Episode Details

EP 2-36 TOM MANGELSEN

Wendy Corr:

Well, hey there, folks. Welcome to the roundup. We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on interesting people in the cowboy state, and whether you know it or not, whether you know the name or not, you have seen the work of this phenomenally interesting person in the cowboy state that we're going to interview today, that we're going to have a conversation with today, and I'm so excited to get on to this conversation with Tom Mangelsen.

But first, I want to make sure that you all know about another fascinating podcast that if you're a business person in Wyoming that you need to check out. It is the Wyoming Business Alliance, "Business From the Basement". This is a fantastic resource for anybody who does business in Wyoming that wants to have just a little bit more insight, maybe a little bit more networking. Check out the "Business From the Basement" podcast from the Wyoming Business Alliance. But don't go there yet, because you're not going to want to miss this.

This conversation that we're going to have today is with possibly the most famous wildlife photographer in the world. I mean, this is, bar none, the most famous photo. They call it the most famous wildlife photo ever taken, the grizzly bear with the salmon - it's called, I think it's called Catch of the Day. Is that correct, Tom?

Yes, catch of the day taken by this gentleman right here, Tom Mangelsen. Tom now lives in Jackson Hole, but Tom has devoted his life to capturing and really, really understanding these amazing creatures that we have, not only here in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, but around the world, all seven continents.

And Tom has brought those images to those of us who can't get to those places and to experience the magic of these wild animals. So Tom Mangelsen, welcome to the roundup. Oh my goodness, I'm so excited to have you on here today.

Tom Mangelsen:

Thank you.

Wendy Corr:

It's my pleasure. Wendy, well, we are just so there's so many questions, so many questions that I have for you and and so I want to start out, though, with most everybody has an origin story. You know, everybody's got an origin story. Your origin, Grand Island, Nebraska. You started off in the Great Plains there, but something drew you to a camera.

Tell us about your growing up in Nebraska and how that then took you into this amazing career that you've had.

Tom Mangelsen:

Yes, I was born and raised in Grand Island. My grandparents, both sets of grandparents, lived there, my parents, my dad's three brothers, and I spent my first dozen years there. Then went to Ogallala, which is in western Nebraska, and sandhill country, which is kind of ranch country, and also a unique place in Nebraska.

So both Grand Island Ogallala were right on the Platte River, which is where I spent a lot of time with my father, duck hunting and goose hunting and rabbit hunting and pheasant hunting and quail hunting. And he took me, my dad took me out in the decoy boat when I was pretty much like a baby, 1, 2, 3 years old, my first memories are, you know, from those days, being pulled out in the boat early morning, before sunrise, and setting up decoys, and spending my summers with my brothers and my dad fixing up the tow heads, as we call, little islands where we had our blinds, and learning how to call ducks and geese.

And that was my dad's passion, was both hunting and fishing. We'd spent a lot of time cat fishing in the river in the summer times. But all those experiences, I think, mostly learning how to make lines and paint decoys and set decoys and calling, and that was just thrilling for me. I spent every moment I could out of school being out in