Hunting magazines..

[Asus]

How many people subscribe to hunting magazines?

I don’t and here’s why.
They are all the same. Have you ever really read a story about somebody who shot something in a different way?
Yup deer died after I meticulously pulled the trigger.

Anyway how many and what mags.

I do subscribe to Game Warden mags but they are not hunting mags.

[Bigwoodsman]

I stopped buying magazines years ago. I can find what I want online and usually for free. AOF is a great source for ideas and tips as well.

BW

[Whipper Billy]

I stopped all magazine subscriptions years ago. I would only receive 9 or 10 of the 12 mailed issues.

[bobtodrick]

I have subscriptions to five magazines at present...mostly outdoor related in one way or the other...firearms to 4WD.
I'm in front of a computer 7 hours a day at work...last thing I want to do in the evenings is sit down in front of another screen. I have no issue at all not logging on to a computer from 5PM Friday til 8AM Monday. Don't even use my cell during the weekend...kept my landline for that.
Nothing beats sitting down in the evening with a wee bit of bourbon, some classical music in the background and a good book or magazine to read.

[tonnage]

That's why AO is different. It's not just a hunting, fishing and trapping magazine, its a magazine that writes about all of the things that affect us in Alberta's outdoors... it's the best way to keep up to date with what's going on in the province and what's going to affect us as outdoorspeople. My 2 cents.

[Dean2]

I get a copy of the Outdoors Canada mag, with my Alberta Fish and Game membership. Good for keeping up on Canadian hunting and fishing info as well as reports from the AFGA zones etc. Also get a copy of Alberta Outdoors for a year as part of the thank you package for an Article I submitted that they published on hunting in Africa. So far I quite like that one too. It is not your typical Field and Stream advertising stream of stories.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by bobtodrick

I'm in front of a computer 7 hours a day at work...last thing I want to do in the evenings is sit down in front of another screen.

I'm in the same boat - I usually pick up my AO magazines in the checkout aisle - I like to flip through to see if there are any articles that catch my interest first. So I end up buying 6-8 of them each year.

I have a subscription to Outdoors Canada magazine as well, enjoy reading that.

[35 whelen]

Started buying hunting magazines at a secondhand bookstore in the late 60s stop buying them in the early 2000s big buck was the last one I used to buy

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[traderal]

I used to buy lots of hunting and car magazines before internet, not anymore. I would still prefer reading magazines but they have half the articles now with the rest being advertising. I no longer trust the objectivity of writers and many articles are what I call fluff pieces, assembled by poorly paid writers from stuff found on the internet . If I want a review on a gun I usually go on Youtube where the good and bad is discussed.

[curtz]

I subscribe to AO and Outdoor Canada, I enjoy reading some of the articles and then I pass them onto my dad, he is almost 80 and still enjoys getting out hunting and fishing.

[Asus]

Boy talk about good answers from everybody my first thoughts were that they were too expensive.
But there are really varied and I see much bigger side to magazines now.

I thank you all for your answers, very good reading.

[Clint 0778]

Big Buck

[KegRiver]

I only get one monthly.

I used to buy a second at the local convenience store but they no longer carry it.

I miss the old magazines. They told stories that took one right into the hunt.
Much of today's writers pump out infomercials rather then hunting stories.

I understand why and have nothing against it but it's not what I'm looking for. Where is the new Patrick Mcmanus, and Peter Hathaway Capstick?

[yukon254]

I still prefer magazines to anything else. I very seldom watch the outdoor shows, to many hosts trying to sell junk, and I've guided enough of them to know the shows are so heavily edited that they rarely look like the actual hunt.

Good paper magazines almost always have good editors. I know from my experience writing for just about every print magazine out there over the last decade that those editors are careful to vet writers, and their articles. Because of that, I feel in the end you are more likely to get good solid information from a paper magazine than anything else.

