Trueblood, Ted, 1913-1982

Outdoorsman and conservationist; associate editor of Field and Stream magazine.

Outdoorsman and conservationist; associate editor of Field and Stream magazine; also wrote columns for Elks magazine and the Pennsylvania game news.

Cecil Whitaker (Ted) Trueblood was born in Boise, Idaho, June 26, 1913, and raised on a family farm established by his parents, Cecil and Elsie (Berry) Trueblood, near Homedale. He graduated from Wilder High School in 1931, and in that same year sold his first article, "A Certain Idaho Trout," to National Sportsman magazine. Trueblood did not achieve instant name recognition, however. Edmund Ware Smith, the editor of National Sportsman, published Trueblood's article under the by-line J.W. Wintring, insisting that Ted Trueblood was a pseudonym "and not a very good one." In 1935, Trueblood sold an article to Fur, Fish, Game . This article, and most succeeding ones, was published under his own name.

After high school Trueblood attended the College of Idaho for approximately two-and-a-half years. He also worked at various odd jobs, including panning for gold one summer at Jordan Creek. In 1935 Trueblood went to Moscow, Idaho, to attend the University of Idaho. He subsequently returned to Boise and on January 1, 1936, began working as a newspaper reporter on the Boise Capital News . While working on the Capital News, Trueblood met his future wife, Ellen Michaelson, who was also a reporter for the newspaper. He also began his lifelong affiliation with the conservation movement that year by helping to organize the Idaho Wildlife Federation.

In 1937 Ted Trueblood went to Salt Lake City to work for the Deseret News . He also began selling short articles on camping and fishing to Field & Stream . He soon returned to Idaho, however, and on July 6, 1939, he and Ellen Michaelson were married. The couple eventually had two sons. Dan was born in 1947 and Jack in 1949.

After his marriage, Trueblood tried to earn his living by writing freelance articles. Although he sold some articles to outdoor magazines, his new career was not very lucrative. So in 1940 he began working for the Idaho Fish and Game Department as a game warden, field researcher, and public relations officer. Trueblood's connection with Fish and Game dated back to the 1938 election when he campaigned for the initiative to create a nonpartisan Fish and Game Commission. But writing was still his chosen vocation, so when the editor of Field & Stream offered Trueblood the full-time position of Fishing Editor in 1941, he accepted. The Truebloods headed East to New York City.

Trueblood worked in the New York office of Field & Stream until he was fired in a company shakeup later that year. The Truebloods then moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and Ted worked as a photographer for the News and Observer newspaper. They moved back to Idaho in the spring of 1942, but two years later returned to New York so that Trueblood could again take up the position of Fishing Editor of Field & Stream .

In his 1978 book The Ted Trueblood Hunting Treasury, the author tells the story of his neighbor in Pleasantville, New York, who spent most of his life in the pursuit of wealth. The man was enthusiastically making plans for his retirement years when he dropped dead in his driveway while shoveling snow. According to Trueblood, this incident caused him to reassess his own life; in 1947 he left New York forever and returned to Idaho "determined to fish, hunt, and write about it." His employers at Field & Stream told him he would make more money if he stayed in New York, but he didn't care. He continued writing for the magazine under the title Associate Editor for the remainder of his life.

Trueblood was often praised for his simple, direct style of writing. His articles covered a wide variety of hunting, fishing, and camping topics, ranging from "Mid-Lake Bass Fishing" to "Taking the Mystery out of Sourdough." He was the author of six books (several of which were anthologies of his best magazine articles) and a contributor to several more.

In addition, Trueblood used his writing talents in support of various conservation projects. One such project was Save Our Public Lands, a group Trueblood organized in 1980 to oppose the Sagebrush Rebellion. He was able to focus public attention on his campaign through an article for Field & Stream (March 1980) entitled "They're Fixin' to Steal Your Land."

Trueblood was also president of the River of No Return Wilderness Council and a member of Ducks Unlimited, The Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, The Nature Conservancy, the Idaho Wildlife Federation, and other groups. He was the recipient of many awards for his work with conservation and outdoor groups. Trueblood received an Award of Merit from the American Association for Conservation Information in 1963. The Idaho Wildlife Federation named him 1973-74 Conservationist of the Year, and in 1975 the U.S. Department of the Interior presented him with its Conservation Service Award. Other awards include the 1975 Winchester-Western Outdoorsman of the Year Award and the 1975 Outdoorsman of the Year Award from the Outdoor Writers of America.

Despite the author's renown in outdoor and environmental circles his name (too good to be true) occasionally was a source of fun. The best example of this was a Field & Stream article in 1962 entitled "Is There Really a Ted Trueblood?" Newspapers around the country picked up on the story. Trueblood, playing along with the joke, wrote a letter to the editor assuring Field & Stream readers that he did, indeed, exist. A file on the "controversy" is found in the collection's Series 2, Subject Files .

In later years Trueblood was afflicted with an incurable form of bone cancer. At age 69, on September 12, 1982, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.