Episode 8 - Duck Stamp Art, Conservation, and Legacy with Wildlife Painter Adam Grimm

Summary

Legends of the Wild, Episode 8 — “Duck Stamp Art, Conservation, and Legacy”

Host: Sam Soholt | Guest: Adam Grimm (Wildlife Painter, 3-Time Federal Duck Stamp Winner)
Date: September 24, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this richly detailed episode, host Sam Soholt sits down with renowned wildlife artist Adam Grimm to discuss the artistry, conservation impact, and personal stories behind the Federal Duck Stamp. The episode explores Adam’s journey as a wildlife painter, the challenges and emotions of competing in the Federal Duck Stamp Contest, the nuances of photorealism in wildlife art, and the vital role of the Duck Stamp program in conservation funding. The conversation also delves into family legacy, grassroots conservation efforts like "Stamp It Forward," and real-world stories of waterfowl management and rescue in the prairie pothole region.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Adam Grimm’s Artistic Journey

[01:42–07:00]

• Early Roots:
  Growing up in Ohio, Adam was influenced by his father’s love for the outdoors and inspired by watching Bob Ross on TV.
  "I always liked to draw... and it never failed. I'd see things out in nature that just really blew me away... I would try to draw it. That was a way I could tell that story..." — Adam Grimm [02:15]

• First Sale & Realization:
  At age 11, his grandfather paid him $20 for a drawing — a pivotal moment.
  "I was 11, so I was pretty young... I remember thinking, I wonder what else grandpa would like." — Adam Grimm [03:30]

• Path to Wildlife Art:
  Early experiences at craft shows selling wildlife-themed drawings. "After that, I really was like, you know, I'm just really want to do the wildlife art." — Adam Grimm [04:32]

• Transition to Painting:
  Began with drawing/pencil, then attempted oil painting (inspired by Bob Ross), before developing his own photorealistic style after mastering foundational drawing skills.

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2. Photorealism and the Creative Process

[07:00–15:01]

• Style & Technique:
  Adam’s photorealistic method involves piecing together elements from dozens of photographs to construct a scene that can’t possibly exist in one frame in real life.

  "I'm working now like very photorealistic... I'll have to work sometimes from, I don't know, 40 or 50 photos... piecing every little thing together..." — Adam Grimm [07:00–08:23]

• Commission Work Example:
  He shares the story behind a complex painting of a pheasant being preyed upon by an ermine in a snowy cattail slough, composed from 50+ reference images.
  “I don’t have a photo of a ermine killing a pheasant in the snow... I had to figure out how to do the weasel. But I mean, probably like 50... I had taken hundreds of photos.” [12:06–13:14]

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3. The Duck Stamp’s Conservation Impact

[15:09–26:41]

• Cornerstone Funding:
  Sam and Adam underline the Duck Stamp’s legal requirement that 98% of funds go directly to conservation, totaling over a billion dollars and more than 6 million acres protected.
  "Once I figured out, like, 98% of the duck stamp purchase price by law has to be spent on conservation... Since its inception, you know, over 6 million acres has been preserved." — Sam Soholt [17:08–17:46]

• Advocacy for Physical Stamps:
  Both stress the cultural value of the physical stamp in connecting hunters to conservation heritage.
  “If the E-stamp thing is too popular... I really don't want to see the duck stamp contest just become some digital print off on a license...” — Adam Grimm [16:00]

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4. Grassroots Conservation — “Stamp It Forward” & Community Involvement

[23:45–25:41]

• Stamp It Forward:
  Launched by Sam and his brother to buy and distribute thousands of duck stamps through merchandise sales, helping people support conservation directly.
  "In the first fall, we bought a thousand... 2022, we hit 2,000 stamps. 2023, we hit 2,000 stamps... we've bought just shy of 8,000 stamps since 2019." — Sam Soholt [24:30–25:46]

• Call to Action:
  Adam offers to sign stamps mailed to him, further personalizing the connection to conservation efforts.

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5. Anatomy of the Federal Duck Stamp Contest

[27:00–38:14]

• Contest Structure:
  Overview of how the contest is judged (multiple rounds, five judges with in/out votes, numerical scoring).
  “You’ve got five different judges... basically you have to paint a painting that's going to appeal to anybody. It's got to have broad appeal.” — Adam Grimm [27:13–28:29]

• Strategy, Risks, and Subjectivity:
  Discussion on species choice, broad appeal, and luck in winning; judges can be swayed by preference for certain species or colors.
  “I would much prefer if they said, everyone has to paint this duck. It would level everything. You wouldn't have species bias.” — Adam Grimm [42:02]

• Family Legacy:
  Adam’s daughter Madison, the most successful Junior Duck Stamp artist, will enter the adult contest for the first time.
  “I've told her multiple times, listen, don't get your hopes up... This is the Federal Duck stamp contest...” — Adam Grimm [30:19]

• Quote On Contest Stress:
  “The contests are tough. I mean, I don't even like watching them honestly. Especially if I'm in it... My daughter Madison is actually entering for the first time, the adult contest this year." — Adam Grimm [29:58–30:16]

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6. Wildlife Habitat—Challenges, Restoration, and Rescue

[46:43–64:35]

• Prairie Pothole Region’s Role:
  Adam describes living in the “duck factory” of the prairie pothole region and the direct connection between local conservation and continent-wide waterfowl populations.
  "Within a mile of where I live, we have found pintail nests, green wing, teal nest, widgeon, gadwall, shovelers, redheads, canvas back, ruddy duck... all of these ducks within a mile of our house." — Adam Grimm [19:45]

• Habitat Loss, Agriculture, and Predators:
  Discussion on the decline of wetland habitat, the incentive structure for farmers, rise of raccoon/skunk populations, and how modern farming practices fragment habitat.

• Waterfowl Egg & Duckling Rescue (Second Chance Flight):
  Adam’s daughter Madison founded a nonprofit, Second Chance Flight, rescuing and raising hundreds of displaced/harmed duck eggs and ducklings, an effort supported by working with local farmers and a rare federal permit.

  “She started a nonprofit called Second Chance Flight... this year rescued around 200 ducks... she's only the second person I know of in the country to have a federal permit to collect eggs.” — Adam Grimm [54:43–55:17]

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7. The Human Side: Family, Legacy, and Education

[50:27–94:38]

• Legacy & Impact:
  Adam reflects on his legacy shifting from artwork to his kids and how family involvement in both hunting and conservation education inspires future generations.
  “I realize it's my kids... I didn't realize the impact that, you know, me as their father and with what I cared about and taught them how much that it would impact their life and even other friends and family members...” — Adam Grimm [50:27]

• Conservation Events:
  Adam organized a hometown conservation education celebration focused on getting kids excited about waterfowl and habitat stewardship.
  “My goal was to get kids either excited about ducks or even duck hunting... they’re probably going to care about the birds more and then they’re going to care about the habitat.” — Adam Grimm [94:38]

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8. Art, Color, and Individual Perception

[79:37–88:42]

• Seeing Differently:
  Subtle differences in how people (and judges) perceive colors and artistic decisions, drawing analogy to musical perfect pitch.
  “There's people that are tone deaf... I always say, well, there's people that are visually deaf, not blind. They just don't process what they're seeing the same way." — Adam Grimm [81:19–81:34]

• Mentoring the Next Generation:
  Adam offers guidance to Madison:
  “It's a lot... so complex... I’m just glad you can look at it and actually appreciate it now, because you now know what it takes to do it.” [87:50]

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9. Duck Stamp as a Cultural and Conservation Touchstone

[95:08–End]

• How to Support:
  Adam encourages listeners to buy (even collect) stamps, regardless of whether they hunt, highlighting how accessible the Duck Stamp is as a conservation tool.

  “Definitely make sure you buy your duck stamp this year whether you hunt or not… Buy two actually. Or three.” — Adam Grimm [96:47]

• Staying Connected:
  Adam shares ways to order art, commission paintings, get stamps signed, and points listeners to his and his daughter’s websites/socials: AdamGrimm.com & Second Chance Flight.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "You're building out a scene that would be dang near impossible to put down in one photo." — Sam Soholt [10:16]
• “There’s so much work that goes into it to make it look that believable.” — Adam Grimm on photorealistic wildlife art [14:08]
• “I always kind of thought of [the Duck Stamp] almost like a rite of passage... I got my federal duck stamp, I signed it, I got my license stuff, like I'm good to go.” — Adam Grimm [45:45–46:16]
• “We value this habitat and these birds and not just the birds that use it, but so many animals that use these wetlands...” — Adam Grimm [18:16]
• “The experiences that you get from [waterfowl hunting]... I used to always think that my artwork was going to be kind of my legacy. Right. And now I realize it's my kids.” — Adam Grimm [50:27]
• “If you spend time in the outdoors at all, the duck stamp is by far the easiest way to take that first step into raising money for wildlife.” — Sam Soholt [49:41]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Adam’s Artistic Origins & First Sales: 01:42–05:13
• Developing Photorealism & Technique: 06:46–15:01
• Duck Stamp’s Conservation Role: 16:23–18:15
• “Stamp it Forward” Campaign: 23:45–25:46
• Duck Stamp Contest Mechanics: 27:00–38:14
• Prairie Pothole Region—The Duck Factory: 19:45–22:19
• Egg & Duckling Rescue / Second Chance Flight: 54:43–55:18
• Art, Color, and Perception: 79:37–88:42
• Legacy, Family, and Conservation Events: 50:27–94:38
• Where to Find Adam and How to Support: 95:08–end

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Resources & Links

• Adam Grimm Art: adamgrimm.com
• Second Chance Flight: secondchanceflight.com
• Stamp it Forward & Public Land Tees: publiclandtees.com

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Final Takeaway:
This episode is a masterclass in how art, personal passion, and grassroots action can drive conservation. Adam Grimm’s life story and achievement bring home the idea that one person’s commitment to their craft—and the natural world—can ripple out to broader, tangible impact for waterfowl, habitat, and the next generation of conservationists. Whether you’re a hunter, collector, or simply an admirer of wild places, supporting the Duck Stamp program (and buying more than one) is perhaps the easiest, most direct step you can take for conservation.

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Listen to this episode for emotional, inspiring, and practical insights at the intersection of wildlife art and conservation activism.

Transcript

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[Podcast Host]

This is Legends of the Wild presented by Field and Stream. Let's get into it. Okay. All that just to start, you know, talking about ducks.

[Adam Grimm]

There you go.

[Podcast Host]

Well, Adam Graham, thank you for joining us on the Legends of the Wild podcast. I'm super excited to have you on for a lot of reasons, but one of those is the how much focus and effort I have, myself and my brother have put on the duck stamp the last few years. But why don't you just kind of do a quick, like, rundown on who you are, kind of where you came from, the artist stuff, just, you know, the elevator pitch of Adam Grimm.

[Adam Grimm]

Oh, boy. So I grew up in Ohio and, and you know, my dad was into hunting and fishing and those sorts of things, hiking, camping. So we did all of that growing up. And in those experiences, I saw all this incredible nature and I always liked to draw. I remember growing up watching Bob Ross paint paintings on tv and I used to sit and draw for about an hour or so every day since I was like 2 years old is what my mom said. So I always had some kind of attention span to sit and, and just do that. And it never failed. I'd see things out in nature that just really blew me away. And it's kind of hard to explain it to people, like what you saw. And so I would try to draw it. Sure. Because that was like a way I could kind of tell that story of what I had witnessed or experienced. And the drawings, I mean, people really liked and, and you know, from, compared to other things that I used to draw, I used to like, tire out drawing, I don't know, GI Joe, action figures, cars or dragons or whatever things that I was into at the time. It was always, like, phases, and I always kept kind of going back to the nature stuff, so it seemed like that was just more where I was, my attention and focus went. And when I got to 11, my grandfather, who always loved my artwork and was always impressed with it, he came over and he saw a drawing I was working on. He said, you know, that's. That's really good. He said, I'd love to have that. And I was like, oh, yeah, you can have it. And he said, well, hold on. I. He said, you're getting to the point where I think you're good enough. I should pay you something for it. And so he paid me, like, 20 bucks for this drawing.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And I was 11, so I was pretty young, and I was like. I mean, 20 bucks was worth more than it is today, right?

