“How do you ever expect to survive by running a deer magazine?”

That is a real quote, and this long, lost photo is a very memorable walk down memory lane. On the right is Deer & Deer Hunting cofounder Jack Brauer. On the left (can you tell?) you bet, that is none other than the legendary Fred Bear. This photo was taken in about 1980 when the Stump Sitters toured Michigan to promote their revolutionary new product — Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine — to groups of ardent whitetail hunters. Does that sound odd? It might not today, but the mere concept was laughable to many folks — including the great Fred Bear — back then.

You see, just two years earlier, Brauer, an insurance salesman, and Al Hofacker, an electrician, quit their day jobs to go full-bore into the publishing world. Four years before that (in 1973), they incorporated their name “The Stump Sitters Whitetail Study Group” after rallying like-minded folks who thirsted more information on their favorite pursuit. By 1977, the group sought a better way to disseminate all of the information hunters had been gathering via field notes and observations.

That first newsletter came out as two 11×17 pieces of paper stapled and folded in half.

By the time this photo was taken, Deer & Deer Hunting was soaring. It had landed on national newsstands and was the only publication of its kind. In fact, it was America’s first periodical devoted strictly to the white-tailed deer and whitetail hunters.

“Fred was a very gracious host when we met him,” Brauer once told me. “But he was very skeptical of the whole concept of a magazine devoted strictly to whitetails and whitetail hunting. In fact, he said, ‘How do you expect to survive by publishing a magazine that’s only about deer?’ 

“I told him, ‘On $50 bucks a week and all the roadkills we can eat. He laughed and laughed. He even asked if he could use that line during his seminars. He was a great man and such an innovator.”

From everyone here at D&DH in 2020, we sure are thankful and appreciate for those who paved the way for all of us deer hunters. Without their foresight, this great American pastime would not be where it is today.

MORE: CHECK OUT THE NEW DEER & DEER HUNTING