MINNEAPOLIS — One day a long, long time ago — in 2013 — Madison Grimm, then 6 years old, and her parents, Adam and Janet, were working in their garden at their home near Vermillion, S.D.

“That’s when our phone rang,” Madison said. “It was a friend who said my painting was among the top 10 in the national Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest and that we might want to go online and watch the live countdown to see who wins."

Dial-up internet connections were common back then, so Madison and her family couldn’t get online right away.

“When we finally got connected, we saw I was in the top three, then the top two. Then, finally, I was the winner,” Madison said. “At 6 years old, I was the youngest to win the contest — by far."

Madison’s first word, her parents told her, was “duck.” She had been inspired to paint, and to paint ducks specifically, by her father, who won the Federal Duck Stamp Contest in 2000 and who also won it in 2014. Adam Grimm also prevailed in the 2025 Federal Duck Stamp Contest.

So much has happened to Madison in the years since her first national artistic honor that it almost seems like ancient history.

Within a week of that victory, for example, in which her artwork prevailed over 29,000 other entries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rescinded her award, alleging, essentially, that no 6-year-old could have created the artwork she claimed.

In other words, that she cheated.

Then service officials changed their minds again, apologized, and for a second time awarded Madison’s 2013 painting of a drake canvasback as best of show and winner of a $5,000 scholarship.

Madison’s painting also was immortalized on a collector’s stamp.

“It was nice to be named winner again,” said Madison, the oldest of four brothers and sisters, all of whom are home-schooled. “But it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.”

Perhaps to send a message to judges of that contest, which is open to youth in grades K-12, or perhaps only because she wanted to keep painting, Madison submitted waterfowl artwork to the same prestigious national competition again and again and again — winning three of the four times she entered.

Now, Madison and her family live in tiny Wallace, S.D., a short distance from Minnesota’s western border, where she has taken on what might be her biggest challenge.

Saving ducks.

“Vermillion is nice, but farmers have tiled and drained a lot of land in that area, and there aren’t many ducks left,” she said. “The population of Wallace is small, less than 100, and there are a lot more ducks around here.”

But not as many as there could be, Madison figured, if duck nests that otherwise would be lost when farmers and ranchers cut their hay could be saved.

Such was the inspiration for Madison’s current project, Second Chance Flight.

“It all started in 2020,” Madison said. “I won the Duck Stamp Contest that year, but because of COVID, there were no events and not many sales. That’s when I met a girl from Wisconsin. She had aviaries, with all kinds of birds. I wanted something like that. My dad said he would help me if I paid for the supplies myself. I did, and we built it.”

Word of Madison’s project spread, and soon area farmers were asking if she could rescue duck eggs abandoned in the field during haying. The farmers’ fast-moving machinery often killed nesting hens, but the eggs and sometimes the ducklings were left intact.

Madison soon learned, however, that federal regulations prohibit gathering wild bird eggs. So she appealed to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Denver office. Six months later, she was given a special permit, only the second of its kind.

Concurrently, Madison filed the necessary paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service to gain a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt designation for Second Chance Flight.

“In my first two years, last spring and this spring, I saved about 500 ducks,” she said.

Madison’s efforts have gained support among northeastern South Dakota farmers. One rescued more than 70 eggs. Another farmer scared away gulls from a nest until Madison arrived to remove the orphaned eggs.

Incubated under controlled conditions, the hatched eggs produce ducklings that are kept in rearing pens until they are released on nearby wetlands.

“Some farmers don’t know the difference between duck and pheasant eggs, and I wanted to rescue pheasant eggs, too,” Madison said. “But a state law prevented it. When I found that out, I contacted our local legislator to change the law.”

On March 12, a bill was signed into law by South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden establishing a special purpose salvage permit that allows Madison to collect and incubate abandoned wild pheasant and turkey eggs.

“The law wasn’t easy to pass,” Madison said. “I traveled to the Capitol to testify for it. It was a neat experience. This spring I saved 26 turkey eggs and 300 pheasant eggs.”

Before Madison releases young turkeys and pheasants, she affixes identifying bands on their legs. She wants to band released ducks, too, but doesn’t yet have the necessary license.

“I release the ducks when they are 6 to 8 weeks old,” she said. “A lot of people are interested to know about their migrations and whether they return to the release sites, or sites nearby. I’ve been approached by a handful of researchers about the possibility of placing GPS transmitters on them.”

So far, Madison’s efforts have been self-funded, along with a handful of private donations. To keep up her work, and expand it, she needs more tax-deductible donations to Second Chance Flight.

Every once in a while, a person comes along who might make a difference for all of us. Madison Grimm is a likely candidate.

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Donations can be made to Second Chance Flight on its website or by mailing a check to Second Chance Flight, 204 8th Ave., Wallace, S.D. 57272.

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