[Podcast Host]

Way more.

[Adam Grimm]

And so I was like, wow. I remember thinking, I wonder what else grandpa would like.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So that was kind of what went through my head as. As that all played out. And. And he actually did end up buying a number of other things. But then I actually did a little craft show, and a teacher friend of my mom's or something had this space, and she's like, well, I don't need much of it. If your son wants to set up some of his drawings, maybe he could sell them. Well, I sold all of my drawings.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Wow.

[Adam Grimm]

All of them. And I took about 30 orders for these teddy bear drawings in a rocking chair.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Adam Grimm]

And it was great because, like, the money. People were handing me money Right. Then I had to draw all these 30 teddy bears and rocking. Which, you know, I did it because it was like a craft show, and I thought maybe that's what people would like. And I sold the first ones up right away. And then I took all these orders and. Yeah. Fulfilling orders after the fact. Like, I even tell people now if someone wants to commission me to do a big pain, I'm like, you know what? You could do, like, a down payment, but just pay me the rest when it's done, because I'd rather know I have that money coming after it's done.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, sometimes that's so much easier to have that, like, carrot at the end.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, it is. It helps you to keep you going and working on it. So anyway, yeah, so that. That's sort of how I got started. After that, I really was like, you know, I'm just really want to do the wildlife art. That's. And I saw other wildlife artists work that even inspired me more. And I thought of, like, what was possible or capable you know, possibly I could be capable of one day. And it just kind of kept that drive going and, and I was making, you know, money. I mean, selling these little drawings for 10 or $20 here and there. It was pretty amazing to be pretty young and actually have like a source of income for sure.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Now when you, when you were first starting out, was it all like pencil sketch stuff or was it like painting or was it just.

[Adam Grimm]

I tried painting but you know, it's, it, it's kind of like you have to build on the foundation and I. So the drawing is really the foundation and that's what you have to really develop. You have to understand, you know, the contour, the light, the shade, all of those things. It's easier to work in black and white than it is in color. Color. It's like you have all the things you have in black and white plus all of the color elements that work into it. So with the reflected light and everything else, so it's way more complex. So I did try painting when I was pretty young. I actually asked Santa for a set of oil paints for Christmas and, and I got him and I tried it. And you know, the he, Bob Ross painted like on big canvases with like a putty knife and different things. It doesn't work well on small canvases, which is all I had. And so, so it, it like I was hitting some brick walls a little bit with that. And, and I also didn't have the, the grounding, you know, foundational grounding of the drawing as much yet. So I kind of reverted for a while back to the drawing. I even did like pen and ink stuff. And then when I got older, I started, I was more confident with the drawing. I moved back to the painting and started doing really well with it. I worked not like Bob Ross anymore. I didn't use the putty knife and the big 3 inch brush and all those things. I got out little brushes because it's like I, I wanted to capture those little details.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Right.

[Adam Grimm]

That, the stuff that he didn't really do. Right. I, I want to actually paint that in there. And it's a whole different process. I mean, I'm working now like very photorealistic and I was working towards that from a young age, but it takes a long time to get there.

[Podcast Host]

And yeah, I was going to say that's how I would describe your style is. Yeah, is definitely photorealistic.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah. And, and I always, you know, know some people say that as like an insult. Like, oh, you should just take a photo and it's like, yeah, I've done a lot of photography. Like, go ahead and try, you know, like, it's, it's not that easy to get and, and doing it, I actually almost, I. I still take it as a compliment because when people say, wow, I thought that was a photo. And it's like, well, that's good because I've done so much planning and like, there's so many things that I perfect, purposely perfectly placed in that painting where I did for a specific reason. And the fact that they still feel it looks like a photo means I did a good job that it looks natural and doesn't look contrived because it's easy to have that too. I mean, some people do photorealistic paintings and they basically are just painting in all of the things that you wouldn't really want in there. And it looks like a photo because it doesn't. It. It doesn't look like anything much more than a photo. Right. I'm trying to make something that's perfect, composition, design, balance all of these different elements. And that's really hard to get it to look photorealistic. I mean, I'll have to work sometimes from, I don't know, I mean, 40 or 50 photos. Right. And piecing every little thing together from different elements to try to make it look right.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And I think, you know, one thing that people don't understand when you look at, like, so just trying to use an analogy here, like, if you're looking at, like marketing photos.

[Adam Grimm]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

You know, especially in the hunting space. Fishing space.

[Adam Grimm]

Yep.

[Podcast Host]

You know, stuff that people are seeing in magazines that, you know, they're like, wow, what an amazing photo. A lot of times that's a. That's, you know, a compilation of 10, 15, 20 photos. So, like, rather than doing that in Photoshop, you are doing eczema.

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[Podcast Host]

Things people love hand to canvas. Like, and you're building out a scene.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

That would be dang near impossible to like put down in one photo.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, it's very rare. I mean I've, I have taken, I can't even guess at how many photos. I mean, probably hundreds of thousands. Right. At this point. And I've only ever worked directly from a photo. Maybe, maybe once or twice. It's just so rare to ever have that. You're. There's like I, I might have a great photo of a duck in flight, but the head just doesn't look that great. Sure. And I'll have another photo of a duck in flight where maybe the wings aren't great pose but the head is like so nice and. Yeah, it's just, you know, it's just not that hard to take and make that little swap. And. And then now you have a bird that has great wing position, great, you know, lighting, and then you have the head that looks so nice with the same matching lighting. And. But then what do you have for the background? It was probably just sky in the photo. Right. And so you have to decide, well, what can I add in the background that's going to make this bird really zing and make. Do I add some cattails in the foreground? Do I have some distant marsh Scene. Do I have it out of focus? Do I make it in focus? Like, there's so many different options you can take. And I mean, the duck stuff isn't. Isn't as complicated as some other things. For one, I have a lot of duck reference, but. Yeah. For example, this painting over my shoulder, which you could show your audience. I'll send you a picture of it.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah, I'll get a clip of it.

[Podcast Host]

Before we take off.

[Adam Grimm]

So a guy from Florida, of all places, called me up and had this idea for this painting. And he had been searching for who he wanted to do this idea. Sure. I was like, all right, what's this idea? And I'm expecting palm trees or something, right?

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And he's like, well, I really want a pheasant. And I'm like, oh, okay. Like I've got pheasants in my language. Right. I really want a pheasant. And he said, I really want it killed. Like, it was just killer in the process of being killed by an iron, which is like a, like a short tailed weasel with like winter coat. Right. Which is like white. I was like, wow. And he, I said, what about back? Well, I want it in like a cattail slew with like, snow. And I'm just thinking, is this guy actually from Florida? But I guess he had come pheasant hunting or something in South Dakota. So I don't know what exactly all tied in with this idea for him, but I'm just thinking, like, how am I gonna. How am I gonna paint this? Like, I don't have a photo of a Herman that just killed it in the snow. But I. I knew I could get photos of cattail slues in snow. I knew I could get photos of a freshly killed pheasant because we pheasant hunt. And I thought, yeah, I think I can do it. But I had to figure out how to do the weasel. And it was a lot of piecing together and planning and. But I mean, probably like. Yeah, like 50. Well, I had taken hundreds of photos.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But I actually worked in the painting from like, probably 50 different photos to piece it all together. And yeah, I mean, the guy was thrilled with it. But then I was thinking, well, what do I do with this painting now that it's done? Because usually I try to find an outlet for it like Ducks Unlimited or Delta Waterfowl. Pheasants Forever. And I figure, well, Pheasants Forever probably won't want this because it's a dead pheasant.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But I actually sent it to Fur Fishing Game magazine.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Oh, yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And they were thrilled. They use it on the COVID of their magazine. So. And. And I had phone calls from people, some of who didn't even have Internet. Like, some older folks that had been getting the magazine, they said, for, like, 30 years and had never been moved to call about an image on the COVID but they wanted to know if I had any prints of this available. So I was surprised at how much. I was surprised at how much feedback we actually got.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

From that image.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And we'll show it on the screen here. But, like, the. It is a pretty incredible painting, like, of how, like. Like how you brought it all together. It's very cool.

[Adam Grimm]

Thanks.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

It's just different. It's so different.

[Adam Grimm]

Very different. And it's different. I mean, I paint birds, but it's a lot. But, you know, I mean, I don't paint as many mammals, but they're a beautiful little mammal. And then the snow with the cattails, like, there's. There's a lot of little stuff that I wanted to try to do. I wanted to have, like, some wing struggle marks in the snow. I wanted to have some little drops of blood on the snow. And I was able to use, you know, the actual bird that we had harvested for when we're pheasant hunting to kind of see how that would look. Sure. It's. There's so much work that goes into it, and I think people don't realize it, especially when they think, well, it just kind of looks like a photo. It's like. Yeah, there's so much work that goes into it to make it look that believable.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Adam Grimm]

When you're talking something that's, you know, like I said to try to get a photo or video of it in the right lighting, and everything is complicated.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah. So, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Well, before we dive any deeper, I want, like, there's so many things I want to talk about, but. But, yeah, I wanted to explain why I wanted to have you on this. So, you know, this is year one of Legends of the Wild. We're doing 24 guests over the next 12 months.

[Adam Grimm]

Awesome.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And so. But I'm super excited to have you on in this kind of, like, early run of guests for a couple reasons. One, the timing of this episode drop will be right after. Well, pretty much, you know, like, maybe a week after this year's duck stamp contest is finished. You were the winner last year. So anybody listening to this is. If you are a waterfowl hunter, you will have Adam's art on Your duck stamp. So even now, like, if you buy an E stamp and it ships later, you're going to have a piece of Adam's art, you know, in your possession, which is pretty cool.

[Adam Grimm]

And on that note, I would encourage everyone to actually find somewhere that sells the stamps.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yes.

[Adam Grimm]

Because I don't know, I worry that if the E stamp thing is too popular, that they'll just like, you know what? Why do we even need to bother making the stamp? Let's just do it this way. And I really don't want to see the duck stamp program or contest, you know, just become some digital print off on a license. I agree.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Because it's such a cool part of the heritage of not just waterfowling, but, like, conservation. And it's been this cornerstone of, like, raising money for conservation. And, you know, part of the reason that I wanted to talk to you was because. So starting in 2019, and I mentioned this on the phone, when we talked, when I called to see if you actually wanted to hop on this thing. So in 2019, it had taken about two years of, like, brainstorming idea surrounding the duck stamp, you know, because listening to other podcasts and talking to people in the industry, you know, and even growing up, I had heard, you know, buy two, buy one for you and one for the ducks.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, right.

[Podcast Host]

Well, I never, you know, you don't really think about what that actually means. Like, when you're growing up, you know, pretty. I was pretty naive to conservation funding until I, you know, was in my late 20s.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Early 30s. Even.

[Adam Grimm]

Even. That's pretty good. Yeah. So.

[Podcast Host]

So. And. And it's just something. It's like, okay, I have to have this to go hunting. So that's, you know, it's just a hurdle.

[Adam Grimm]

Right? Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And a lot of people's eyes. Well, once we. Once I figured out, like, 98% of the duck stamp purchase price by law has to be spent on conservation. So it's not just like, it's not getting going into a general pot. It's not, you know, it is being lawfully allotted to spend on wetland conservation. And since its inception, you know, over 6 million acres has been preserved or like, conserved, and it's raised over a billion dollars. I mean, like, the amount of money and.

[Adam Grimm]

Oh, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Space that it has protected and like, you know, opened up more hunting ground and public access and easements. And the national refuge system probably wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for the duck stamp.

[Adam Grimm]

No. Most of their funding comes from it. That's my Understanding and. Yeah. I mean, there's so many government slush fund type of things that get robbed.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

From this, you know, to pay this. And it's like, you, you don't really know where the money's going. Like, this is one of the few things that actually seems like it's pretty legit, which I'm. I'm grateful for.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah. I mean, because, you know, that's the thing. Like, we, we value this habitat and these birds and not just the birds that use it, but so many animals that use these wetlands. And. Yeah. I mean, if, if you don't have the funding, you're not going to be.

[Podcast Host]

Able to keep it. Exactly.

