![]() ![]() “It’s easy to dismiss him as a crackpot and goofball, but the reality is he was a genius,’’ Lodermeier said. “He was an icon in Minnesota, and had a lot to do with influencing waterfowling, not only in Minnesota but throughout the United States,’’ said Doug Lodermeier, 60, of Edina, a waterfowl historian and collector who gave a presentation on Herter’s legacy Saturday at the annual Minnesota Waterfowl Association’s waterfowl symposium in Bloomington. Though he died more than 20 years ago, he remains an enigma - and one of the most interesting characters in Minnesota history. ¶ And at the center of it all was George Herter, an eccentric and reclusive entrepreneur, a marketing genius who made brazen, bombastic claims to boost sales of his products. ![]() Launched and headquartered in Waseca, Minn., the company was the inspiration for today’s huge mail-order and big-box outdoor retailers. ¶ Herter’s was the Sears, Roebuck of the outdoor industry and was perhaps best known for its waterfowl products. Those catalogs included lengthy descriptions, instructions and bold, often audacious claims - entertaining readers while also enticing them to buy. ¶ Herter’s mail-order catalogs were legendary, hundreds of pages jammed with hunting, fishing, camping and other outdoor gear that could be delivered to your doorstep. ![]() ¶ Say the word “Herter’s’’ and a legion of mostly men, now middle-aged or older, in Minnesota and nationwide nod their collective heads in fond recollection. Before there was an Internet or a Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shop or Gander Mountain, there was Herter’s - the first outdoors gear juggernaut. ![]()
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