophy in decades, and this monumental achievement would not have happened without the thousands of Delta Waterfowl donors, members, volunteers, supporters who helped make it possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping make this monumental campaign a success for ducks and duck hunters across North America.”
The MDC establishes an endowment fund to dramatically scale up Delta’s scientifically proven duck production programs: Predator Management and Hen Houses.
Delta’s Predator Management program employs targeted predator control during the spring nesting season on key wetland habitats that attract high densities of nesting ducks. It’s especially effective on landscapes where nesting cover is limited and nest predators such as raccoons, skunks and others find and destroy nests and sometimes, kill the hens. In 2025, Delta operated 50 Predator Management sites across the prairie pothole region. At maturity for MDC delivery, the goal is to deploy 366 sites to produce 750,000 ducks annually.
Delta’s Hen House program works to add mallards to every fall flight. Hen Houses are nesting tubes mounted on poles over water to keep the nesting hen mallard out of reach of most nest predators. Hen Houses are extremely effective, increasing the chances of a successful hatch by up to 12 times over a nest on the ground in nearby cover. Delta currently has 14,325 Hen Houses on the prairie and parkland regions. At MDC maturity, Delta will have 111,000 Hen Houses installed on wetlands to produce 250,000 additional mallards each year.
“Over the past three years, we have set out to change the metric the waterfowl conservation community uses,” Tharpe explained. “As duck hunters, we long for those mornings filled with wings beating and cupped up wings dumping into our spread. This is why we have chosen to plant our flag in the ground with the Million Duck Campaign — to shift the paradigm in conservation to focus on the most important outcome in waterfowl conservation: ducks produced.”
Achieving the MDC goal is a transformative and defining moment for North American duck hunters, Delta Waterfowl and conservation visionaries across the continent, Tharpe said.
“Delta Waterfowl is The Duck Hunters Organization — because we make ducks and duck hunters. Nobody else is built to do both,” Tharpe said. “We are building a future where ducks and duck hunters thrive together by producing 1 million ducks annually, revitalizing hunter recruitment and becoming the leading voice in waterfowl policy. Everything we do is aligned to deliver more ducks, more quality hunting and more impact.”
Learn more at deltawaterfowl.org.