[Adam Grimm]

And there's. There's too much money in other things. Like, like even some of the agricultural stuff. I mean, you know, if you're a farmer sitting on a, you know, a slough that temporarily holds water and you think, I can just tile this and farm it and make more money, that's. There's a lot of incentive to do that for sure. And there's not a lot of incentive to not. And so, you know, like, I understand what they're. How they're looking at it as well, but I talked with a local farmer here that was doing some tiling and he said, well, that he hunts. He hunts waterfowl. And he said, well, that, that slough doesn't hold water in the fall anyway. And I said, yeah, but it holds it in the spring. And that's where these are, where these ducks are coming from. Right. And we live right in the prairie pothole region. So what happens in this area, especially with those kind of wetlands, way more important than what happens in, you know, some little similar area in, like, Kentucky or somewhere where the ducks aren't really nesting like this. So, I mean, within a mile of where I live, we have found pintail nests, green wing, teal nest, widgeon, gadwall shovelers, redheads, canvas back ruddy duck. I mean, I could go on. Right. All of these ducks within a mile of our house.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And it's like, holy cow. I didn't even know some of these ducks even nested in the prey paddle.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Adam Grimm]

I thought some of them went further north. And so to see. Yeah. To actually see their nest or to see their. Their little duckling swimming around in the spring is just such an awesome thing. Growing up in Ohio, we didn't have that. We had mallards and Canada geese once in a while you might see. So to live somewhere where the ducks, I mean, they're here all summer. Right. There's people that are mowing their lawns in our town that are hitting blue wing teal nests.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

And it's like in town, I mean, I remember, you know, in Ohio, like, I was so excited to even see a blue winged teal in like the early fall. It was so exciting. I was, I remember thinking like, wow, I wonder where this bird's coming from. That's pretty much coming from here is what I've determined.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And that's one of the biggest things is like, yes, a lot of the money from the duck stamp sales goes to this chunk of the country or like, you know, in an up into Canada, like the funding of the Prairie pot region. And there's people who don't agree with that, but at the same time, it's like you have to invest in the duck factory and protect it because the rate at which we're losing grasslands is incredibly fast. And so the more, you know, parcels that we can purchase through the duck stamp, the more we can protect and have native prairie grasses and the more nesting habitat and decreased, you know, habitat fragmentation, like all of this stuff goes into having more birds end up down south.

[Adam Grimm]

That's right. And. And from a hunter that grew up in a place that didn't have a lot of nesting birds, like, I really saw the importance of having birds that had good nesting ground. And I don't think most people know the prairie pothole region. The reason they call it the duck factory is because 50 to 80% of the nation's entire waterfowl population is born in this region. Right. So it's literally ground zero. And that's why it's so important. That's why so many dollars are spent here. Because, I mean, I actually, when we first moved here, I had a guy in Ohio, good friend of mine, he duck hunts at a hunt club there. And he was looking on his map to see where I lived now. And I was telling him about all the wetlands, and he saw that there was a refuge, national wildlife refuge in WA Bay. And he said, wow. He said, I see there's a refuge up there. Do you ever get to hunt the refuge? And it's like a half hour drive, right. And I was like, well, I don't really ever go up there. I said, I said, you don't understand. Like in Ohio, the refuge was like.

[Podcast Host]

A big deal right near the refuge because you're trafficking birds that are exactly refuge.

[Adam Grimm]

I said, here, like this whole area could be a refuge. Like, it's like they don't really have anything different there than what we have, like, a mile from our house.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Right. And it's. It's a big area, but it is such an amazing place to. To be, especially from the point of, you know, the fact that I loved a waterfowl hunt. I love the artwork, you know, so it's. It's so inspirational for that. Even this little town we live in is, like, amazing. The people are amazing. So, um. Yeah, but. But I think the biggest hurdle is really the education side of it. I think that people. It's. It's hard. It's easy to take something for granted when you don't understand it and you don't maybe have that appreciation. Because if you don't. If you don't care about the waterfowl, you don't care about the habitat, you're not going to care about conserving it. Right. If you don't know it, what it's, you know, even there for. But, yeah, I mean, I don't know how someone could grow up in this area and not see it. I think most people around here appreciate it. They just don't realize how unique and special this area is.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Compared to so many other areas.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Around the country. And if you didn't. If you've never spent any time in the north and South Dakota and have seen it, it would be hard to grasp, like, just what this area does. And that's where, you know, I think growing up in. In South Dakota gave me an advantage to, like, start to understand, like, what habitat actually does for wildlife. And that's where this idea kept evolving when I was, you know, trying to figure out, like, oh, we need to start talking about the duck stamp more. And.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And so in 2019, came up with this idea. We called it Stamp it Forward. And we did it through our. My brother and I own a little T shirt company called Public Land Tees. And our whole motto has been five bucks from everything we've ever sold has been donated back to conservation. So a lot of times we do match dollars and different stuff. But 2019, I just went out, I pulled 2,500 bucks out of our conservation fund that we had raised through selling shirts. I went to. I think I had to go to seven different post offices and bought a hundred duck stamps. And then I just asked people to Venmo me.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Oh, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And with 100% of the money that we got, I went out and bought more duck stamps. So. So in the first fall, we bought a thousand.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Wow.

[Podcast Host]

And then the next fall, we bought it was just shy of 1700 and that. Or no, just shy of 1600. And then the next year it dropped a little bit. We were at like 1285. And then we put a goal on it and so 2022. Yeah, 2022 we hit 2,000 stamps. 2023, we hit 2,000 stamps. And then last year was a down year because I. 2023, we did what we called the duck ruck. So I actually did 100 mile migration. So I walked. In three days, I walked 100 miles through the prairie pothole region from North Dakota into South Dakota, ended up at Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge. And we raised like $53,000 in, you know, three days and bought duck stamps with that.

[Adam Grimm]

That's awesome.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So then we always roll that into a secondary fundraiser and we give all the stamps away with merchandise sales. And so that way five bucks from every time we sell another shirt, we just keep the money rolling, so.

[Adam Grimm]

Well, for anyone that doesn't know that's. I mean, when you're talking like a thousand federal duck stamps, that's a lot of money because These stamps are $25 stamps. It's not like, you know, something 30 cent postage stamp or whatever they cost now.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So we, I should have, I should have added up the complete total, but we have bought just shy of 8,000 stamps since 2019.

[Adam Grimm]

Wow.

[Podcast Host]

And then like when this podcast drops, we'll be right in the middle of this year's stamp it Duck wreck.

[Adam Grimm]

That's awesome.

[Podcast Host]

Duck ruck program and you know, trying to do whatever we can to, you know, the goal the last couple years was 100k and we just like have, you know, like hard to get the message out there enough.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

But you know, hopefully this year we can do something.

[Adam Grimm]

Well, like I said, I mean, for anyone that hasn't bought their duck stamp yet this year, I mean, like, you know, try to find somewhere that actually has the physical stamps. Actually, if anyone listening would have an interest in me signing a stamp for them. Um, you could. I mean, I don't care if you post my address or whatever, but yeah, people could send me their stamp.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And like self addressed, you know, stamp envelope. I'll send it back to them with it signed if they want me to sign it.

[Podcast Host]

Absolutely.

[Adam Grimm]

It's kind of a cool thing. But yeah, no, it's an amazing program. It's done a tremendous amount of good over the years. I mean, it was started back in 1934, so it's, it's been around for a while. We're closing it on the 100 year.

[Podcast Host]

Anniversary is this year 90? This is 91, right?

[Adam Grimm]

I think.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Podcast Host]

And then.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, I think I've lost track. I mean, I know the first time was 67. The first time I won was a 67.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Okay.

[Adam Grimm]

I forget the second one. What it was.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

It's.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, but, yeah, but yeah, the third one here I think is 91. So that's.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. So you're a three time three federal duck stamp winner.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

For anybody listening, that is a major deal. And then why don't you go into how the contest works and you can go back as far as you want. Like, because originally it wasn't a contest.

[Adam Grimm]

Right, right.

[Podcast Host]

It was ding, darling, dripping darling.

[Adam Grimm]

And then they started kind of commissioning people just different artists to do something for it. And I mean they were like pretty crude.

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Adam Grimm]

Etches or etchings. I mean it was, it was not anything like what it turned into. But as the popularity of the contest or of the program came up, I mean they started, they decided, you know what, we should do a contest. Because I think there were probably a lot of people that were wanting to have their artwork used definitely on the stamp. And so, so they decided to do a contest. And I don't know so much about the early contest, but the way it works now the first round is an in n out round and the paintings are very small. They're nine, they're seven by ten inches. So I painted on a 9x12 board. And then you have a one inch border with like a matting. It's pretty simple. But you put in like pretty much your everything into that painting. Because you know this is going up against the best artists in the country. And you've got five different judges, different levels of qualifications with those. I mean you don't, you just don't know. Basically you have to paint a painting that's going to appeal to anybody. It's got to have broad appeal. So you might. Which is why I don't paint ducks like cupped up just coming right at you. Because I love that as a duck hunter. Right. That's what I want to see.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Right.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean a canvas back cupped up, dropping or something. But it's probably not going to do well in the duck stamp contest like that. So I don't, I, I try to pick poses that are going to have mass appeal. And you know, you don't, you don't want to take huge risk, but you sometimes have to take a little bit of a risk so that your painting stands out. And then the first round is an in and out round. So you have five judges. They'll hold up the in card or an out. If you get three ins or more, you're in. If you get three outs or more, you're out. And. And then judges can pull paintings back in if they want to sometimes. Like, up to five paintings, I think they could pull back in that got voted out. One year there was a guy that got voted out in the first round. Usually if you get voted out, even if you get pulled back and you have no chance. Right. This guy got pulled back in and then actually ended up winning. Oh, wow. So he went from three of the five judges thinking his painting doesn't even belong in this contest.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

To like, them giving him a high enough score that he came back to win. So the contest can be a roller coaster for sure.

[Podcast Host]

And how many, like, what's. On average? How many entries are there? Like, I mean, I know it. 250.

[Adam Grimm]

50 to 300, usually.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yes.

[Adam Grimm]

There. At one point, it was like over a thousand entries. But, you know, people lose their, you know, their steam.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

When. I mean, when you get. When you get voted out in the first round with five out votes and you worked really hard on that painting, you're probably less likely to want to.

[Podcast Host]

It's a gut punch for sure.

[Adam Grimm]

You've got to be pretty tough.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean, the contests are. Are tough. I mean, I don't even like watching them, honestly. I. Especially if I'm in it. Even if I'm not in it, I know people that are in it.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And it's. It's a struggle watching them compete. My daughter Madison is actually entering for the first time, the adult contest this year.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, so cool. Are you more nervous for her?

[Adam Grimm]

I'm pretty nervous, you know, but I've. I've told her multiple times because she has a really good painting. Like, I actually think. I mean, she could win. Right. There could be a chance that she could win. But I've told her multiple times, like, listen, don't get your hopes up. Like, it's, you know, I mean, as good as it is.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

This is the Federal Duck stamp contest. This is not just some walk in the park. Like, did you. The junior contest. I would. I mean, she's entered that contest four times. The first three times she entered, she won, and then the fourth time she entered, she came in second.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Wow.

[Adam Grimm]

And I think she should have won.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

In my opinion. So that. With the one that was her best painting, and I. I can't believe it didn't win. But that aside, you know, the adult contests, I mean, it's serious. So I've told her, like, listen, you know, I think, I think she's going to do okay in the contest, but I wouldn't expect it to win.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And especially with some of the artists that I know are in the contest this year, I think there's two of the Hutman brothers are in it and they're always a major threat. Yeah, Yeah. I think Scott Storm, Richard Clift, like there's a number of past winners that are all really talented artists that, you know, when you've got that many good artists in a contest, it's, it's tricky.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

No matter what you have in it. So.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Especially because they just have, you know, experience being in it and they know what judges may like or not like and they can kind of cater to that. You know, there was a few years there where you had to paint, maybe just a couple years, you had to paint some element of like waterfowl hunting.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Were you a fan of that or.

[Adam Grimm]

You know, I was okay with it. I mean, I, I think, I think hunters get such a bad rap in our country. Like, I, I like a little hat tip to the conservation from hunters. And I had so many people that I talked with that hated it and thought it was the worst thing ever. And, and you know, they, they didn't like that.

