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Sitting at Les Schwab. Just finished reading a Field & Stream magazine.I was wondering what are you favorite outdoor magazines to read and why?
Favorite Outdoor Magazine
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I'm not sure there is a difference any more. All are nothing more than one paragraph quips and tips that they pull from on-line forums, and the stuff that I grew up reading in Boy Scout handbooks and the like. Very few writers worth reading any more. Very few stories or actual articles. Just top 6 great outdoor tips and 37 pages of ads for male enhancement products. I'm not sure any of them are worth the paper they are printed on. I can find far more intriguing things on-line using my smart phone.
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I'm with Gary on this. I used to really like F&S, but lately don't find it very insightful. Perhaps it's just that I've gained experience and what used to be earth shattering tips are now just common sense. And there really are more ads for tobacco and viagra than articles.
I don't subscribe anymore because, I don't want to pay, even 97% off the cover price, to be sold things I don't want. I still read their online stuff every once in a while hoping to find something of worth. More often than not, I'm disappointed.
I don't subscribe anymore because, I don't want to pay, even 97% off the cover price, to be sold things I don't want. I still read their online stuff every once in a while hoping to find something of worth. More often than not, I'm disappointed.
I write for an online-only fly fishing/bird hunting magazine, On The Fly Magazine. https://www.ontheflymag.com/
The Spring Issue was good, but we've got some really good stuff coming in the summer issue, which should be out next week. It's a quarterly publication, but there's always good stuff. I loved the Taimen article in the Spring issue.
Every now and then Field and Stream does a good long story. Read one last year about turkey hunting that was fun. Read a really good AK Best story in one a while ago, I forget which magazine. But most of it is just skimmable stuff.
I actually had a really good conversation with Joe Cermele a while ago, he's the editor of Field and Stream. I was pitching him some article ideas, and when I got through with my spiel, he just looked at me and said, "You should have been writing for us 30 years ago, because that's when we actually published the kinds of stories you just pitched. Now, it's gotta be 500 words, broken up into a list, and watered-down for anyone to understand. Otherwise, it just doesn't get read."
Sad thing is, he's right. Those of us who love the long-form stories and trip-report style articles seem to be in the minority. At my full-time job, I'm a content marketer for a software company, and I spend a lot of time looking at the stats on our blog posts. The shorter ones always get the most engagement and shares on social media, whereas the longer stuff just gets ignored. It's frustrating because I enjoy the longer stuff more, but you gotta do what the people want I guess.
An just as an aside - I do a monthly column for the Standard-Examiner about fishing, I usually try to make it more of a story than a "how to" article, so if y'all are looking for other fishing writing to read that's always an option. Whether or not it's good and you'll enjoy it is another matter entirely!
There's good stuff out there by a lot of great writers right now - it just takes some looking to find it.
The Spring Issue was good, but we've got some really good stuff coming in the summer issue, which should be out next week. It's a quarterly publication, but there's always good stuff. I loved the Taimen article in the Spring issue.
Every now and then Field and Stream does a good long story. Read one last year about turkey hunting that was fun. Read a really good AK Best story in one a while ago, I forget which magazine. But most of it is just skimmable stuff.
I actually had a really good conversation with Joe Cermele a while ago, he's the editor of Field and Stream. I was pitching him some article ideas, and when I got through with my spiel, he just looked at me and said, "You should have been writing for us 30 years ago, because that's when we actually published the kinds of stories you just pitched. Now, it's gotta be 500 words, broken up into a list, and watered-down for anyone to understand. Otherwise, it just doesn't get read."
Sad thing is, he's right. Those of us who love the long-form stories and trip-report style articles seem to be in the minority. At my full-time job, I'm a content marketer for a software company, and I spend a lot of time looking at the stats on our blog posts. The shorter ones always get the most engagement and shares on social media, whereas the longer stuff just gets ignored. It's frustrating because I enjoy the longer stuff more, but you gotta do what the people want I guess.
An just as an aside - I do a monthly column for the Standard-Examiner about fishing, I usually try to make it more of a story than a "how to" article, so if y'all are looking for other fishing writing to read that's always an option. Whether or not it's good and you'll enjoy it is another matter entirely!
There's good stuff out there by a lot of great writers right now - it just takes some looking to find it.
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I rate magazines by how much time I spend reading them.
DU: Initially interesting and then I realize it's all how-to and no stories (except on the back page). 5 minutes. I don't need to know 20 more ways to place goose decoys on a windless day in a corn field that was harvested under a blue moon. I need someone who can write a story like Gordon MacQuarrie.
Delta: Similar to DU.
SFW: Stories by average hunters (which I like) but they need someone to edit the writing. 10 minutes. Glossy paper doesn't make up for a lack of spell checking software.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: Short magazine but good stories about people hunting and fishing in wild country. 10 minutes.
Bugle: More stories than how-to and the quality of writing is good. Also, some useful articles by knowledgeable people rather than "5 sure fire strategies for falling asleep in a tree stand" by someone you suspect has never been in a tree stand. Wayne Van Zwoll is very good. 20 minutes.
Gray's Sporting Journal: Almost all stories and the best outdoor writing on the market. Very well written though sometimes there are too many articles by wistful 60-somethings who are sipping a bourbon while pining for the redheaded waitress they encountered, but didn't pursue, at a Scottish pub while on a salmon fishing trip back in '65. The same trip, in fact, when they were using their own handmade spey rod and streamers tied by a direct descendant of Izaac Walton. 30 minutes.
