Hunting magazines the worst and the almost readable.

[H&Hhunter]

I've got a couple of magazines that I enjoy to read from time to time. They are African Hunter, Magnum of South Africa, (NO not the American Porno mag it's a hunting mag from RSA.), and Sports Afield.

I picked up Peterson's hunting the other day and an Outdoor Life. Holy lousy carp buckets Batman, have those magazines ever gotten horrible. I bought the Peterson's because it had an article about sheep hunting. That had to be the most poorly written, no information, short subject story I've ever had the misfortune of reading. It did have some pictures of the pretty boy hunter though. I guess that counts for something if you like to look at pretty boys. It didn't talk about the rifles or any other equipment it didn't talk about shot details or go into any interesting details about any part of the hunt, it simply said "I went sheep hunting and to sheep hunt you have to be tough like me, I killed a sheep."

The rest of the magazine is mostly adds and a few non substantial articles about the same stuff we've all read 1,000 times before. Outdoor Life is about the same. It's written at a 5th grade level and has about the same quality and information level as you average Marvel comic.

Being a life member of the NRA I get my choice between the two mags and I choose American Hunter. It's so bad it generally goes straight into the trash it does have one or two interesting articles a year but that's about it.

African hunter usually has one or two readable articles per issue. Sports Afield started off strong but they are getting to be hit and miss. Magnum I usually enjoy every issue as there is generally something in there that catches my interest. I especially enjoy the articles written by Africans about hunting in North America. I find it very interesting to read their first time impressions of our hunting here.

What magazines do you guys enjoy reading if any?

 

[ArmedBear]

Shooting Sportsman. Actually has very informative articles about shooting technique, dog training, etc., as well as well-written literary bits and hunting trip porn.

Just got back from a place in Northern Idaho that does things like 3-day pheasant hunts for $4800 -- I went to a wedding there, not a hunt. Some "hunting trips" can be ridiculous. So hunting trip porn must be taken with a grain of salt. The place was nice, but not THAT nice... And I can imagine hunts that I'd happily pay good money for, so that's not it...

Sporting Classics can be good.

I especially enjoy the articles written by Africans about hunting in North America.

That does sound interesting.

Most magazines are fluff at best, and usually worse. But there are good ones -- not usually on the racks at Joe-Bob's Junk Guns, Awful Beer and Breakaway Lures.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Sporting Classics can be good.

AB,

I have a liked a few articles written in SC. But it foes for some long periods with creative dry spells IMHO. It isn't consistently good enough for me to subscribe to any more.

 

[ArmedBear]

Yeah, hence "can be good."

I subscribe to Shooting Sportsman, but I just read SC when I find it somewhere.

I went sheep hunting and to sheep hunt you have to be tough like me, I killed a sheep.

That about sums up a lot of magazine articles, except for the prominently-placed sponsor plug and/or logo. I think it's more like "I killed a sheep while wearing my RealBush Short and Curly Sheep Camo."

 

[Gryffydd]

Sounds like bloggers are moving into the publishng business.

 

[Justin Holder]

I HATE generic hunting articles.

If you go deer hunting, you need to wear mossy oak camo and have a 30-06 to even have a chance at killing a deer.

I don't buy hunting mags, just gun mags.

 

[~z]

I have not found a good one in a while. I sorta assume that I have just learned enough from actually hunting that reading other folks stories about how they did it of 'how you should do it' seem sophomoric at best. I guess it is the curse of experience. I used to enjoy reading some of those rags but I guess I have learned all they can teach me. As they say, “those that can do, those that can’t teach, and those that can’t teach publish”.

H&H maybe you should cobble together a magazine, keep it under $30/ yr and I’ll be your first subscription.
~z

 

[Girodin]

I don't buy hunting mags, just gun mags.

I'm not sure that gun mags are much better. The tend to be mostly a series of advertisements posing as articles (be it for guns, gear or courses). They only pick the good guns I guess since everything gets rave reviews. The SWAT article pushing Century CETMEs as a rifle LEOs could count on comes to mind.

 

[H&Hhunter]

H&H maybe you should cobble together a magazine, keep it under $30/ yr and I’ll be your first subscription.

Z,

I only have so many photos of me and my high fashion hunting gear. After we run out of those I don't know what we'd write about.

 

[ArmedBear]

Biting insects.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Here are few ideas for my first years publication of H&Hhunter International the magazine for SERIOUS hunters.


When a sleeping bag just isn’t enough! The new and improved way to stay warm during those cold nights in the tent..


Anti -hunters? Poachers? Pesky varmints that haunt your lease when you are not there? Try the new monolithic technology that works!


Remington -700, Our resident expert gives his unbiased and glowing endorsement of this rifle


Gear you CAN’T be without ….


The final word on .45-70’s and Garret ammo on dangerous game..We sent our expert!


Ancient hunting techniques revealed. These guys didn’t screw around.


Foot ware for the serious hunter. We prove that hunting shoes can be fashionable!


What do ya think?

 

[sm]

When a sleeping bag just isn’t enough! The new and improved way to stay warm during those cold nights in the tent..

I don't have a sleeping bag -
I volunteer to assist in helping that sweet thang in her research.

(Now where did I pack my yeller bunny slippers?)

 

[qajaq59]

I gave up on hunting mags so far back I can't even remember what year it was. But I think Kennedy was in the White House.

