Blom – Bill Nelson: Outdoorsman Extraordinaire – by Sherm Blom

A biography, 30 years in the making, of famed trapper-luremaker-author Bill Nelson, whose trapping and writing career literally took him from his Midwestern roots in Iowa and Minnesota to Montana and California. Nelson, one of the most widely-published American outdoor writers over a 30-year period that ended with his death in 1973, was also renowned for developing many innovative trapping methods and lures, plus inspiring, through his writing many individuals to take up trapping as both a hobby and a business. Nelson’s procedures and the trapping lures he developed have been widely duplicated since his death.

Author Blom compiled the material for Nelson’s biography over the past 30 years and was “amazed at the recall of those I interviewed” for a biography of a man who died in 1973. “Bill left a lasting impression on them,” Blom said. Learn the story behind this amazing man who made his living from the outdoors throughout his life; how he trapped in northern MN when temperatures dropped to 50 below zero; how he survived the Great Depression by digging roots, shelling and pearling, and fur trapping; his years in CA trapping on foot in the coastal mountains, logging, working for the U.S. Forest Service, and marten trapping on skis in the Sierras; bounty trapping for wolves, coyotes, bobcats, and foxes; learn of his record fur catches; how he was a noted outdoors writer for over 30 years with just an 8th grade education; his successful fishing techniques for catfish, carp, and muskies; his famous line of animal and fish lures; how he released skunks from traps alive, without them spraying and without using immobilization chemicals; his vast knowledge of animal species classification and their habits; a listing of his books and methods and over 100 magazine articles he wrote; learn about the man, himself, from his writings and from those who knew him; many direct quotes; with photos.

188 pages.