Outdoor Life: The magazine I grew up on but haven't read in 10 years because it became a two minute magazine of snippets and tips of dubious utility.
DU: Initially interesting and then I realize it's all how-to and no stories (except on the back page). 5 minutes. I don't need to know 20 more ways to place goose decoys on a windless day in a corn field that was harvested under a blue moon. I need someone who can write a story like Gordon MacQuarrie.
Delta: Similar to DU.
SFW: Stories by average hunters (which I like) but they need someone to edit the writing. 10 minutes. Glossy paper doesn't make up for a lack of spell checking software.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: Short magazine but good stories about people hunting and fishing in wild country. 10 minutes.
Bugle: More stories than how-to and the quality of writing is good. Also, some useful articles by knowledgeable people rather than "5 sure fire strategies for falling asleep in a tree stand" by someone you suspect has never been in a tree stand. Wayne Van Zwoll is very good. 20 minutes.
Gray's Sporting Journal: Almost all stories and the best outdoor writing on the market. Very well written though sometimes there are too many articles by wistful 60-somethings who are sipping a bourbon while pining for the redheaded waitress they encountered, but didn't pursue, at a Scottish pub while on a salmon fishing trip back in '65. The same trip, in fact, when they were using their own handmade spey rod and streamers tied by a direct descendant of Izaac Walton. 30 minutes.
Outdoor Life: The magazine I grew up on but haven't read in 10 years because it became a two minute magazine of snippets and tips of dubious utility.
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I used to love reading Outdoor Life before it became laden with advertisement. I especially liked the article on the last page of every issue called "The Last Laugh" by Patrick McManus. Good Stuff!
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A lot of you would of loved the Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, Sports Afield, and others that were out there back in the 60's and 70's when writers knew how to write and the magazines were filled with stories and how to do it rather than advertising. I started thinning out my subscriptions when Sports Afield went in the direction away from hunting and fishing but then it came back to it's roots. Anymore the only ones that I actually get and read are Rock Mountain Game & Fish, Colorado Outdoors, and Arizona Wildlife Views. The last two are put out by the same publisher but only concentrate on their respective states. While they have advertising in them they are not loaded with it. I wished that Utah would do one but they don't.
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Are we talking outdoor themed magazine or favorite magazine to read in the outdoors....?
OK mods, we need an outhouse emoticon....doh!
OK mods, we need an outhouse emoticon....doh!
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Only have one magazine; a July 2005 Outdoor Life, the "Rocky Mountain Big Game Forecast" edition.
I have short term memory problems so I can read it today and then tomorrow read it again and enjoy it just as well................over and over and over.
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I have short term memory problems so I can read it today and then tomorrow read it again and enjoy it just as well................over and over and over.
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I couldn't agree with you more Critter. I LOVED LOVED LOVED those you mentioned growing up. I really enjoy the state publications. Nebraska Game and Parks does a REALLY GREAT magazine called NebraskaLand that highlights the fishing, hunting, and state parks. It is 10 issues a year, with no advertisements. The articles are real writing - not blog posts. And the photography is exceptional. It has been almost 15 years since I left "The Good Life" in Nebraska, but it is one magazine I still take. Montana Game Fish and Parks also does a really good one.
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Well hells bells, you must be my wife's long lost brother. Her memory is about as long as my....uh you know....seriously I am concerned she has early dementia or Alzheimer but can't get her to go have a head scan to find out. Even my daughter is starting to notice the short term memory issues and bring it up to my wife but she gets very defensive about it. Very frustrating.
The only one I get anymore is the Trout Unlimited quarterly magazine. It varies some, but it usually has some good reads and photography and every now and again, there is something thought provoking. I look forward to its arrival.
As for the rest, F&S and Outdoor Life are usually suitable for a 15 minute wait at the Doctors office or an oil change establishment, but that is about it for my interest with them.
I do agree with many of you that the "old days" for these publications was markedly better.
As for the rest, F&S and Outdoor Life are usually suitable for a 15 minute wait at the Doctors office or an oil change establishment, but that is about it for my interest with them.
I do agree with many of you that the "old days" for these publications was markedly better.
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I agree and the latest TU magazine (summer 2015) is the best one that I've ever read. The story on native trout demographics is just fantastic.
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Yes it was. I also liked the article about the "Radical Angler". I found it quite thought provoking. I'm not sure that I agree with the author that mainstream environmentalists accept the conservationist sportsman as full "equals" under the Green umbrella, but it gave me something to think about after reading the article, as did the native trout story. I like that.
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I also agree with Critter and GaryFish. I've written for five different national mags back in the 80's/90's. (I use to hunt/fish with one of the Outdoor Life editors so that helped a bit.) Outdoor Life, F & S, Sports Afield and Fur Fish and Game were filled with info and stories I loved. Now they're pretty boring.
Anymore, I just subscribe to Rifle, Handloader and Traditional Archer. I'll peruse the others when I see them at work but they're still pretty boring to me.
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speaking of the old mags- when I was a kid in the early 60's my dad would have me sit with him and we would go thru Outdoor Life and in the back look at the lodges in Canada and if you had the money where would you go- one day he said can you cast that bait casting reel yet. I asked him why and he said to catch pike at that lodge you picked out last month--- still think of that every time I look at that mag. Hell of a trip for an eleven year old.
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