David A. Maass, essentially a self-taught wildlife illustrator, was born on November 27, 1929 in Rochester, Minnesota. As a youngster he rescued wounded birds and raised pigeons in his home. Also, there was a tradition of hunting in his family as his mother Ora was a Minnesota state trap-shooting champion. Also he hunted frequently with his stepfather, "Kelley".

After high school graduation, Maass worked in the tool and die department for Josten Jewelry, a manufacturer of high-school and college jewelry, and he eventually became the Art Director. Stu Ferreira, a wildlife artist, worked in the department and helped Maass improve his technique and gave him the encouragement he needed to continue painting.

Maass also spent two years in the Marines in California, where he became friends with another wildlife painter, David Hagerbaumer, receiving pointers from him. After his service, Maass returned to Minnesota.

Maass has won thirty-three duck and conservation stamp competitions, including two of the coveted Federal Duck Stamp Contests, one of them in 1974, when he was also chosen Artist of the Year by Ducks Unlimited. He has been named Artist of the Year and feature artist by many other exhibitions and conservation organizations, including the National Wild Turkey Federation and the National Wildlife Art Collectors Society. Maass has raised millions of dollars for conservation causes through donations of his original artworks and limited edition prints.

Over three hundred of Maass' illustrations have been published by Wild Wings, Inc., and he has produced calendar illustrations for twenty-seven years for Brown & Bigelow.

His work has been widely reproduced in journals, books and magazines. Two books are: A Gallery of Waterfowl and Upland Birds, with writer Gene Hill; and The Wildfowl Art of David Maass by Michael McIntosh from the Master of the Wild Series.

Maass shows his work in the annual Lywam Birds in Art and Lywam Wildlife in Art exhibitions in Wausau, Wisconsin. He is represented in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota.