- Joined
- Mar 11, 2001
- Messages
- 70,011
- Reaction score
- 1,007
Jackalope creator dies at age 82
1/12/03
Associated Press
CASPER, Wyo. — Douglas Herrick, the man credited with creating Wyoming's famed jackalope, has died. He was 82.
A Douglas native, Herrick first heard the legend of the mythical creatures reputed to be part rabbit, part antelope from his grandfather. Folk tales portray the jackalope as a ferocious creature that attacked anything which threatened it.
Herrick died Jan. 3 at the Central Wyoming Hospice Home.
As a teenager, Herrick took taxidermy courses by mail order. He is said to have created the first physical portrayal of the jackalope in 1939 by screwing antelope horns into a mounted jack rabbit.
The first jackalope was hung in the LaBonte Hotel in Douglas, which now has an 8-foot statue of the creature greeting entrants to the Wyoming State Fair. A 13-foot cutout of a jackalope also sits on a hillside near town.
"I think it was kind of a joke," Herrick's son, Mike, said. "A lot of taxidermists fool around. But he didn't know they would get so popular. I know he didn't know."
While he never patented his invention, Herrick was given a proclamation in 1985 by former Gov. Ed Herschler that named Wyoming the animal's home. In 2001, a state lawmaker tried to get the jackalope honored as the official mythical creature of Wyoming.
The influence of Herrick's work can be felt across the country, and even the world, said Mike Herrick, a taxidermist like his father.
"I have a lot of people come in here thinking that they are real," he said. "They ask me where they can go to see one. I tell them that the bucks are hard to find, but I can show them a bunch of does."
Mike Herrick described his father as an avid fisherman, hunter and gardener. He worked full time as a taxidermist until becoming a welder and pipefitter for Amoco Refinery in 1954. He retired in 1980.
Herrick is survived by another son, three daughters, a brother and eight grandchildren. His wife died in 1993.
1/12/03
Associated Press
CASPER, Wyo. — Douglas Herrick, the man credited with creating Wyoming's famed jackalope, has died. He was 82.
A Douglas native, Herrick first heard the legend of the mythical creatures reputed to be part rabbit, part antelope from his grandfather. Folk tales portray the jackalope as a ferocious creature that attacked anything which threatened it.
Herrick died Jan. 3 at the Central Wyoming Hospice Home.
As a teenager, Herrick took taxidermy courses by mail order. He is said to have created the first physical portrayal of the jackalope in 1939 by screwing antelope horns into a mounted jack rabbit.
The first jackalope was hung in the LaBonte Hotel in Douglas, which now has an 8-foot statue of the creature greeting entrants to the Wyoming State Fair. A 13-foot cutout of a jackalope also sits on a hillside near town.
"I think it was kind of a joke," Herrick's son, Mike, said. "A lot of taxidermists fool around. But he didn't know they would get so popular. I know he didn't know."
While he never patented his invention, Herrick was given a proclamation in 1985 by former Gov. Ed Herschler that named Wyoming the animal's home. In 2001, a state lawmaker tried to get the jackalope honored as the official mythical creature of Wyoming.
The influence of Herrick's work can be felt across the country, and even the world, said Mike Herrick, a taxidermist like his father.
"I have a lot of people come in here thinking that they are real," he said. "They ask me where they can go to see one. I tell them that the bucks are hard to find, but I can show them a bunch of does."
Mike Herrick described his father as an avid fisherman, hunter and gardener. He worked full time as a taxidermist until becoming a welder and pipefitter for Amoco Refinery in 1954. He retired in 1980.
Herrick is survived by another son, three daughters, a brother and eight grandchildren. His wife died in 1993.
