THERMOPOLIS — Jim Mills had a love for the outdoors and hunting and that helped him create a world-class collection of taxidermy trophies at the Safari Club in Thermopolis at the Hot Springs State Park.
His daughter, Jamey Nielson said her late father believed living your passion is the key to a fully, happy life.
“Dad’s passion was that he loved to hunt and fish,” Nielson said. “The only problem was that he never thought through what would happen to his collection.”
In the early 1980s, Mills had built a restaurant onto his hotel in Hot Springs State Park and filled it with his taxidermy trophies from around the world. For more than 80 years, he hunted and fished, and some of these trophies are still on display at the Safari Club.
Mills grew up fishing and hunting in Minnesota and it was his father, Lyle, who took him on his first safari in the early 1960s.
On this first trip at the age of 28, Mills killed the “Big Five” — elephant, rhinoceros, water buffalo, lion and leopard. He went on to repeat that feat several times before he changed tactics and started hunting with a bow to “catch and release” the big game he sought that were now endangered.
“Dad was inspired by his father, who was an avid fisherman and hunter,” Nielsen said. “My grandfather had started a collection in Minnesota, and then my grandmother bought him an old one-room schoolhouse with vaulted ceilings to display his trophies.”
That schoolhouse is now so full of mounts that the family doesn’t have room for more. In fact, Mills’ collection also fills the homes of all his children and that of his wife, Tuck. Now, the family is looking for a new home for the iconic collection that is currently on display at Hot Springs State Park.
“We are no longer part owner of the restaurant or hotel,” Nielson explained. “We sold out to our business two years ago and the collection is there strictly on loan for the time being.”
Nielson contacted a brokerage house, and the family is considering options for selling the displays.
A Tourist Destination
The Safari Club display has long been a tourist attraction to Wyoming’s most visited state park.
Bill and Maria Van Den Ouden first saw the collection two decades ago with their children and returned recently specifically to show a family friend the iconic display.
“We came here 22 years ago with our kids,” Bill Van Den Ouden said. “I told my wife, ‘This is the most beautiful collection of mounts I've ever seen in my life. Some of them don't even exist anymore.’ I just think it's history, and it's really unique.”
Maria Van Den Ouden had been following a map around the restaurant and identifying the various mounts. She took numerous pictures, rushing back to the bar to show her husband what she had found. She’s still as amazed as she was during the last visit.
“I think it's memorializing each of the animals, because most hunters just kill and eat and they don't mount them,” she said after her photo safari around the bar. “To me, to see these animals, which we would never in our lifetime see half of these animals, is amazing. He memorialized them.”
Kenny Nelson, a server at the Safari Club and longtime friend of Mills, said that the reaction of the Van Den Oudens is a common theme. Many tourists come in just to take pictures of the collection.
“They come in ,and most people really like it,” Nelson said. “Kids really love it. It's an attraction to the town.”
Bill and Maria Van Den Ouden pose at the Safari Club bar after taking a photo safari around the restaurant. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
Overlooking the Safari Club is a collection of animals that Jim Mills took in his many hunting adventures. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
The sports channel has never been so entertaining as it is beneath an array of trophy animals from around the world. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
The Wall of Hunting Fame that leads to the Safari Club. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
A possums hangs out above the Safari Club. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
A wise-looking moose. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
The map that helps tourists understand what they are looking at during their own photo safari at the Safari Club. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
The bear that greets visitors at the entrance to the Safari Club. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
A close view of one of Jim Mill’s trophy animals overlooking the bar. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
Jim Mills got the “Grand Slam,” which means he was able to take at least 12 of the world's wild mountain sheep. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
In later years, Jim Mills started hunting with a bow and doing ‘catch and release’ rather than trophy hunting. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
The King of the Jungle guards the way to the bar at the Safari Club. No one under 21 allowed! Kids can go upstairs to view the mounts in the bar however. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
Dining beneath the world-class collection at the Safari Club in Thermopolis at the Hot Springs State Park. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily)
History Of Hunting And Adventure
Although the future of the collection is uncertain, visitors can still take their own photo safari. A looming bear and even a fanged snake greet you as you enter the establishment.
“About 85% of this collection was from Jim and his family,” Nelson said. “Most of them are his. He's been most everywhere except for the North Pole and the South Pole. He's got things from Mongolia. He's got things from Tajikistan, where he's hiking all over Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Alaska, Chile and other places.”
Many of the stories are preserved not only in the mounts, but are told in the photos and newspaper clippings that line the wall leading to the hotel and restaurant. Although the family is sad to part with the giant collection, they hold on to the memories of the hunts they went on with Mills.
“He's been all over the world, and my mom too,” Nielson said. “We all did eventually get to go on at least one safari with him.”
Mills had owned the hotel since 1978 and as he hunted around the world, someone once asked him, “Jim, what do you do at the Holiday Inn?” and he had responded, “I keep the walls filled.”
Contact Jackie Dorothy at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
