Date of birth: August 28, 1948
Place of birth: Hammond, Louisiana
Current location: Hammond, Louisiana
Larry Blomquist was born on August 28, 1948, and was raised near the small town of Hammond, Louisiana. His lifelong love of the outdoors was evident at a young age when he shot his first gray squirrel while hunting with his uncle ”Swede“ at the age of 7 with his single-shot 410 his father gave him for Christmas. His dad and uncle taught him the moral precepts of outdoor conservation, gun safety, and the rules of hunting and fishing at an early age. Trips to the woods, farm ponds, lakes, rivers, and the Gulf of Mexico became an important part of his boyhood. It must also be noted that his family, especially his grandmother, made sure church and a Christian way of life was an important part of his upbringing.
His parents home was on 20 acres of land, mainly hardwoods and pines, on the outskirts of Hammond, Louisiana, where he spent many hours of his free time. There was plenty of rabbits, gray and fox squirrels to hunt, and a small creek to fish. Larry’s uncle Swede owned 180 acres of land north of Hammond were he operated a dairy farm and beef ranch which had beautiful bottom-land along the Chappapeela Creek. He spent many weekends there in the fall and winter helping his uncle and enjoying his free time hunting the abundant wildlife this land supported. This is where Larry’s interest in agriculture, tanning, and taxidermy initiated as a hobby and set the direction of what would become his future profession.
At age 11 in 1959 his grandmother bought him the Northwestern School of Taxidermy correspondence course that set his love for taxidermy in motion. That lesson series was without question a real beginning which gave him the basic knowledge to get started, but he realized as he pursed taxidermy into his teens there was much more to learn. During the early and mid 20th century the more advanced methods of taxidermy were hard to come by, and it was not until the renaissance of taxidermy began in the late 1960s and early 1970s that new learning sources and social communication in our profession opened doors.
In his teen years he also pursued his love of sports, especially football and baseball where he excelled in both sports, but it was baseball that landed him a partial scholarship in 1966 at Southeastern Louisiana University as a pitcher. This lead to a Bachelor of Science degree in animal science and afterwards a degree in vocational education at Louisiana State University so that he could teach Vocational Agriculture. During his college days Larry operated a part-time taxidermy business in a rented building on the main street of his hometown.
In 1970 a call to service in the US Army lead to a military operational status (MOS) in the US Army military police. After 6 months of active duty, he was fortunate to receive a transfer into a Army Reserved unit where he completed 5-1/2 years of service, which allowed him to secure his second degree in vocational education. After his active service time in 1970 and completing his degree in 1972 at LSU, he accepted a position at Hammond High School teaching biology and two years later he began teaching Vocational Agriculture. During these years of teaching he also maintained his part-time shop doing taxidermy, which he opened in 1968 when his mother gave him the keys to a cinder block office building on the main street of Hammond to get his taxidermy business out of the attic of the family home. Due to his mother’s action and the fact that he had to pay rent after that first month, taxidermy became more than just a hobby.
It was during this time that he slowly developed his skills as a professional taxidermist and knew he would soon have to select teaching or taxidermy as a lifetime occupation. In the fall of 1975 he resigned his teaching position to pursued his career in taxidermy. “I never looked back.”
Larry credits his degree in animal science with a minor in chemistry and biology as his most important education in becoming an award-winning taxidermist. This and his degree in vocational education was instrumental in leading to his final occupation as a publisher of the world’s leading taxidermy magazine and trade journal, Breakthrough, and owner of the World Taxidermy and Fish Carving Championships®. No doubt his belief in God, love of nature, wildlife, hunting, and fishing were just as important in his success.
Larry’s beginnings lead to a very successful career for over 30 years as a professional taxidermist, where his studio employed as many as four full-time and three part-time taxidermists during its peak years. During the 1970s and early 80s Larry won over 60 major awards at taxidermy competitions, including six Best of Show awards. This success lead to Larry being selected to judge whitetail deer along with Richard Christoforo, at the first World Taxidermy Championships in 1983. He was then selected as a judge in the mammal categories for the next 7 World Shows before he purchased all rights to the show in 1994. Larry went on to judge and give seminars at over 200 taxidermy shows, attending as many as 12 a year in the 80s, 90s, and many more into the 2000s. He has visited 49 states, hoping to add Hawaii soon, and 20 different countries.
Larry has served as a consultant to large sporting good companies like Bass Pro Shop and Cabelas. He was the writer, and developer of the NTA Certification program in the 80’s and 90’s, he has testified as an expert witness in many copyright, wildlife trophy donation and insurances cases in both state and federal courts. In the 90’s his methodology was accepted and adopted by the Internal Revenue Service for establishing values for wildlife trophies and Larry has appraised many of the most noteworthy taxidermy collections in the USA. He spent two years developing the World Show score sheet program which is now use by 38 taxidermy associations. Larry has written over 700 articles on taxidermy and authored several chapters in sportsman’s books on the taxidermy profession such as the Sportsman’s Bible of Hunting and Fishing.
During his practice as a full time taxidermist his leadership qualities found its way into the growing evolution of state and national taxidermy associations. His knowledge of parliamentary procedure as a agriculture teacher and position as a professional taxidermist led Larry to help form the South Louisiana Taxidermists Association (later to become the LTA) in 1980 and became their first president at age 32. Larry’s growing notoriety for his taxidermy and position as a state president paved the way for him being voted onto the board of director of the National Taxidermists Association in 1981. He served a total of 16 terms holding positions of president, vice president, ethics committee chairman, certification director, competition committee chairman, and parliamentarian during various years of his terms in office. Since his decision to retire as a director, he has been brought back many times as an advisor to the NTA.
Larry’s early background in taxidermy, vocational education, writing, and leadership were instrumental in his eventual life profession as publisher of Breakthrough Magazine and owner and promotor of the World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships. Larry gives his wife Kathy Moody Blomquist at least 51% credit for his success in publishing and leadership of the World Shows, saying, “She probably deserves a lot more. As the saying goes, beside every successful man is a very smart, hard working, caring wife and business partner, and that fact is very true of Kathy”.
Larry was inducted into the Taxidermy Hall of Fame in 2013, and in 2015 he was selected to take over the position as president/chairman of the Taxidermy Hall of Fame and continues to hold that position today along with being the publisher of Breakthrough Magazine and Chairman/owner of the World Taxidermy and Fish Carving Championships®. Larry and his wife, Kathy, still live in Hammond, Louisiana, and have two grown children, Aaron Blomquist and Lindsay Blomquist Doga, who both live in Houston, Texas, with their spouses Kristin Garcia Blomquist, Ross Doga, and children Isabelle Blomquist, Stire Blomquist, James Blomquist and Charlotte Doga.