 

[Buzzard]

Strangely enough, the only two I subscribe to are Petersen's Hunting and Outdoor Life. The sheep article the OP mentioned seemed like a story told more in pictures than writing (a good thing: the writing wasn't good). A few of their past articles on Africa were interesting simply because I haven't read much on the subject. A "Hunting Bucket List" they did covered hunts I'd never heard of and was educational for a person who doesn't hunt outside the US. A similar "Hunting Asia" bit that Boddington wrote was informative. I found Petersen's articles to be slightly better than most of the literary fodder out there.

Outdoor Life has a little bit of everything, too. Nothing fantastic, but the writing is fair and the content passable. My real irk with OL is their never-ending "reviews" of firearms that would make a good down payment on a new truck. Granted, when Carmichel wrote a review or an article, it was good and it was honest. Warts, songs and bumps; he told it straight. His retirement has left a hole in their content, that's for sure: the new guy just drools a lot. Come to think of it, their general content has gone down hill since then. But both mags, to me, are cheap entertainment.

F&S, on the other hand, has gone straight through the crapper and bypassed the treatment plant. The Frenchman thinks every shotgun ever made is the best one ever made. He has given rave reviews to shotguns most people won't buy. Because a) a son's college fund is not a scattergun slush fund b) the offending gun was built by myopic trolls and everyone but him knows it or c) he had to say something nice, or else. Dave Petzal can be informative (barrel life, side effects of heavy recoil) or simply useless (T/C Warlord? muzzle brakes for the 5th time?). I let it the subscription drop. There wasn't enough quality information. Just purty pitchers, Petzal's Alzheimer's, annual hunting reprints (its August, get the whitetail spread from '03), Frenchy's drool, and a whole lot of wasted ink. The one thing I do miss from F&S is Bill Heavey. That man can write.

I must include two other rags in my virtual shredding. Neither G&A nor Shooting Times are worth the money anymore, either. Both have the same staff, the same articles, the same tired opinions written by the same tired geezers. Both have to do at least two write-ups per year on Wilson Combat. The name "Wilson" around my parts generally means the same as the word "Premium." That being, an item or object priced four times more than its actual worth if you based the price on performance. One more article on the "AR Platform" or "The Perfect 1911" or "Browning was God" and I'll probably scream. I will. I mean it. The old (and I mean '93 old) Shooting Times had this really rare thing in it called "information." They wrote about subjects that would let you replicate some of the things they did without spending $20,000. They had gunsmithing tips only experience could teach, handloading tricks you could actually use, cartridge info that was real-world and not just Marketing Dept. spew. Can't find that anymore. The one-page "reloading bench" article both rags do is the closest thing to it. That just regurgitates the info found in any loading manual.

And come to think of it, I'll probably let OL and PH subs lapse when they run out. Just because I've got enough Charmin in the house already!

Speaking of which..... <FLUSH>

 

[~z]

I had my checkbook in-hand till the bunny slippers...you lost my business on that article, too racy, bordering on mildly indecent
~z

 

[chas08]

I subscribed to Outdoor Life for years just to read Pat McManus's comical tales. Since he retired, I now subscribe to none.

 

[sm]

Seriously,

Recall, I was born in 1955.

I grew up with Field & Stream, as kid, and the first thing read to me, was the articles by Robert Ruark. I get bigger, and Bob Brister was doing the Shotgun stuff.

Pat McManus was the first thing I looked for in Outdoor Life, and when he did some articles for F&S.

When Brister quit being an editor, I quit buying F&S. I had already stopped being a subscriber - too many years before - to any magazine.

Oh I might pick up a copy, fora particular article, due to having read it elsewhere, for my personal needs, but...

I have a few, 1955 Field & Stream magazines. One of the articles is : 6mm vs 243.

Fifty years later, we still have not come to a conclusion on this, and this is just one example of articles that come around again, to stir up the new masses that grow up.

Internet is going through the same things...

 

[Hudge]

Not really a hunting mag, but I like Rifle Magazine, along with Bow and Arrow Hunter, and Bowhunter. Others, ehh some are ok.

 

[Robert]

You posted the fuzzy pink slippers pic. Good show old man, good show.

 

[wlewisiii]

Gray's Sporting Journal. www.grayssportingjournal.com

Excellence in every issue.

I do still get enough out of field & stream to keep getting it but Gray's is the only really good one I've found.

 

[ArmedBear]

Oh yeah, Gray's. Forgot about that one. Not a subscriber, but I read it when I find it.

 

[H&Hhunter]

You posted the fuzzy pink slippers pic. Good show old man, good show.

Gus,

It appears that we have at least one member of taste and high class amongst this unwashed sea of hooligans.

 

[H&Hhunter]

I had my checkbook in-hand till the bunny slippers...you lost my business on that article, too racy, bordering on mildly indecent

Z

Was it the hat?

 

[usmc1371]

I subscribe to Sports Afield but thats it, I pick up some others from time to time but when I am done reading the one article I was intrested in I put them back on the shelf and finish my shoping. I really really wonder how many of these "gun writers" who burn thousands of words about how great or how bad the AR is have actully used one. In real combat, not the local 3 gun match with simulated bad guys pointing paper AK's back at them.
HnH, in your soon to be released mag please add the details that normal hunters are looking for like what gun and load was used. Maybe how the food was and what the weather was like. Did the outfitter suck at his job. Would you honestly recomend him to a friend to hunt with. Pink or yellow slippers.

 

[H&Hhunter]

usmc1371,

If they are wearing pink bunny slippers you can bet they are a first class trustworthy outfitter..