facebook-wisconsinproject

On opening day of "gun hunting season" in Wisconsin, men in pickups wearing blaze orange fill the the roads heading north they populate typically tranquil rural side roads. Weeks before the season, Fleet Farm displays show off blaze orange fashions, scent elimination sprays, and products like Buck Bomb Doe-in-Estrus Aersol Fogger and Code Blue Whitetail Doe Urine. The press operators at the local printing plant used to get so distracted preparing for the hunt that we found it imperative to avoid scheduling runs in around the season. Hunter friends describe the sublime symbiosis with nature experienced while sitting for hours in a tree-stand pondering the landscape awaiting the perfect buck.  Fresh air and meditation counter the complexities of 21st century hunting -- the Chronic Wasting Disease some believed would wipe out Wisconsin's deer herd and high-tech gizmos like Stealth Cam Rogue Digital Video Scouting Cameras and GPS. The "Ready Aim" postcard illustrates the uninformed photographer's naive misunderstanding of the issues. A summertime Kodachrome portrays a hunter taking aim at a buck "in velvet" (note: didactic postcard caption above). The legendary night time post-hunt activities include tales of strippers around Manitowoc heading up north with the hunters to dance at the Boom Bay Bar in Rhinelander or on the strip in Hurley a/k/a  Sin City (note: density of bars in postcard above).  These days, liquor stores hang "welcome hunter" banners while meat market parking lots are bumper to bumper with pickups waiting to drop off their  wild game for processing.

Post cards became a way to learn about and vicariously experience a depicted place described by a friend in a personalized hand written message. We've found numerous mid-20th century postcards showing both individuals and groups of people absorbed by staring at the landscape while fishing, sitting, strolling or lingering. The stance is often meditative and the activities near the water are never gasoline powered.