Klabechek's wildlife work honored by DNR – Mesabi Tribune

A bear mount created by Frank Klabechek is shown by (l-r) DNR Conservation Officer Shane Zavodnik, DNR Conservation Officer Matthew Frericks, DNR Tower Area Wildlife Supervisor Jessica Holmes, DNR Tower Area Wildlife Technician Jake Olson, and Klabechek.

A bear mount created by Frank Klabechek is shown by (l-r) DNR Conservation Officer Shane Zavodnik, DNR Conservation Officer Matthew Frericks, DNR Tower Area Wildlife Supervisor Jessica Holmes, DNR Tower Area Wildlife Technician Jake Olson, and Klabechek.
Frank Klabechek’s life has revolved around wildlife—along with a heavy dose of hockey.
Klabechek’s lifetime work of wildlife taxidermy, wood carving, oil pastels, water color paintings, and pencil drawings, are now on permanent display across the state as the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Aug. 20 holds a Wildlife Day at its offices in Tower.
“We couldn’t be more proud to carry on Frank’s legacy,” Jessica Holmes, DNR Tower Area Wildlife supervisor said.
Wildlife Day will be an informal get together where the public can talk about any wildlife issue they want, Holmes said.
The event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Holmes said.
“People can stop in or call,” Holmes said. “I will have some handouts for deer season, but we can talk about any wildlife. It’s just a day and an opportunity to speak with the public.”
But it’s also an opportunity to appreciate Klabechek’s lifetime of wildlife work.
On display within the Tower offices will be just some of Klabechek’s roughly 50 years of wildlife work.
Klabechek recently donated over 400 wildlife items that he created in his workshop to the DNR.
The items include a large array of taxidermy work along other pieces of wildlife art he created within his workshop in Iron Junction.
“I had a lot of specimens that the DNR liked,” Klabechek, 80, said. “My relatives would have a hard time getting rid of this stuff and I’m getting older, so I approached the DNR and they said, ‘Let’s go for it’.”
It took the DNR about four trips to collect a large portion of his more than five decades of work, Klabechek.
“They came down here several times with trailers and hauled it away,” Klabechek said. “I hope they give it a good home, because it was special to me.”
Klabechek’s wildlife work will be at home all over the state, Holmes said.
“We distributed it statewide to all the DNR Wildlife and Forestry offices, the Camp Ripley Education Center and Friends of Sax-Zim Bog,” Holmes said. “We’ve been talking about this for years. We hope to bring him up here.”
Klabechek graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth with a zoology degree, he said.
But a stint in the U.S. Army took him to Vietnam where he served in combat, Klabechek said.
Back home, he turned from the unrest of war to the peace of wildlife art.
“I did a lot of oil pastels, wood burning and carving before I started taxidermy,” Klabechek said. “After the war, I wanted to do something.”
After visiting a taxidermist in Duluth, Klabechek said he got into taxidermy.
But in essence, he became self-taught.
“I add one art class in high school that didn’t amount too much,” Klabachek said.
However, Klabechek’s high-quality taxidermy work became among the finest in the state and in high demand.
“It was all word of mouth,” Klabechek said. “In my heyday, I was three years behind. I told customers, ‘If you can’t wait, don’t come here’. I had customers who died, were in airplane crashes and divorced (before their taxidermy project was done).”
All the while, Klabechek said he enjoyed doing it as a hunter and fisherman himself.
“It sort of grew from a hobby into a business,” Klabechek said. “I got into it and don’t regret any of it. I met a lot of customers and friends over the years because of it.”
Hockey has always been a major part of his life as well.
For decades Klabechek has sponsored and played on the Frank’s Taxidermy men’s hockey team.
Klabechek has continued skating and playing competitive hockey.
A special event, “A Night for Frank,” is 3 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., Sunday, August 30, at Iron Trail Motors Event Center in Virginia when his legendary Frank’s Taxidermy team plays the Minnesota Warriors.
The Minnesota Warriors are a hockey team composed of veterans.
The event will honor Klabechek for his lifelong contributions to the Iron Range hockey community.
Klabechek said he’s kind of at a loss for words to think of his life’s work being displayed across the entire state.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know what to think,” Klabechek said. “I just hope they treat it with some respect and put it in places where it’s going to last a while.”
So, just like the legendary Frank’s Taxidermy hockey team has lived on for years, Klabechek’s life’s work will also live on.

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