Book features photos of memorable moments

Deer Yearbook is a new publication for Iola-based JP Media LLC. The yearbook gives hunters the opportunity to add their stories and photos to the history of deer hunting in Wisconsin.
Submitted Photo

A new locally published series of annual books celebrates the long history of deer hunting in Wisconsin.

Iola-based JP Media LLC calls the 2020-21 edition of “Deer Yearbook” the first and only book of its kind to chronicle the tradition of deer hunting.

The book includes pictures and captions from hunters throughout the state and is set to be published later this spring.

The full-color, hardcover book chronicles a hunter’s most important deer hunting moments for generations to come, like first deer and biggest buck. This creates a permanent record that can be shared with family members and other hunters in the state without having to search previous years of social media.

“I’ve always thought there should be a printed annual book with the state’s important deer hunting memories and photos,” JP Media vice president Rocky Landsverk said. “For decades, our deer camp printed important pictures and some camps kept a paper record of important moments.

“With the advent of social media, we stopped doing that,” he said. “I’m not sure I can find the picture of my son’s first buck and my first deer and first buck are long lost. Imagine if you had a book like this every year since you started hunting and it included all your friends and family from throughout the state. It would be on the shelf in our cabin and it would be off the shelf a lot.”

Hunters can buy either one-sixth of a page to get one or two pictures and a caption ($19.95 per story or $54.95 for one story plus a book) or an entire page with up to six pictures and a story ($99.95 includes one page plus a book).

Extra books are available for $44.95 each.

“We currently have interested people collecting photos, especially of parents and grandparents, and, if necessary, we’ll help people write the story,” Landsverk said. “The story itself is one area where early testing shows people need help. We’ll simply talk to them and have an editor help them with their story. We anticipate some full pages will be used for a great hunting camp year or a compilation of years, while other pages will be blasts from the past with old pictures of years gone by and stories of our mentors.”

The website’s motto is “Spend five minutes today to preserve your hunting memories for a lifetime.”

Landsverk said the intention is to make submissions for the one-sixth page fast and easy.

“Upload a photo or two, then either write your own caption or just answer a couple questions and an editor will finish the caption,” he said. “The options are almost unlimited, so we’re getting submissions with two photos, either of the same person or two different people, or one photo with either a monster buck or a camp picture with several people and their deer in it. The options are limitless, even for the one-sixth page, but especially for the full page. Our camp plans to honor some of our mentors who brought this sport to us on our page.”

Monday, March 15, is the submission deadline for the 2020-21 edition. There is a sweepstakes running on the website right now in which hunters can win a free page.

Visit deeryearbook.com for more information and to register for the sweepstakes. Hunting clubs and shops can use the website’s contact page at to inquire about how to get a free listing to give away to a member or customer, as well as how “Deer Yearbook” can help promote their club or shop throughout the state.