[Podcast Host]

It's got that fly, Kate.

[Adam Grimm]

Flies. They. I knew my salt gun.

[Podcast Host]

It was early September, flies love to.

[Adam Grimm]

Come in the house. So. Yeah. So anyway, I ended up. Oh, now I lost my train of thought.

[Podcast Host]

The just. You like the tip of the hat.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah. Okay. So that. Right.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So talking with people about this.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I had a number of people who hated the idea and they thought it was going to alienate the non hunters and then they wouldn't want to buy the stamp. And I was like, really? There's not a lot of non hunters. There's buying.

[Podcast Host]

Very few.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So almost got it.

[Adam Grimm]

It was close. Anyway, so that's, that's my off season training.

[Podcast Host]

Yes, that's right.

[Adam Grimm]

So. So we ended up. Yeah, I mean, they, you know, I didn't really. I mean, the hard part is, is what do you paint in a painting with ducks? Right. That, that doesn't detract too much from it. You could do a decoy. Right. You could do one of the ones. That one was a duck call in the marsh. And you wouldn't believe how many artists decided to paint a duck call like in the marsh.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean, I Was really thinking, like, why am I buying duck calls? Like, I should just go out in the marsh. Like, there must be duck calls all over it because, I mean, it was probably like 30% of the entries had a duck call in the water. So I ended up going with like a shotgun empty. Right. Because you see that a lot. And I was like. And it was like a. Like a steel number two kind of. I didn't have any numbers or lettering, but you could tell just kind of by the. For sure. The shape of the shell and the color.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But again, you know, then people are like, well, that's just litter and it shouldn't have been left out there. I'm like, well, neither should the duck calls. Right. You know, even like a decoy, like, so there's. There's some of that.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And it personally, like when they made the decision, like, to have a hunting element to it, I was like, oh, how cool is that?

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You know, to like. Obviously you don't want to try to like, give artists direction, like when it comes to this contest. But at the same time I was like, you know, that's pretty.

[Adam Grimm]

I think it's cool. Yeah. And I. I actually did one. I really liked this entry. I think it came in fourth. But some of the previous year's winners, you would know their names. I mean, had. They were. They were picking the ones they liked the best. And a number of them had picked mine as their favorite. So that was flattering, even if the judges didn't think so. But it was two green wing, teal, really nice, light, dark kind of sky. I had this marsh scene in the bottom lit up with the sun. And then in there was a little hunting boat and there were a couple guys with a dog. Right. And they were picking up decoys and looking up at these teal flying by. Sure. Because, I mean, I think of how many times have I been the guy picking up decoys looking up at these birds. And so I tried to envision what it would look like kind of from the bird's point of view perspective looking down.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And it was a cool painting. I thought it looked, you know, the whole overall look of it I thought was pretty neat. And I actually used a couple guys in town as they were the ones in the. Oh, cool. And so if this idea or painting sounds familiar to anyone, this was actually used by Ducks Unlimited as their national stamp after I was selected for Artist of the Year, one of the years. So you may even have a print of this hanging up in your house. Like, that's the painting, but it was a federal duck stamp entry and came close, but no cigar. I've actually come in second place twice in the contest, and I don't know if I feel always good about that or worse, because it's like, when you get that close.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Then you're thinking back, like, what if I hadn't done this? Or what if I. Something so little, Would that have been the thing that made the difference? And you don't really know.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Last year, so. Well, last year's contest, I won, but the year before that, I came in second with a pintail piece. And honestly, I would have probably rather had one with that, because at least it's a duck. People know what it is. Right. But because I was. It was a pintail that I had painted and. Yeah. But, you know, you. You think about it, and it's like, you just don't know. Like, what was it that made that difference? And maybe there wasn't anything you could have done. Maybe there was just one little thing they liked about the other one that.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And it's possible that, you know, just that year, the judges, for whatever reason, they're just leaning one direction or the other, like, you know, for whatever. It's a different species or a. Yeah, whatever.

[Adam Grimm]

Because how does.

[Podcast Host]

So, two questions. One, how many different species can you choose from each year? 5. And they put out a list. It's not like.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Podcast Host]

You just, you know, get to pick. So five different species you get to choose from. And then when you win the contest, how long until you can enter again?

[Adam Grimm]

You have to sit out for three years.

[Podcast Host]

Three years.

[Adam Grimm]

So I always say, like, yeah, that seems a bit excessive, but, you know, I think of, like, if you won the Super Bowl. Right. Like, okay, now you guys can't compete for three years. Like, whoa, that's pretty crazy. That's a pretty big time. I mean. Right? So. Yeah, the first year, I could see one year. Because you're so busy, you really almost couldn't get an entry for sure. I mean, there's just too many. Too many different things, you know, being pulled in different directions and. But, yeah, it's still. I mean, it's fine. I don't mind. There's other things I can work on and do and. Yeah. I don't run out of things to paint, that's for sure.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

But, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Well, I think, you know, my first time hearing about you, knowing about you, was from the documentary the Million Dollar Duck.

[Adam Grimm]

Yep.

[Podcast Host]

And kind of early on in this whole duck stamp fundraising thing that we did Like, I bought the documentary and watched it and what a cool piece. Like, kind of covering multiple different artists and. Oh, yeah, really explaining the duck stamp.

[Adam Grimm]

And the intensity of the contest.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yes.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean, you feel it when you watch that movie. For anyone that hasn't seen the Million Dollar Duck, and this isn't the. There's a Disney movie that's called that. Yeah. This is not about a duck that lays golden eggs. This is like the. About the contest.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You can buy it on Amazon.

[Adam Grimm]

Yep.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Podcast Host]

It's about the contest how. I'm trying to remember how many different artists it was.

[Adam Grimm]

About six or seven. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And then Rebecca. Is it Rebecca Kaufman?

[Adam Grimm]

Right. Well, Rebecca Knight. It used to was. It was Nav. But she's gotten married.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So Rebecca Knight. Rebecca Knight, Another amazing artist.

[Adam Grimm]

Yep. There's Tim Taylor, who's a good friend of mine. He's in it quite a bit. He lives in Watertown.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Adam Grimm]

So Rob McBroom is kind of a nutty guy from Minnesota that enters. Goofy kind of things. Yeah, there's. There's a number of ours. And he obviously talks to the Hutman brothers.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

And he. He kind of talks to all three of them. So, you know, I don't know if you'd count them as one group, but. Yeah. Yeah, Only one of them was eligible. Right. That year, so. Which is good. We always say, like, if it's a. What, Hub One Hutman year, that's pretty good. Yeah, that's good. You have. You have a better chance. But, um, yeah, they're all very talented, so. No, it's. It's a cool little niche kind of world, and that's what the guy that filmed this documentary was keying in on. And what people don't realize is the intensity of the contests and actually being there. Like, he wanted me to come because he had already filmed me, like, working on my entry, and I was like, no, I don't want to go, like. And he's like, well, you know. But he said, I think your entry is really good. I think you might have a chance. And he said, if, you know, it's not going to be any good if you were to win and you weren't there. He said, I'd probably, you know, have to refilm everything and do try next year again. He really wanted to film it on a year and actually get the winner and be. Have them be at the contest was what he was hoping. And he said he was willing to do it up to three times before he would just give up. But he, You Know, and I. I felt bad. Like, I'm like, I don't want to have this. But I was so sure I had no chance. I'm like, you don't understand. Like, I'm not going to win. Like, it's. It's. It's so up in the air, you know, this contest. And so I had written it off and. And he kept talking to me about it, and I. I finally talked to my wife, and she's like, I don't know, I guess we could go. I mean, my parents lived in Ohio, so it made sense. Like, you know, I could go and at least visit with my parents. Right. And then the contest was only like an hour from where they live, so I thought, well, I guess we could visit my parents and go to the contest, whatever. And I actually asked my parents, I said, are you guys going to come to the contest? And my dad said, well, we'll see how you do on the first day. Yeah, so. So. So back to that, because I know I talked about the in and out round. Sorry.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Nope. Yeah, yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So the in and out round. Right. So that's just the first day of the contest. The second day is round two, and then round three. And you actually get a numerical score up, you know, between 1 and 5 in the second round. And then in the third round, between 3 and 5. So the highest score you can get is a 25. And then the lowest score you can get in the third round would be like a 15. Right. So. Or a five in the second round you could get if each judge only gave you a one. So. So your goal is to get as close to 25 as you can get. But that's. You know, you might have one judge that gives you a five, yours is his favorite painting. And then you have another judge that gives you like a two or something. Like, they just. And it only takes one judge to screw you up. Right. So that's why I talk about painting something that has mass appeal, because you kind of need that if you don't have the mass appeal, you pretty much have no chance. And so this past year's contest, I was going to paint Hood and Briganzer. And, you know, that's the thing about when there's five eligible species. You're thinking, which species is going to have the best chance? And it becomes a lot about. It becomes a species contest in a lot of regards. And, you know, I would much prefer if they said, everyone has to paint this duck.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

It would just. It would level everything. You wouldn't have species Bias. Because, I mean, I've literally heard judges say, you know, hey, could you tell I wanted pintails to win? And if you didn't paint a pintail that year, you were pretty much screwed because one judge was really wanting a pintail, so he could literally give a pintail or the top couple pintails a five.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

And other stuff, he could lowball. And, I mean, you know, I don't know. You. You just want the judging to be as fair as possible.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

That's what everyone wants. And it. It kills you if, like, the year that I ended up winning and with the canvas backs there was one of the judges, I could not tell how they were school, what they were doing with the voting. They would vote. Good paintings in, good paintings out, bad paintings in, bad paintings out. I'm like. It's, like, just so random. I couldn't figure out, like, that they like birds in flight or they like this kind of duck. Well, as it turns out, they liked the ducks with the pretty red.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, okay.

[Adam Grimm]

I literally heard them say that after the contest. Like, I just wanted one of the ones with the pretty reds to win. Well, I painted a canvas back, and I played up the red and the Drake's head.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Thank God that I did.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Uh, and then some cinnamon teal had done really well. Sure. But mallards don't have the pretty red. They. They didn't do real well. And I. I just. I couldn't figure it out. But it can be something that simple. And so there's a big element of luck. And, you know, I mean, obviously there's skill. Right. But you have to have luck on your side, too. And I always say, well, if the contest was held a hundred different times, when you had five different judges every time, how often would that painting have won? Sure. Right out of those judges that slated judges. And so, you know, like, because there's been years that a painting has won that I think just once, like, that was the year, like, they just happened to get the right five judges.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

Because if you have the held accounts 100 more times, I don't think they would have won any of them. Right. So. Right. It. You have years like that, but for the most part, the best paintings usually rise to the top, and, you know, not always the one wins that I think should have won. But.

[Podcast Host]

But that's also just, like, how you see.

[Adam Grimm]

Oh, yeah.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Art.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, that's right.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean, there's a subjective element to it. It's not as much as maybe what some people would think, but. Yeah. Because I'm looking at it pretty critical. Like I'm looking at so many things that probably most people wouldn't notice or pick up on. So like the anatomy. If there's any one little thing wrong, I mean, I see it like we have like over 100 ducks outside. Like I'm around ducks all the time. So, you know, if, if the eye ring is the wrong color or you know, their bill shape is a little bit oddly shaped in one spot, like I'm going to notice it, whereas most people probably want it. So. So yeah, I mean there's just, but different lenses that everybody looks at stuff with. So it's, it's an interesting thing to watch. The contest is live streamed, so they'll be live streaming it. And if you've never watched it, I would, I mean whether this airs before or just after, but I mean you should definitely try to at least in one of the years, tune in and watch it because it's, it's interesting. It's sometimes really exciting and sometimes it's very stressful. Like I said, knowing people that are in it and I see their painting get voted out right away or something, it's like, man, my heart breaks for them because I know, I mean, I've had it happen.

[Podcast Host]

Like I know what a lot of time and effort into it.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah. So. So it's hard to sometimes watch that. But, but it is interesting for sure. So.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Well, it's a very cool, I mean it's a cool way to do it. Like a federal program like that. Like, you know, rather than just like having a piece of paper that you have to buy.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Oh yeah.

