Legacy of Frank’s Taxidermy will live on at DNR offices across the state - WDIO.com

A lifetime’s worth of work from Frank’s Taxidermy is now on display at DNR offices across the state.
Frank Klabechek worked for 50 years at his shop in Iron, preserving pieces that people caught or hunted.
The avid hunter and angler started this as a hobby. When he went to UMD to study zoology, he even did study skins for them.
“I was going to go into the DNR. And then, Vietnam called,” he shared. He’s a combat veteran from the Vietnam War.
When he returned, he turned this hobby into a business.
“People get things mounted for different reasons. A lot of times it’s an ego trip because it’s a big or special animal, but some of them do because of a memory of their son’s and daughter’s, first fish or first duck. Or they do it because it’s a nice, real, beautiful specimen, or it’s a rare specimen,” he shared.
Now 80 years old, he decided his pieces in his private collection needed a new place to be, so others can enjoy it.
So he asked the DNR if they wanted them. This connection came through another hobby, which is hockey.
He’s run Frank’s Taxidermy team for decades. One of his players is Shane Zavodnik, a conservation officer.
“I’d been to his shop, and he told me he wanted the collection to go to a good home,” Zavodnik said.
So he asked the Area Wildlife Manager, Jess Holmes, about what comes next. So she and Courtney Clark, the Assistant Wildlife Manager, checked out the collection. And they figured out a way to get all of them to the DNR office in Tower, where they were cleaned up and then categorized and sent to the different offices.
Offices like the one in Tower are open to the public, and people are welcome to come look. They are very lifelike, from bears to beavers.
On Thursday, September 3rd, they invited Frank to see the display in Tower. They also gave him a plaque to recognize this massive donation, which they call unprecedented.
“There’s not words that can express just the gratitude that we share from this collection. We’re grateful for Frank, and his work will live on forever,” Holmes said.
Frank said he’s happy with how it’s all worked out. “They’ve done a nice job with the display,” he said.
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