Blaze Orange

With more than 600,000 hunters taking to the fields and woods of the state each year, the whitetail deer season is by far Wisconsin’s largest sporting event. Among family and friends or out on their own, hunters take part in a communal tradition, one that spans generations and draws them together.

Dewitz rides along with hunters and a game warden, stops by local bars and mom-and-pop stores, and visits the industries that operate alongside the hunt—a taxidermist and knife maker, butchers and sausage makers. Along the way, he records every facet of the season, from the peacefulness of opening morning to the exhilaration of the hunt and the joy of families and friends coming together to share stories and venison. The result is a stunning and keen-eyed chronicle of one season of the Wisconsin whitetail deer hunt.

“Travis Dewitz presents the deer hunt in a way that is unvarnished and yet poetic, graceful, and subtle. Page by page, Blaze Orange makes you part of the Wisconsin deer season, from the hunt itself to the many people and businesses that depend on and provide support to hunters. These images transport you to the snow-covered woods, and they let you see the soft light of a November sunrise, imagine the smells and sounds of the local bars, and consider the craftsmanship of a custom knife maker.”

—Jeff Davis, editor of Whitetails Unlimited Magazine

“If you need to stir your hunting soul in the middle of summer, reach for Travis Dewitz’s Blaze Orange: Whitetail Deer Hunting in Wisconsin. Dewitz has created a soulful photographic account of deer hunting at its best, the quiet passion of rural folk for whom deer season is the heart of every year. . . . Dewitz’s excellent images capture without fanfare what deer hunting is all about to rural America. Kudos to him and to the Wisconsin Historical Society for putting a slice of this tradition in print.”

—Christopher Camuto, Gray's Sporting Journal