Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of our cofounder, Jack Brauer. His 1960s “Stump Sitters” deer camp provided him the idea to incorporate the Stump Sitters Whitetail Study Group in 1973, which led to the creation of Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine, America’s First & Foremost Whitetail Source® in 1977. Before D&DH, deer hunters obtained their information from generalist publications.
He was 85.
Brauer was 37 years old when he walked away from a successful insurance sales career to join forces with his hunting camp member Al Hofacker to start the Stump Sitters in 1973, a membership group that shared hunting and scouting log information as a means of becoming more knowledgeable whitetail hunters. Neither man had any experience in publishing, but they used their knowledge of business and deer hunting to spawn an idea for a whitetail-only magazine in 1976 and then launch D&DH in 1977.

Both men were whitetail fanatics, a rare hobby back then, as most hunters were small-game hunters who happened to hunt deer for a few days each fall. Brauer and Hofacker were avid bowhunters, another novelty that was just getting its roots in America.
With Brauer handling the business end of the company and Hofacker curating the cutting-edge content, the men soon turned their newsletter into a full-color glossy national magazine. Circulation grew to over 100,000 paid subscribers within three years of the launch. Their ideas didn’t end there. Brauer was a driving force in the industry, and he is credited with numerous ideas that are now common in the marketplace, including modern camouflage, trail cameras, tree stands, and tree stand safety equipment.
During their early Stump Sitters years, Brauer and Hofacker approached the great Fred Bear and asked him if he would be interested in helping fund their efforts. Bear politely declined, stating that he thought the idea for a whitetail-specific media source was too vertical.
“He said we would run out of things to write about,” Brauer once said in an interview. “It was probably the only thing he was ever wrong about.”

Brauer was born in March 1939 and lived most of his life in Wisconsin’s Fox Valley area, graduating from Appleton West High School in 1957. He walked away from a successful career in the insurance industry to start his publishing career in the 1970s. After selling Deer & Deer Hunting to Krause Publications in 1992, Brauer took up numerous hobbies in retirement, including walleye fishing, graphic design, logo development, watercolor painting and model trains.
“Started painting in 2009 with watercolors,” he said. “Been sketching with pen & ink for 20 years, specialized in doing private homes and businesses. Self published guides and also produced educational programs about hunting and fishing. Graphic design and development of logos for companies.”



