Jerome Blazevic

Born: August 25, 1925

Hometown: Duluth, MN

Jerome was born in Duluth, MN, and has spent his entire life calling it his hometown. He started trapping in 1932, at the early age of 7 with two rusty traps he had obtained.

He got interested in trapping by following his older brother around on the trap line. Along with his brother being an influence on his trapping growth, Jerome received guidance early on from community members who were also trappers. Jerome states another large influence on his trapping was the economic times. Being raised during the Depression, money was hard to come by as no jobs existed for young Jerome to work at to help the family. This led him to take to the trap line to help support the family with the income he derived from his trapping. In his later years, he was also influenced in his trapping by members of the MTA and NTA he met throughout the years.

Jerome would tell you his favorite animal to trap without hesitation are bobcat. He has always loved the challenge of catching bobcats. He especially enjoys locating good bobcat habitats through scouting and spending time in the woods. Jerome has a special memory for every bobcat he has caught over the years making them even more special to him. 

He doesn’t have one favorite trap line memory, but, instead, has many from his years of running the trap line. Jerome states his time spent teaching and running the trap line with his three sons ranks right at the top. Along with teaching his sons, he spent many years passing on his trapping knowledge to Boy Scouts and community school students since 1958. He also has good memories of going over 1,000 muskrats during several of his seasons. Jerome has stated he cherishes all the times over the years that were spent afield on the trap line regardless of the weather observing game, sign, and the four seasons.

He has spent countless hours over the years educating any and all who would listen on the importance of trapping and how to trap. Jerome served on the MTA education committee and was instrumental in helping train some of the first trapper education instructors for the MTA trapper education program. He helped run the pelt handling contest at the MTA winter meeting for many years designing and implementing the existing rules used now. He spent time educating all who wanted to learn the finer points of supreme fur handling through the use of the contest. Along with this, he served as a scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America for 30 years and has taught animal habitat, winter survival, and numerous other outdoor-related classes to a variety of youth and adult audiences for many years. His passion for wanting to educate and pass on his knowledge to future generations is always apparent when you talk to him.