[Podcast Host]

One more license.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah. I mean, I always think of it, you know, you were describing it as kind of like a hurdle. I always kind of thought of almost like a rite of passage. Like it was like, okay, I got my federal duck stamp. You know, I signed it, I got my license stuff, like I'm good to go. And it's pretty exciting knowing that. And you know, it's interesting. My, my daughter Hannah, who is 16, so she said, you know, I was looking it up and I have to buy a federal duck stamp this year. And she's like, I just think it's so cool that it's my dad's.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah, that's awesome.

[Adam Grimm]

The first year that she has to buy a stamp is yours and it's mine. So yeah, it's pretty cool. So we, we actually went and, and bought it together and one year we, I went to buy my federal duck stamp, but it was Just. It was actually at a Walmart, and I don't even think they carry them anymore. We went to buy one here, and they. They didn't have it. But, yeah, we went into this Walmart and the guy behind the counter was like, all right, here's your federal duck stamp. And I was like, thank you. I said, yeah. I said, it actually is mine. And he's like, what do you mean? I said, well, I'm the. The artist painted that. And he, like, flipped out. He couldn't believe he just sold, like, a stamp, like, to the actual guy that painted it and everything. So, yeah, no, it's. It's. It's pretty neat.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean, it's a little bit of a surreal thing to have it. And especially when you think about the people that. That duck hunt. I mean, I'll. I. I hear stories about this baseball player, you know, going duck hunting, and I'm thinking, like, wow, like, he had to buy my stamp.

[Podcast Host]

You had your stamp, right?

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, well, I don't know.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Even.

[Adam Grimm]

Even, like, the president's sons, they hunt quite a bit. Like, I mean, it's. It's cool to think about all the people that actually have that on them. Yeah. So. And again, that's part of why I am so much more in favor of people actually buying the physical stamp. I just agreed.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And I, you know, because you won't get it otherwise until, like, spring.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

And I think it's because they don't want people paying for it and then having a stamp. And they could show people this license, but give this one to their friend and they don't have to buy one. Right.

[Podcast Host]

And that's what they were doing, is people were double dipping. And the reason I said it's a hurdle is because a lot of people see hunting licenses somehow as a, you know, just a tax or whatever.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And obviously, I view it a lot different than that. I always try to think of it as, like, entertainment value. Like, I love hunting, I love fishing, I love being outdoors. And let's say you buy a concert ticket. Like, I am happy to spend 150, 200 bucks on a concert ticket, and I get three hours of entertainment.

[Adam Grimm]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

If I buy a hunting license. So let's take the duck stamp, for instance. 25 bucks, I get to waterfowl hunt for the entire season.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And, like, obviously they're depending on what state you might have season closures, but if I could follow the migration, I could hunt for 100 days almost of the year.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Oh, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

On a $25 stamp and then just buying the state licenses. So the amount of, like, the amount of value that you get out of this and the amount of value Habitat gets out of this is so beyond, like, the 25 bucks. Yeah, yeah. It's just a. And that's another cool thing about the duck stamp is. And I've preached this a lot on podcasts and when we're trying to raise money and stuff, and it's one of the only things in conservation where you don't have to be a member of anything. You don't have to have a hunting license to buy one. You don't have to go hunting at all. You don't like you. You can go on USPS.com that's where we buy them in bulk. So, you know, and you can buy one there. You go to your post office and buy one. I bought one on the drive down here in hopes that I could have you sign it for me.

[Adam Grimm]

Oh, yeah, sure.

[Podcast Host]

And, you know, and with any luck that, you know, in the next six to eight weeks, we'll buy somewhere between, you know, 2,000, 4,000 of your artwork on a stamp to help raise money for that. It's the whole. Everything around it is cool to me.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And, yes, I'm a waterfowl hunter. Yes, I grew up doing that. But, like, I think if you spend time in the outdoors at all, the duck stamp is by far the easiest way to take that first step into raising money for, like, wildlife.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, I know. For sure. I mean, and that's the thing, you know, I think we get so burnt out of. You know, you think of, like, taxes and you hear about all of this government waste, and, you know, it's like, you hate to just think that you're paying all this money because it's. I mean, you know, it's not easy to make money.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Today's world. So, I mean, and, you know, you have all the other costs with shotgun shells and I think of decoys and all these different ranks. Right. It's like, yeah, waterfowling. I mean, it's. It's not cheap. I mean, it's definitely cheaper to go to the grocery store and just buy some meat.

[Podcast Host]

Absolutely.

[Adam Grimm]

But, you know, the experiences that you get from it. I mean, I've got four kids and they all love to hunt. And. And I, you know, I always. I used to always think that my artwork was going to be kind of my legacy. Right. And we talk about, like, leaving a legacy, and now I realize it's my kids. Like, it's it's so different. Like, my perspective on. Has changed so much over the years, and I think when the kids were really little, like, I didn't think about that as much. Now that they're older and I see the things that they're doing, it's like, wow. Like, I. I didn't realize the impact that, you know, me as their father and with what I cared about and taught them how much that it would impact their life and even other friends and family members and stuff. I mean, my cousin came to visit from Ohio, just driving through, going out west, and they stopped here for a day or so, and now they live here. They live in our town. Like, they've. I helped them get a job. Like, they're like, we. We just want to move out to, like.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

To Wallace. I was like, to our town.

[Podcast Host]

Like, what?

[Adam Grimm]

And I mean, our town is only like, 90 people. Yeah. So it's pretty small. And so I'm thinking, like, I could run for mayor now. Like, I've got it for sure.

[Podcast Host]

Absolutely.

[Adam Grimm]

If I. If I actually wanted to do that. Um, yeah. No, but it is funny. Like, and then my. My daughter Madison, the one that does the. Did the junior duck stamp entries and everything, she's very passionate about waterfowl. It was actually. She was the one that wanted the aviary. She actually came to me and said, you know, if I bought this stuff, would. Would you help me to build it? Like, would you be okay with me doing this? And I've kind of always wanted an aviary, but I was always like, no, it's too much work. I'm not doing that. But I told her, I was like, yeah, okay. And I think she was surprised that I agreed to it, but it's pretty neat. I mean, we were just out.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And it's. It's pretty neat. I mean, there's, I think, like, 17 different species of ducks, you know, from puddle ducks to divers. And it's really cool. All. They're all captive bred, you know, so they've. She bought them from other aviaries or zoos, but it's still really neat to be out there. And, like, they're not afraid of you because they were raised here. And, you know, she's out there. We're out there like, every day. You know, she feeds them and breaks the ice out of the pot.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Adam Grimm]

It's a lot of work.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But because she has this aviary, a lot of the locals around here know about it. A lot of the landowners and farmers and, you know, again, they hunt and they. They care about the birds, but they're mowing over so many nests.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And people don't want to talk about it because it's. I mean, it's technically illegal. Right. You're not allowed to destroy nests of waterfowl. And. But it's kind of like if there's the wind turbines killing birds, like, a lot of people look the other way because they're like, well, we got to have this energy or we got to have this food, which I get too. But they were. The landowners were like, hey, you know, I just mowed over this nest of pintails. The one guy literally called, he's. Well, he was spraying a field. They were coming in right behind him to disk it, and he's like, hey, listen, we were disking this field, or I'm. Or spraying this field, and they're coming in like 10 minutes behind me to disk it. And I just flushed this hen pintail off of the nest. And the ducklings are in the process of hatching. The eggs are, are. They're, you know, they're like cracking through. Either they're peeping. He said they're gonna be out of the egg, like, soon.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

But he said they're not gonna make it. He said, you know, could you.

[Podcast Host]

Would you take them?

[Adam Grimm]

Can you take them and just, I don't know, put them in your aviary or raise them and let them go? And she had to tell him no. She's like, I don't have federal permits to do that. Right, Right. So. But it kind of broke her heart. And we talked about it, and she's like, I wonder if I could get the permit to do it.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I don't even know. I don't even know what it would take. Like I said, I have to. Yeah, right. I don't even know where to begin. Like, it has to be like U.S. fish and Wildlife Service, something. But I don't even know how you would go about that. And so she started looking into it. It was like a six month thing. Oh, wow.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And she had to jump through so many hoops. Right. But she was actually able to get this permit to do it.

[Podcast Host]

Amazing.

[Adam Grimm]

And so she started a nonprofit called Second Chance Flight, if anyone wants to check it out.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So secondchanceflight.com's website. But yeah, I think this year she rescued like over well around 200 ducks.

[Podcast Host]

Man.

[Adam Grimm]

That is mostly eggs. Right. But some of them were ducklings, Even a baby trumpeter swan whose parents were hit on some railroad tracks. So she has. It's very. She's only the second person that I know of in the country to have a federal permit to collect eggs. Like, like an egg nest salvage program.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But yeah, sometimes she gets calls about baby ducks that are already hatched that, I mean, I don't know. One guy had a duckling showed up in his garage not that long ago either, which is surprising because it's getting pretty late. It was, it was like, like August 4th or 5th. Somewhere around there she gets a phone call. This guy had a duckling in the garage. I'm like, it's got to be a baby mallard. Right. Because what else could it be? And this guy brings this baby duck out and it's a baby redhead. I don't know how it got in his garage. I don't know what the story was behind this. Right. But um. Yeah. So it's been a weird nesting year. On a typical nesting year, I actually think she'll be over a thousand birds, what she'll be saving.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But this year, just the way it played out, we had a lot of weird rainy stuff, like so colder, colder temperatures at times then like really hot. And I think a lot of birds nest got destroyed and they had a renest. And then I think that'll renest again. Every time they do the number of eggs and the chances drop. I'm sure. For sure. So. So there was some of that. I mean we saw. I've seen baby redheads though, that are still downy, just little. And I'm thinking like, I don't even know how they're going to migrate south this year. Yeah, they're going to make it.

[Podcast Host]

You're not going to be big enough.

[Adam Grimm]

But it's getting late.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah. I mean people could literally, you know, shoot ducks that don't even have primary wing feathers grown in.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But at this.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So. Yeah, because I mean the youth season comes in the middle of September here. So you know, you're talking about close.

[Podcast Host]

You know, birds having to re nest, you know, this year and obviously for this year it's not great.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Like the, the delta waterfowl just put out the numbers and you know, a lot of them are down and some of them are. A few of them are up as far as like long term average.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah. While we're higher and we actually she has taken in a number of gadwall babies, eggs and a number of mallards. Yeah. I mean some bluing, but not near as many as what I would expect.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean again, I would think in a normal year, I mean, she May have. She. She could be up to like 2, 000. I mean, it.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Wow.

[Adam Grimm]

Pretty easily.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So then what does she do with them? She's.

[Adam Grimm]

She raises them till they're. She hatches them, you know, incubates them, hatches them, raises them till they're about six to eight weeks old.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

They're usually just before they can fly, and then she'll take and release them on wetland around here. Like, I mean, there's. There's so many wetlands we can choose from.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Right here.

[Adam Grimm]

But yeah. So. And. And we have, you know, pretty good reason to think that they're going to make it. I mean, most of them, I think, will make it. She's trying to get permitted to do banding on these birds.

[Podcast Host]

Cool.

[Adam Grimm]

Because if she can band them and she can prove it. Right, right. Because, I mean, that's the thing. Like, there's no point in doing all this if. If it's not having any kind of impact. Right. So. Yeah, but I mean, you know, we. We've talked with so many people around this area, and they're landowners. They don't know what all the laws are. And we've talked to people that have been doing this almost. Well, a lot of. A lot of people. Right. I mean, I'm surprised. I'm like, wow. Like, just so you all know, like, that's pretty illegal. Like, you can't do that.

[Podcast Host]

Just a little backyard biology.

[Adam Grimm]

That's right. But, you know, I mean, everyone kind of knows, like, hey, I mowed over this nest.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Like, they feel bad. They know that the eggs have no chance. I mean, usually there's a number of eggs broken and then there's like three or four eggs that maybe are still remaining. We talked to one guy who had. I mean, he had done it for a number of years, and I think he was, I don't know, marking them with a zip tie or something. Right. Just so he would know the ones he was letting go and he would see them coming back year after year.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So again, I mean, it's illegal, but all of these birds would have been dead in the field. Right.

