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Safari on display
500 mounts on display at Dalton museum
Published Thursday, February 14, 2008
Photo by Lauren Radomski
The walls of the museum are lined with the mounts of animals Slack hunted across six continents.
After Steve Slack had a heart attack five years ago, his thoughts eventually turned to the nearly 500 animal mounts he kept at his Chanhassen home.
“I said to my wife, ‘What are you going to do with all these if something were to happen to me?’” Slack said.
Hence the birth of the Preserve the Tradition Museum of Natural History, opening this spring in rural Dalton. Slack, who owns 320 acres off of County Road 82, has spent the past five years designing the museum, overseeing its construction and filling it with the animals he’s hunted across six continents.
“I think I’m accurate when I say this is the largest collection in the five-state area,” Slack said Monday as he strolled through the museum. “I just love animals and I love the collection of them.”
That love dates back to childhood, Slack said, but blossomed about 20 years ago when he quit his corporate job with Target.
Since then, Slack has devoted much of his time to hunting, and the animals filling museum walls and floors reflect his travels: an African Nile crocodile, a puma from Argentina, an Asian gray wolf from Mongolia — the list goes on and on.
Photo by Lauren Radomski
The museum includes mounts of nearly every big game animal found in North America.
Five years ago, Slack’s collection qualified him for Safari Club International’s World Hunting Award, what Slack likened to “the Super Bowl of hunting.” Award recipients must shoot an excess of 250 animals, including the rhino, lion, cape buffalo, hippopotamus and elephant. Slack’s award was only the 31st in the organization’s history.
Nearly all of the animals on display at the museum are Slack’s, with a few from family members and two replicas: an elephant and a walrus. To mount the real elephant Slack shot in Zimbabwe in 1998 would have cost him $25,000, so he opted for an imitation at $7,000. Slack attended a walrus-hunting camp with Inuits in Canada in the late 90s, but had to leave the skin and ivory behind when he returned to the states.
In addition to big game, the 6,000 square-foot museum is home to a room-full of ducks, geese, turkeys, grouse and quail. Slack hunted many of these; others he picked up on the side of the road, thanks to salvage permits from U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources.
“So if you see some idiot on the side of the highway picking up a dead owl, it’s probably me,” he said.
Slack plans to devote a room to endangered species, a room where he hung a trumpeter swan Monday. The swan was found dead in the Mississippi River and Slack had the connections to retrieve it for the museum. When all is said and done, the museum will also include a room where students can hold skulls and animal pelts, as the rest of the exhibits are strictly no-touch.
While the museum does not officially open until May 1, it has already hosted numerous events, including a wild game cooking class taught by Grant County 4-H Program Coordinator Ranae Edwards. For Edwards, the museum offers visitors a trip around the world.
“It’s a real opportunity for children and adults of all ages to be awed,” she said. “Ninety-nine point nine percent of us will never travel to 37 countries on six continents, much less see all the creatures that live there.”
What adds to the experience, Edwards said, is the passion Slack brings to his museum tours.
“People love stories,” she said. “They love real and true stories and that’s what Steve has.”
Slack, who lives on his Dalton property during the summer, will be sharing those stories with visitors until the museum closes for the year Aug. 30. Edwards will continue to host events in coming months, including a Feb. 23 event for students in grades three through 12; contact Edwards at 218-685-4820 for more information.
Museum visitors can not only tour the museum but reserve conference space or stay in one of the building’s four bedrooms. Admission is $3 for and $7 for adults, though Slack says his objective with the museum isn’t to make a profit.
“We need to protect the rights for hunting and kids need to know it’s not about killing, it’s about enjoying the outdoors,” he said.
“I’ve taken and now I’m trying to give back.”
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Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by horseygirl (anonymous) on February 14, 2008 at 2:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I will never understand the need and enjoyment someone gets out of killing so many beautiful, majestic creatures. Yes, it is about killing. I am not a non-hunting fanatic, I come from a family of hunters but not one of them had a goal to kill everything they see and hang them on a wall.
I don't understand the goal of killing one of everything. There's such a thing as a video safari. Enjoy these beautiful beings and hang their pictures on your wall. Yes, it is about the killing and the enjoyment of seeing these beautiful creatures hit the ground dead or dying with a bullet in them. For what purpose? It isn't skill. These animals have no chance against the highpower rifles and technology of today.
Posted by pilsnerurquel (anonymous) on February 14, 2008 at 2:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree horseygirl. How disgusting.
Posted by horseygirl (anonymous) on February 14, 2008 at 2:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks. I am glad I am not alone. It is so degrading to these beautiful creatures to see their heads on a wall.
Posted by wildatheart (anonymous) on February 14, 2008 at 4:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This just disturbs me on so many levels. Mr. Slack has every intention of exhibiting endangered species. Sure, in the case of the elephant, it’s a replica and not the real thing. In Zimbabwe where he killed the animal, elephants are not considered endangered. But does that make it any less unnerving that a member of a species that develops relationships much like humans do has been cut down just to be left behind because it’s too expensive to make into a display. Don’t forget that a majority of the world does recognize it as an endangered creature. It obviously for him is about the killing despite his statement that it's not.
Here's my favorite part that just incenses me -
“We need to protect the rights for hunting and kids need to know it’s not about killing, it’s about enjoying the outdoors,” he said.
“I’ve taken and now I’m trying to give back.”
Where in this story does it show he's not in it for the killing. He's not using the hunted to sustain life. He's killing to put a trophy on the wall and to gain the prestige of the Safari Club. That is not "loving" animals. What he is exhibiting is his thrill in being dominate over another & proving he has control over whether others live or die. If he truly loved these animals, he would shoot them with a camera and show them in their glory of their natural habitat. That would be a true testament to having respect for the gifts we are given on this earth.
And, "I've taken..." Where is the positive message in that? He has indeed taken. He has taken from the earth. He has taken from families. And, regardless of where these animals were killed he has taken from you and I. Now, he wants you & I to pay him so he can further exploit the lives of these beautiful and majestic creatures. The way I see it, the only way he would be giving back would be to speak out against the atrocities of killing those that have posed no threat to him or anyone else just to place them on a wall.
I would be troubled by this story wherever it was set. The fact that this man is doing this in my hometown of Dalton is so disturbing to me. It may be too late but the town of Dalton, or whoever provided the necessary permits to operate, at the very least should have prevented display of any endangered animal.
Posted by fergusfallsmom (anonymous) on February 14, 2008 at 6:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
AMEN! This story is a total disgrace! With the money he spent on his trips, and taxidermy.. he could have sent a school of children to Africa to see the animals in real life and then go home. I am horrified and disgusted and want nothing to do with such a "museum." I am also offended that he calls it a museum. That it is not...
Posted by abartos (anonymous) on February 14, 2008 at 8:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I wonder if any of you making negative and disrespectful comments about this museum have been to the museum or spoken with Steve Slack? I should say not or you wouldn't be making the comments that you are. You have no idea what he is thinking or where his money is going. Did you know that when he hunts an elephant in Africa and does kill one, an entire village and more are fed when normally they struggle for food, struggle to eat. They come from 15 miles away to benefit from the food now provided by this hunter. It saves an entire years crop of food from their gardens so that the village can continue to eat and feed their FAMILIES!!! Did you know that the trophy fee that the country requires goes to the tribe. Did you know that there really are lions that attack human beings and KILL them in these villages and Mr. Steve Slack has saved them from one such animal. I strongly suggest if you have such an aversion to hunting and a museum dedicated to teaching people, youth included, about nature, about animal life and evolution etc. that you make an appointment to speak with Steve Slack directly and discuss this in an appropriate forum rather than attack a mans passion. I feel that your comments are disrespectful and you need to conduct further research to make an educated opinion before you post such negative remarks. Most people would never have the opportunity to see such beautiful animals up close and personal if it weren't for such a museum. I think it's great, it's impressive to be sure. Thank you for providing the means for so many others to learn about things that some of us may never have the opportunity to see or learn about otherwise.
Posted by pilsnerurquel (anonymous) on February 15, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You can go to a zoo if you want to see endangered animals. Shooting them for sport, decorating your house with them and then bragging about how you've created a "museum" is pathetic.
Posted by werty (anonymous) on February 15, 2008 at 12:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think it will be neat to see the museum when it opens. Animal rights people and tree huggers can stay away. He's a hunter and mounts the animals he shoots...not a big deal to most people. As for endangered animals animals comment. Just because an animal isn't native to MN doesn't mean it's endangered...you make it sound like he's an endangered animal hunter. Get informed before you make comments. The opinions from the females are obvious. You wear leather shoes and jackets i'm sure, and he mounts animals on the wall. The died in both cases. It's also interesting that when an animal is condidered "beautiful" suddenly everything is different.
Posted by Animallover (anonymous) on February 18, 2008 at 10:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't understand how anyone can say they love animals and then proceed to shoot every animal they see. In response to werty many of the animals he shoots are close to being endangered in the 1980's there were only about 25,000 polar bears in the world. There are only 11,000 rhinos in the world today, and this jerk insists on shooting them for a trophy. So I would say that he is an endangerd animal hunter. In response to abartos, if Mr Slack is so concerned with the villagers in Africa then why doesn't he just donate money or food to the village rather than kill an animal that there are only 600,000 left in the wild. Also werty wearing leather is quite a bit different that trophy hunting, every part of the cow is used, it is a farmed animal. Mr Slack and his values are not what I would want any child to learn from.
Posted by localfisherman (anonymous) on March 22, 2008 at 10:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
i have a feeling one of these PETA fruitcakes is gonna go in there with a pail full of red paint and ruin it all,
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