[Podcast Host]

And it's amazing that any of them make it out alive when you start to break it down, like in all of the different factors, they have to jump through. So it's like one nesting habitat, you know, changes from year to year.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Two ground nest predators, you know, the explosion of raccoons and pops and skunks and, you know, that's. Some people argue that that's not a.

[Adam Grimm]

Big factor, but It's a big.

[Podcast Host]

That's a big factor.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You know, and then obviously just changing in farming habits and just, you know, like, you know, like, there used to be a lot more buffer zones of, you know, stuff because of the equipment has changed, GPS and all that kind of stuff. So, like, you go through all of that. I took photos on a little Delta waterfowl study they were doing specifically on ground nest predators. But in addition to that, they were talking about, like, the percentages of, like, okay, there's this percentage that they actually have a nest, this percentage that they actually lay eggs in that nest, this percentage that, like, the eggs make it through to hatch, and then this percent. You know, it's like, you know, it's a very low percentage of birds that get to hatch actually even make it into the flyway.

[Adam Grimm]

Listen, I mean, Madison has incubators that she gets probably, like, 99 percentile success on. On hatching. Right. So obviously there's no nest predator is going to invader incubator.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But, you know, then she can raise them. And I mean, again, she has really good success with that. I mean, she's giving them really high quality feed.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

She's giving them stuff like duckweed and other things to kind of get them introduced to, like, some of the vegetation they're going to encounter when they're in the wild. But even, like, her aviary birds, which are. I mean, they've got, like, the perfect conditions, everything. Right. And she says she's like, it's like they just spend all day trying to figure out creative ways to kill themselves. It's. It's like, how do they survive in the wild? I don't even know because, like, if there's one little piece of wire sticking off for a fence, they'll hit it. Yeah. Because her birds in the aviary have to be banded, Right. With, like, seamless bands. So to prove that they're, like, from banded when they were really young.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And they'll somehow get, like, that band hung up. They'll find that piece of wire, and that band will get, like, stuck in that. It's like, how did this even happen? You know, it's. It's amazing, but. Yeah. The fact that they can survive in the wild and migrate and endure the conditions and the predators, like, it is really amazing. But, yeah, I mean, the nesting grounds, that's just one more hurdle. And it's like this area didn't used to really have the raccoon and all of that, but with encroachment of man and farms and buildings, you're going to get more, more of those things in this area.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And.

[Podcast Host]

Well, when you look at like raccoons, I don't know the exact percentages or like raccoons per square mile.

[Adam Grimm]

Oh.

[Podcast Host]

But it used to be like, there really weren't raccoons on the prairie because there's no, there weren't trees.

[Adam Grimm]

So.

[Podcast Host]

But even east where there was hardwoods, it used to be like one to two raccoons per square mile.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

That's kind of like, you know, back in the early 1900s, but as AG fields got bigger, obviously there's a lot more food. The population exploded to like, you know, upwards of, you know, somewhere between 25 and 100 raccoons per square mile.

[Adam Grimm]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

And then as farming practices moved west, you know, and we planted however many million trees across the prairie and, and a lot of it's cottonwoods and they.

[Adam Grimm]

You know, the corn is so Right. Nutritious for them, like to make it through winter. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, they're. They're thriving.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And I mean, you know, again, I mean, I grew up in Ohio, so I saw, I saw what was left of the wetlands being drained and the fence rows taken out. But in talking to my dad, who's, I mean, you know, he's. He was born 1950. Right. So in talking to him, I mean, he grew up hunting bobwhite, quail, react, pheasant, all of these things. And he showed me like, yeah, that, you know, right there where the mall sits, that's where I used to hunt pheasants and quail. Right. And now that mall has pretty much gone belly up. It sits empty and there's no wildlife. There's just an empty building there that's, you know, I don't, I mean, just basically decaying at this point, I guess. And I'm thinking like, wow, am I that old? Because I remember when they were building that mall, or at least parts of it, I remember them putting in the food court. That's where I met my wife. Right. So. And yeah. But I, I feel like, you know, I mean, yeah, it, it can be a great thing. Yeah, some of it. Sometimes. I mean, obviously, like, we're not, I'm not anti development.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But you know, I think there can be a good common sense approach to. That's beneficial for wildlife still. Because once you lose like the quail, the pheasants, all those things, you can't get it back. Like, I mean, they've done stuff and tried to release. It's like it just hasn't worked. And yeah, things change.

[Podcast Host]

And yeah, I touched on it earlier. Just like the habitat fragmentation thing, like you have to have large swaths of intact habitat for animals to roam and like grow populations naturally.

[Adam Grimm]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

It's not just like, oh, well, we added four acres back in and we released a bunch of stuff.

[Adam Grimm]

No, because predators are extremely good at keying in on things like that.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Right. So we talked to one guy, he was telling us how he had a alfalfa field and he, I think it was alfalfa. He was, they were, they were going to hay it and he had. I don't know if he paid someone to do it, but someone came in and they, they drug it with chains. They found all the nests and they flagged them and then they mowed around all of those nests in that field, which is like. Okay. I mean they're, they're trying, right. And they, it just, just like a, I think probably like a 5 yard circle or something. They mow around it.

[Podcast Host]

But you might as well put a spotlight on every single nest.

[Adam Grimm]

He said every nest got eaten. Because predators are, they're good at looking for anomalies. And they, they found one nest and I'm sure they looked around like, let me check that patch of grass over there. And they found another one. Right. So now you, now you just trained them like what to look for. And so it's, it's difficult. Right. But yeah, Madison's actually looking at getting maybe a thermal drone to.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And then flying a field right before they're going to hay it because.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah. I mean, once they hay it, it's. Once they lose the canopy cover, like everything's gone. So. Yeah, even if some of the eggs survived it, like, yeah, they're not going to make it. So.

[Podcast Host]

No, it's, it's interesting on that Delta study, I went and shot photos on, you know, which was cool just to see in the first place.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Checking the eggs and all that stuff.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Oh, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So they had controlled fields where they did no, like trapping at all, but no management of any kind. And then they had areas where they just did like road, you know, trapping. Like just, you know, like the, yeah, just like the square around the field, like.

[Adam Grimm]

Oh, yeah, yeah. The perimeter stuff.

[Podcast Host]

Exactly. And then they did hotspot trapping. So they like, they had people go and like actually like target, you know, and trap. And this is obviously like small scale stuff, is trying to learn like how successful habitat can be if you remove certain factors. And they're like, oh, well, in the hotspot trap, like, nesting habitat is, like, up to 70% nest success.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And then in the perimeter trapping, it was like 30%. And I was like, well, what about. They didn't even bring up the control field. I was like, what about the control field? They're like, oh, zero. I was like, what do you mean, zero? And they're like, oh, yeah, get eaten or trampled or whatever.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And so it's, you know, and it's hard to scale that type of, like, activity.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

But it just does go to show you, like, how many things that wildlife are up against when it comes to this. And that's on stuff that's, like, pretty untouched, you know.

[Adam Grimm]

Well, and, you know, a lot of people point to hunting, and they're like, well, that, you know, you're just killing all these birds. And it's like hunting really has no statistical impact. Right. On bird populations. And I think a lot of people don't realize that, you know, the nesting, I mean, the amount of water, like, the predators, I mean, that stuff has major impact. And, you know, when. If you scale it right to you. Like, I talk about, you know, like, one or two fields, how many nests might be in one or two fields. There was one guy just south of town here, and he really was into conservation, and he's like, you know, knowing about Madison's project, he said, I'm just gonna, you know, try to watch. And so he was watching as he was mowing it. If it had flush, he'd stop.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

And he'd go and he'd check. And I think he himself brought in, like, 75 eggs. Oh, wow. From two fields.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Right. So. And we've talked to farmers who said it's not unusual to hit 20 or 30 nests in one field. Right. And if each of those nests have about 10 eggs average, you're talking two to 300 ducks in one field. So. And I talked with delta waterfowl biologists and stuff, and they were telling me about. They actually called it, like, a superfield. And they said they did a lot of predator management and they had really good cover and the. The water, and they. I forget how many. I mean, it. I. I think I heard it wrong. Right. It was so many.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Ducks that were nesting in this one field. And, like, I asked him how big, and I. I'm gonna have to go back and ask him again because I. I can't believe the number he said was. Was right. But I think it was. And I know in, like, the Yukon Delta refuge that there is which is where the spectral diters live. Right. That I won the federal duck stamp with. It's one of the densest nesting colony of birds. And on the background carrier cart that your duck stamp comes on. Yeah, I did that painting too. Right. And I painted. So there's eiders in it, the spectral dieters. And then there's like, emperor geese and cackling geese and a trumpet or swan. Like, there's all these different birds in there and Brandt and little shore birds and. Because they all nest in this area because there's almost no predators. Right. And they know that. And the Delta guys, you know, they were saying, like, the Delta waterfowl guys, they were saying. Yeah. I mean, it's like the birds realize that there's no predators in this zone, and they somehow find it and figure that out and nest there in big numbers. And it might take a few years or something. Right. For them to kind of. But they, you know, ducks will return to the area that they were born a lot of times.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

And so, yeah, I mean, I. I think about how many fields that are being hayed and in this region. And I mean, again, this stretches from South Dakota up into North Dakota up into Canada. And you multiply that out and it's like, wow. Yeah. I mean, I could see how hunters have no statistical impact. Right. There is so many other factors that are way bigger influencing on. On their success rate. So. Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I. I want everyone to have good hunting. I want the ducks to do well. And, you know, there's just so many different factors that contribute. But I always tell, like, my kids, like, if we're out hunting and you see a skunk, shoot it.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

You know, or if you see a raccoon, because they are so hard on.

[Podcast Host]

Dogs and pheasants and turkeys and you.

[Adam Grimm]

Name all these things that we care about, and it's like, yeah, I get that they have a right to live, too, but, you know, like, raccoons aren't having any population issues. Like, there's so many, and. And they eat. One raccoon eats so many nests. I mean, they are. We have frequently seen skunks in the middle of the daytime in a field, and if you walk out there, it's there eating a nest.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean, you know, and there'll be a bunch of eggs broken. Like, it's. It's interesting to see. I mean, I'm. Like I said, I. We love going out and exploring because you see stuff that you've never seen before when you Walk up and you flush a hen pintail or blue wing or something off of a nest and you see this perfect little area of down with these little eggs tucked in. It's like, wow, look at that. Like, it's so cool.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean, it's just really amazing.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, the fact that they can literally build. I mean, it is a perfect circle.

[Adam Grimm]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yep. And it's just right, like in this prairie grass. Like, it's amazing to see it. And you know, the same thing with like, we found like canvas back nests and ruddy duck nests. And the ruddy duck nests are so cool. Like they've got little canopy things of cattails bent over the top, like, oh, cool. I mean, it's like planned all of this and it's like, wow, I can't believe, like, it's so. It makes me appreciate them so much more for sure to see like how they do everything. So, yeah, I mean, living here has been so great and so influential with my work, you know. And again, I, I go back to this duck that I just won the duck stamp contest with this past year, the spectacled eider. So it's probably a duck most of your listeners have never heard of. You can look at the duck stamp this year when you get it and you'll see what I mean about what the bird. The birds are beautiful. I mean, they actually are really a cool looking duck. I actually think the head shape is kind of like a canvas back a little bit, but, you know, but then they're an eider. So they're like this sea duck, they've got all this white on them and they're called a spectacle iter because they have like a ring kind of the out around their eye area that almost makes them look like they're wearing glasses.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Adam Grimm]

So. But they're a neat bird. And I was, I was actually, I was going to paint hooded Megansers. They're a widespread bird, everyone knows them. And when I was there photographing these birds in this pen that a friend of ours has in Wisconsin, beautiful specimens too, that she had. And then that I took hundreds of photos of these ducks. And then that pen, it was evening, the sun kind of was going down and that pen got into some shade and nothing was really in the sunlight anymore. And I thought, well, I mean, the sun's still up, it's just not hitting in this pen. So I started looking around and in one of her other pens she had some sea ducks, harlequin ducks and different things, and she had these eiders she had a king eider. She had spectacled eiders and. Which are pretty rare in captivity. So it was like, wow. I mean, it's pretty cool.

[Podcast Host]

Should at least take some photos of these.

[Adam Grimm]

That's what I thought. I'm like, I don't have any photos of these ducks. Yeah, right. And I mean, you never know when someone calls you up and like the guy that wanted the pheasant with the ermine here, it's like, well, I better take some pictures. And I knew that the spectacle lighters were actually eligible for the federal that year, but I had no intention on painting them because I'm like, no one's gonna know what these are. If you get one judge that thinks that it's a weird looking duck, you're out. You're out. And that thought that's probably pretty likely. So. But I tried anyway. I, you know, I just was trying. I was photographing and I'm laying down in duck poop, right. And taking pictures of these. And they weren't afraid of me because the, you know, they're pen raised birds, but they were only standing like, I don't know, 10 yards away. Maybe closer, I guess closer. Probably like five or six yards. They were, they were close and to where I had to switch to my shorter lens because they were so close and. But I'm looking through my lens at these birds and the evening sun was on them kind of side lighting. So you had these beautiful blue shadows, the beautiful warm light on them. And I just got this picture in my head, like with mountains in the background. Like I kind of pictured like where these birds would live as a backdrop to how the birds were lit up.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And I remember thinking to myself, if I could paint that, I think it could win.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And you know, I, I kind of try to talk myself out of it. Something like, no, don't do it. And. But they're either. I always feel like I'm being guided by God. And I felt like God put this in front of me for a reason. And while I have great reference on these hood immergansers and it would probably be a way safer thing to do, I just felt like I was supposed to paint these eiders. And I don't know how else to explain it. I just felt like this is what I'm supposed to try to paint. And I felt that before and then lost or came in second, whatever. Right. So it's not like anytime I've ever felt that I've won, but I still felt like this is what I'm supposed to paint. And so I. I told my friend Tim. I was like, you know, hey, I'm just letting you know, I don't think I can rule out maybe possibly painting these ducks. And he's like, really? I think he thought I was crazy. And. And because I just kept looking at the photo reference that I had taken, I was looking on the back of my camera. I'm like, man, these are great. Yeah, they're great. The photos, the. The lighting, even, like, the hand. And I had the whole picture planned out in my head. And I. I still made a mock up with the hood of Mergansers. And actually, I look at it now, and I think it maybe would have won, too, if I had painted that instead. And it probably would have been better to win with hooder mergansers than the eiders, but. But I don't regret painting these eiders anymore. But so I was working on this painting, right? I just. I did a mock up of each, and I did decide, yep, I'm gonna go with the eiders. I had showed it to a number of people, and pretty much everyone picked the eiders, except for my daughter Hannah, who thought their heads looked weird. She said, but. But everyone else liked them better than the hunter merganser mockup. So I was like, all right, I'm just gonna go with it. You can't. At some point, you just have to start painting. And so I just started the painting, and it was going pretty well, like, how I had planned. I mean, I was probably 90% of the way done, and it was coming together pretty nice. And so I was working on it. Well, then, you know, there's a guy in town I'm friends with. He loves trapping, and, you know, we visit quite a bit, and he stopped over because people just walk in, right? They know I'm working over here at my studio. And he just knocked. He's like, adam, are you home? And I was like, yeah, come on up. And so he came up, and he stood there talking to me for probably five minutes while I was painting. Hadn't said a word about the painting, and just talking about different stuff he was doing and shooting the breeze kind of thing, which was kind of fun. And he got quiet, and he stood there for 15 or 20 seconds, not saying a word. And, I mean, I'm dialed in, still painting, right? So he's just watching me paint, and then he says, man, that is one ugly duck. And it was like a dagger. I mean, I literally stopped, and I didn't know what to say, for one. Right. But I remember thinking, harvey's right. These are kind of a weird looking duck. Like, what am I doing? And I remember thinking, like, I don't have time to start anything new. Like the deadline was coming up. But it really did go through my head, like, because if I get one judge that agrees with Harvey, I'm done. Right. So anyhow, I don't even know if we even addressed it when he was there. Like, I don't even know if I responded to that. I don't, I don't remember that part. But I remember that when I found out that I won, he was one of the first people I called sir.

[Podcast Host]

I'm like, remember that ugly dog one, Doc? Well, I'm glad you stuck with it because it's a very cool painting.

[Adam Grimm]

Thank you.

[Podcast Host]

It's. I mean, it's a pair of spectacled eaters in front of this mountain backdrop like you described. And I feel like I read an article right after the contest last year where somebody had said something about like AI said fake or something.

[Adam Grimm]

That's the problem with AI now is anything good, everyone assumes it must be AI. It's like they're actually impossible.

[Podcast Host]

Well, kind of.

[Adam Grimm]

You know, it's funny because I've messed around with AI like to see what it can do.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And I, I said like, you know, you know, do some with a spectral iteration. It. I don't know what kind of duck it's making, but it doesn't look anything like.

[Podcast Host]

No, no.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, no, I.

[Podcast Host]

You know, it's more flattering than anything.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah. Honestly, like, as good as it. As the AI stuff is, which is. I mean, it is amazing. Like some of the stuff it can do is amazing. But. Yeah, it's not there yet.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

You know, it's kind of like printing. Like, you know, like a print can be really good. I mean, the printing process have gotten so good through the years and I'm sure the AI stuff will eventually get there too. But. Yeah, it still doesn't match the original. Right. So. So there's. There's that, but. But no. Yeah, no, it's all me. That was all me. I mean, and some of the stuff was just literally made up because, like, I didn't. I couldn't go to Alaska to photograph these dogs in the wild.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I looked at photos and you know, but there comes a point where you just have to try to make it work.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And you have to be the artist.

[Adam Grimm]

You have to be the artist. Take that liberty and you know, Try to paint what's going to look good. I drew from my experience with other ducks. Right. But without actually being up there in Alaska. And I've been to Alaska. I've been there twice. I just haven't been to that part of Alaska. So where do.

[Podcast Host]

Where do they live?

[Adam Grimm]

They're the western, central part of the state. Sure.

[Podcast Host]

The one question that. Well, my dad brought it up, but I had wanted to ask. Yeah. So you were talking about how judges see things differently or whatever, and obviously all of us see colors differently. And he wanted to ask. So he's colorblind. And I just recently figured out that I'm partially colorblind.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Do you have any, like. Do you think you see colors differently than other artists?

[Adam Grimm]

So I've. Yeah, I mean, definitely, to a degree.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Right. And just the way people interpret, I could give, like, all. Like, all of the top artists. Right. I could give all of them the same photo. Say, I want you to do a painting from this photo. And they would all look good, right? They would, but they would all look different. And I'd be able to look at those paintings and know, okay, this artist did this one. This one did this one. Because there's little tells and little things that are unique that each artist does. And I think that's a good thing.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

Well, it's what makes art different.

[Adam Grimm]

That's right.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean, if otherwise, you know, like, everyone could just have the same photo, or basically it would. It would all look the same. Like a print off.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And, you know, that's. But the way people interpret it is interesting. So. And I always correlate it to music a lot, because the visual art is a lot like music. And so if you've ever watched the show, like American Idol. Right. You'll have people go on in the tryouts, and it's. I mean, it's funny because they're like, oh, yeah, my friend said I sound like Celine Dion or whoever. Right. And I get up there and they sing, and it's like, whoa. Like, either, well, your friend is lying to you, or they're deaf. Right. They don't know what they're talking about.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But it's the same kind of thing. And. And so I've. I've talked. I had a lot of conversations with people about it. Like, there's people that are tone deaf. Right. So they. They can't hear pitch.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And I had an uncle that had perfect pitch. He tuned pianos for a living so he could hear and know exactly what it was. It's pretty amazing because you don't realize it, but a lot of people don't have that ability. And I always say, well, there's people that are visually deaf, not. Not blind. They just don't process what they're seeing the same way. And. And I've tried to explain to people because it is weird. Right. But when I look at things, I'm constantly looking at. At it as if I were to do a painting of it.

[Podcast Host]

And so I do the same exact thing with photography because that's my main. My main source of income still is video and photography.

[Adam Grimm]

There you go. So it's a lot the same. Right. The visual side of it. I mean, I'm looking at the lighting, the shadow, you know, how hard are the shadows? Like, what's the perspective, what's the angle? All these different little elements. And my wife says all the time she's like, you don't see things the same way I see them, like, because I'll talk about something. And like, she didn't see that at all.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But I think that's part of what makes me able to do what I'm doing and makes, you know, certain musicians able to do what they're doing. And if everybody could do it, I wouldn't have a job. Right, right. But so I just really want. What I always hope for is for people to be able to at least appreciate what I'm doing. And again, like music. I mean, a lot of people can appreciate a song like, man, that's a great song. Like the lyrics, the melody, everything, the way it's sung. And they maybe try to sing along, but they can't. They couldn't do it themselves.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Right. So there's just that difference and. But similarity. So. Yeah, I think it's a lot the same. And I actually think there's some artists work that I know that maybe have some colorblindness just from certain things that they do. And maybe they don't even realize it, but.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, well, I didn't realize it until it was like, I don't know, three, four years ago. There's a certain pack color. I work with the pack company and they make a pack that's called foliage color. And in my eyes, it's. It's just gray. And I was like, that's a weird thing to call foliage, you know.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Because it's, you know, typically that's a green, you know.

[Adam Grimm]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

And I was like, do you want, like, you want me to grab the gray pack? And they were like, you mean the green pack. And I was like, not well. So my greens and grays or that spectrum of color, I see different. And I. You know, I've had people say, like, oh, I can always tell when it's your photo, and it must be just how I edit things.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And it's probably because I can't see.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Greens and grays in certain spectrums, and so I just edit them differently so it looks good in my eyes.

[Adam Grimm]

I can tell that with a lot of people's photonography, actually. Surprisingly. Yeah. So that doesn't surprise me at all to have that. And. And, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't say it's necessarily a bad thing. I mean, it. But it does skew. No use.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

I mean, I think it's given me an advantage because I was able to shoot things differently without trying.

[Adam Grimm]

Right.

[Podcast Host]

Because it's just how I see them.

[Adam Grimm]

Well, and I guess I would say you could always work in black and white. Right. Could always go back to that.

[Podcast Host]

But I would imagine that, like, you get a certain set of judges or whatever, they see diff colors, you know, slightly differently. It's like, okay, then. Yeah, that's the difference that you were saying. Like, if. Is there one little detail that I could have changed and maybe that, you know, panel of judges that year saw, you know, the browns differently or the reds differently or whatever.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

But.

[Adam Grimm]

Well, and there's a lot of beauty in. I always say there's a lot of beauty in the subtleties. Like, there's the obvious beautiful things, but then the subtle areas, like the way you treat that. I always, like when you're doing a painting or even in a photograph, sometimes that has a lot of beauty to it that is underappreciated or not noticed, but adds so much to the thing. I try and think if there's, like, an example. Well, I'll say this. Like, a Drake pintail is stunning. Or a wood duck. Right. Stunning color. And the hens are oftentimes underappreciated. But like, a hen wood duck or a hen pintail is a stunning bird.

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Adam Grimm]

And it's all these subtle colors and patterning and. And they're not as flashy, but still. Like, I almost think they're prettier sometimes in the Drake. I mean, just how I actually have a hen pintail mounted. I have a hen wood duck mounted because of that. I have Drake's, too. But, yeah, certain species is, like, I got to get them one of the hens mounted if I'm going to get one done, because, yeah, they're they're just as pretty, for sure, of a bird. So.

[Podcast Host]

But it. Like you said, it's just subtle.

[Adam Grimm]

It's subtle.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

And they're harder to paint. I mean, like, when I go to do a painting, it's pretty easy to the bold colors of a wood duck or, you know, something. Although, I mean, not that iridescence is easy, don't get me wrong. When you're trying to capture that look, that's pretty hard. But, yeah, the softness of a hen, like wood ducks flank, with the little light tan.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Buff kind of colored spots. And there's a lot of technical stuff that plays into getting it to look that way. So it is pretty interesting. I mean, as an artist, like, I. I like the challenge of it. I like the challenge of trying to paint something that's hard, because what I want is for my peers, not even the judges or the regular public. I want the people who. Who I look up to, like what they're doing, to look at what I'm.

[Podcast Host]

Doing and be like, oh, no, we're done.

[Adam Grimm]

That's pretty nice. And it's funny now, seeing my daughter, like I said, I mean, she's doing paintings, and I don't want to say what species she painted for the contest, but she was really struggling on one part, and she asked me about it, and I said, well, you've got to figure what you have going on here. Right. So it was, like, on the chest of the bird. And I said, you've got the lighting raking across that, so you've got that playing a factor. You've got the texture of the feathers. You've got the form of the feathers, the form of the overall bird, plus the patterning and the color. Right. Like, so there's. It's a lot. Like, it's so complex.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Trying to capture that, every little detail.

[Adam Grimm]

It's very complex. And again, it's the kind of thing where until you're trying to do it, you maybe don't notice it or realize it. And so then I showed her a painting that I had done of the same kind of bird and that same area and how I had done it and everything. And she, like, wanted to give up. She's like. Because she. She felt like she was coming so far short of what I had done with it. But I said, I'm just glad you can look at it and actually appreciate it now, because you now know what it takes to do it.

[Podcast Host]

You see the hundreds of hours.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, that's, you know, meticulous. And. And the thing is, is it's not. It's not just a matter of painting it. Right. It's. It's the years of understanding and learning that I had to do to get to the level where I could do it and understand it and actually paint it.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

So, yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, it's a cool job. I mean, I wake up and when I'm working on a painting, I actually haven't worked on any painting for. I've been so busy with so many other things, I haven't had a chance. But when I'm working on a painting, I'm like, I wake up excited. Like, I'll wake up and I mean, like 5:30 in the morning, and I'm just like, I gotta get up and go paint on that painting. Like, I'm excited I'm gonna work on this part today or this part, and I'm actually excited to do it. I always say it's kind of like doing a big puzzle and you start it and you really want to see it done. But, you know, it's exciting to get different parts in as you're going to. And I feel the same way with. With my paintings, but, you know, I don't really have an answer key as I'm going. So it's just kind of a matter of just keep working on it. And sometimes you'll get a point to a point where you're struggling, like. Like Madison did with her entry. Right. And it's like, just keep working. Just keep working through it, you know? And it's like eventually you start to get closer and closer, and once in a while you're like, I have to paint that out and just start over. But not most of the time that doesn't happen.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So. But, yeah, I mean, you hit brick walls. I'm sure it's like writer's block or anything, right. Where you hit a wall a little bit. But yeah, I mean, usually if you just keep pushing through. I. I've talked to people about vermiculation, which. If you shoot like a pintail or a wood duck, like, on their flank, feathers, they have those little lines on the feathers that's called vermiculation. And it's beautiful. It's one of the things that is my favorite things about some of the ducks. Gadwall, green wing, teal, pintail, canvas back. They all have that. And I've talked to people who are carvers. I've talked to people who are painters, and they're just like, how could I. Where do I even begin? I'm like, just begin. Yeah, just begin. And you know, because you think it's like going to be impossible, it's going to take forever, you're never going to get done. It doesn't really take that long. Like you just have to start and just keep moving through. And I think that actually applies to a lot of things in life. Yeah, I was gonna say it's a.

[Podcast Host]

Pretty solid metaphor to life.

[Adam Grimm]

It is.

[Podcast Host]

Just because sometimes the hardest part is just that first step.

[Adam Grimm]

Just start.

[Podcast Host]

And then once you've started, you're like in it and it's like, oh, well, you just.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You know, it's like building that airplane while you're flying kind of thing.

[Adam Grimm]

That's right. Yeah. It's like you just keep pushing forward and, you know, eventually it starts to come together and even if you have some little hiccups here or there, I mean, it's usually you can work through it. So. And I mean, I've done that my whole life with the art thing. I mean, I've always had. That's how you learn and get better. Right. The hang up, I think a lot of people have is they either they lose the ability to see it and understand it and then you can't get better if you can't understand what you're looking at. So if you can't see that, like if you're doing a painting of a person and you can't see that the eyes are too close together and the nose is too long, you're probably never going to get better. Right. I mean, you can be taught technical things that like, okay, well, you should be able to measure and there should be about one width of an eye in between the eyes. Right, Right. So you can. There's things you can do to check it, but if you can't just see it, you're probably getting near your ability. Sure. So. So there's that part of it too, I guess that factors in. But everyone can get better.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

I mean, at anything. It's just, you know, what you're capable. It's like baseball or something. I mean, I love baseball. And there comes a point where it's like, well, you may be at the limits your physical ability.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, you hit the max.

[Adam Grimm]

You hit the max. Right. I mean, there's technique, things you can do to get better. Like. But you may never still make it to the major league, you know, level. So. But. But it is cool to learn and it's still fun to do stuff. And I still enjoy watching Bob Ross paint. Right. Happy trees once in a while. Right. That's right. Even Though I paint for a living. Like, it's, it's just so entertaining sometimes. So. Yeah, yeah. But no, I mean, again, it's. It's so cool living in this area and the people around this area, seeing my kids and their passion for nature, whether it's hunting or the other stuff that they're into. And then we just had a big hometown celebration here in our town, in our little town. Right. Of Wallace, South Dakota. And we probably had several hundred people came. We had a lot of kids, we had a lot of stuff. People were very generous to donate. Probably some of your listeners even donated stuff to this event. We had some really cool things. Willie Robertson donated a sign duck call. Oh, awesome. So that was cool, right? We had people that had me sign like a federal duck stamp and they like inlaid it in like a call.

[Podcast Host]

I saw that actually.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that was very cool.

[Adam Grimm]

There were some really cool things donated. Plus we had decoys and other calls and so many neat things that people were so generous. And so that was. I was all just like give away stuff to the kids. We did a silent auction on a few of the items, like the Willie Robertson duck call and stuff, just to recoup some of the money for the bouncy house stuff for the kids. But it was like a free event. Like the whole thing was free. The only thing I think we had any charging for was the, the food, which was like a free will offering that went to the fire department. But no, it was everyone that came, I think thoroughly enjoyed it and it was really focused on conservation education. And I mean, basically my goal was to get kids either excited about ducks or even duck hunting. Because again, if I. If they tried duck hunting, especially in this area, because it's pretty good. Yeah, if they tried it, they're probably going to enjoy it and they're going to care about the birds more and they're going to learn about the birds more and then they're going to care about the habitat.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

And again, this area. Right. Like these kids are going to one day probably be landowners around here. And. Yeah, I want them to care. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Because I want them to be future stewards of that.

[Adam Grimm]

That's right. Yeah, that's right. So that's kind of. That was kind of my intent, I guess, with it. And I think we achieved a lot of that. I mean. Yeah, I saw a lot of smiles on a lot of kids faces.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So.

[Podcast Host]

Well, what a cool legacy you're building for the future. And you know, just for everybody listening, you know, tell them where they can go find you. We'll wrap this up.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So my website isjust Adam Grim dot com.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yep.

[Adam Grimm]

So it's pretty simple. You can contact me through that. Shoot me an email and I can email you back or call you. You leave a phone number and yeah, I mean, I'm happy to talk with anyone. Like I said, if, if anyone has questions about if they want me to sign a duck stamp for them. We even have prints available of the federal duck stamp and they're, they're really nice and there's different editions. We're going to get more of that information up on my website as well. But it takes so much time, I mean, when you win to get all of that stuff put together and out there because you've got to get everything printed. I mean, there's a whole lot of planning that goes into it. So. But I always think like it's kind of cool to commemorate that year's hunt or you know, it's something that makes a cool gift too. The print is just kind of neat because you can frame it up with the stamp. You can even frame it up if you wanted with the stamp that you hunted with all season. You know, I'm happy to sign a stamp, you know, for people too. And we do that. I even offer remarks on some of the prints, which is like a little hand painted thing.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, cool.

[Adam Grimm]

So you're actually getting an original painting on your print. Right. Which is kind of neat too. So there's some neat commemorative things that we've done. I even take custom orders on those little remarks and I've had people that have wanted me to paint their dog on it or all kind of things.

[Podcast Host]

So that's really cool.

[Adam Grimm]

So there's some neat stuff that's, that's out there. Yeah. If anyone had an interest in any of that, they can reach out to me. But I mean, I. Yeah, I mean definitely make sure you buy your duck stamp this year whether you hunt or not. Right.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

If you're listening to this buy.

[Adam Grimm]

If you're listening it. There's not many things that do more for. For the ducks and other. Other wildlife.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Than that, than that program. So. And buy two actually. That's right. You can buy Exactly. Or three.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And if you don't want to go out and buy one yourself, like just send us the money at public land tees and we'll go buy one for you.

[Adam Grimm]

There you go. So there you go. It's easy.

[Podcast Host]

It's easy.

[Adam Grimm]

So yeah, no, definitely do that. And Yeah, I guess, you know. Yeah, follow my work. I'm also on Facebook and I have an Instagram page that I don't update as often as I should. I'm a little better on the Facebook one. So anyway. But yeah, yeah, feel free to check that stuff out. And if anyone has. I also do commission artwork, so just like this pheasant and Herman, if someone has something they really had an interest in, they can sure contact me about that. And my daughter now is, like I said, also getting into stuff and. And she's great. So.

[Podcast Host]

And has she's been doing commission work as well?

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, she's done some of that. Yep. I mean, she's. She's been so busy with the waterfowl stuff, like with the nonprofit that she started, but. Yeah, I mean, she enjoys doing the artwork too. And.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, and again, say that nonprofit again.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, so. So her nonprofit is second chance flight.com and she also has a website for her artwork, which is Madison Grimm Art.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Master.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, we'll put it in the show notes as well.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, yeah, I'll. I'll get that to you. So you have that. But yeah, and yeah, she's a tremendous artist. I mean, like I said, she's the winningest junior duck stamp artist ever.

[Podcast Host]

Amazing.

[Adam Grimm]

She was also the youngest to ever win the junior duck stamp, which is kind of cool because I'm the youngest to ever win the adult contest.

[Podcast Host]

Very cool.

[Adam Grimm]

So, yeah, and then she's won the junior three times and I've won the adult three times. There's some weird correlations, it seems like going on. And then last year when she came in second in the junior and again, I think she should have won, but she came in second in the junior and I came in second in the adult contest, so. Yeah, so it's been a pretty, pretty wild ride. But now she's actually competing in the adult contest and I'm kind of glad I'm not in it because she seems to be incredibly lucky or something too. So she has three years to compete that I won't even be entering. So.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And cool that you get to go. You guys are going to the contest this year.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, well, I have to go because I'm the winning artist. They always have the winning artist go. And I, you know, because they're a non profit and they have the bird banding lab in Maryland right there. So she wants to talk with them about the banding stuff more.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So we're. I thought, you know, she's got an entry and it's like, I Said the contest is painful to watch, especially if you get out it right off. Right.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

But her pain is good enough. I don't think that's too likely to happen. I don't think it could, but I don't think so. I thought, you know, it would just make sense maybe for her to go along and I kind of think it's fun to travel with somebody anyway, so. So it made sense to do that, but. And we found some pretty good priced airline tickets and so. Yeah, so we're just gonna go and have a daddy daughter time and you know, it'll take a quick turnaround trip, like three or four days we'll be gone. But. But it'll. It's gonna be fun, I'm sure.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

So.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Well, thank you so much again for hopping on with us and just looking forward to hearing. I'll. I'll get the update on your daughters in the.

[Adam Grimm]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Podcast Host]

And. And then we'll stay in touch and.

[Adam Grimm]

Okay.

[Podcast Host]

Maybe go hunt together at some point. You know, I can't just sit here and talk about hunting this much and I do that.

[Adam Grimm]

That's. That's what drives my passion.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Adam Grimm]

Is the out. I mean, that's what always has driven it, you know, I mean, there's nothing quite like, I don't know, dropping a beautiful duck and getting it in hand, having your dog retrieve it right to you. I mean, it's. It's pretty awesome.

[Co-host or Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Just the whole experience, so. Well, thanks again and we will catch you another time.

[Adam Grimm]

Thank you. Perfect recording. Dude, did you order the new iPhone 17 Pro? Got it from Verizon. The best 5G network in America. I've never looked so good. Look the same, but with this camera, everything looks better. Especially me.

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[Adam Grimm]

Selfies check please.

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[Adam Grimm]

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[Podcast Host]

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