Personally I stay away from online type magazines like the plague.....especially Canadian versions. I've found out the hard way that they will readily agree to buy content, but then refuse to pay you once they have used your articles.

My favourite magazine is Fur Fish Game. Lots of good solid articles on a variety of outdoor topics.

[Talking moose]

Not anymore. In the past I subscribed to Alberta outdoorsmen, big buck, fur fish and game, Outdoor edge, and hustler.

[sns2]

I used to love magazines before the internet changed the way we consume information. Used to always be hunting magazines under the Christmas tree for me.

Closest I come to a magazine now is the hunting regulations

[The Cook]

"As he found the buck in his scope his finger gently touched the trigger, getting ready for the euphoric moment. Stroke books for hunters, penthouse for predators. Stopped buying years ago when all the stories started sounding alike.

[bat119]

I used to subscribe to many, guns n ammo, outdoor life etc. dropped the USA based in favour of outdoor canada, big buck in the 90's now I don't read any, how many times can you compare the 308 win to the 30-06?

When I was about 12 I got the gunrunner read every word until the next issue came.

[Jim Blake]

As the OP stated the Game Warden Magazine is not a hunting magazine but it's the only magazine I subscribe to.

The rest, I just got tired of the repetitive articles.

[obsessed1]

Not hunting magazines but I used to have yearly subscriptions to all the major gun rags. Last three years or so I have canceled all of them and only buy the months that have articles on the subjects in interested in. For hunting mags I still buy the odd issue that has articles that interest me ( mostly Elk hunting)...I always " test drive" on the stand before I buy it. I also end up with quite a few of the predator hunting rags every year as well....I am a sucker for anything coyote hunting.......
I have kept every issue I've ever bought in a huge filing cabinet in the gun room. Wouldn't even want to guess how many magazines I have. I enjoy pulling out a dozen or so every once in a while and re-reading them.

[fatboyz]

I still subscribe to two, TBM (Traditional Bow Hunter Magazine) and Primitive Archer. I'm not a fan of online magazines. I keep them in my old holiday trailer with the wood stove. Nothing like having the wood stove going on a cold January weekend, camping out west of Nordegg. Sipping real strong coffee and Bailey's early in the morning and reading back issues. Then take a stroll with the 22 and look for rabbits. My goal is always to get away from anywhere with cell coverage, put on the CBC radio early in the morning sip coffee and Bailey's and read a real hunting magazine. The only thing better was listening to the Vinyl Café with Stuart Mclean while reading those magazines!

[Brian Bildson]

Hopefully, enough folks support Alberta Outdoorsmen magazine to keep this forum afloat.

[lannie]

Originally Posted by Brian Bildson

Hopefully, enough folks support Alberta Outdoorsmen magazine to keep this forum afloat.

The number of people that are claimed as members of this forum is the draw for the advertisers who help pay the bills. I would think the amount of magazines that are sold would never come close to keeping the forum alive either. Having the contract for the regulations with the government is the biggest revenue stream IMO.

[Brian Bildson]

In today’s world where print media is no longer king, publishers have to be pretty business savvy to survive. We are lucky that Rob Miskosky is the publisher of AO and everything else he does as he is committed to our province. I’m biased but as I travel around the country I see few other regional outdoor magazines as good as AO. Big thanks to all the buyers of AO magazine

[Mr Conservation]

Originally Posted by Brian Bildson

In today’s world where print media is no longer king, publishers have to be pretty business savvy to survive. We are lucky that Rob Miskosky is the publisher of AO and everything else he does as he is committed to our province. I’m biased but as I travel around the country I see few other regional outdoor magazines as good as AO. Big thanks to all the buyers of AO magazine

Where is the "like" button !! Well said Brian. Rob does an amazing job with Alberta Outdoorsmen.

I used to subscribe to several outdoor magazines, such as Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, etc., but let the subscriptions lapse when they came up for renewal.

Now I only subscribe to Alberta Outdoorsmen, and Western Canadian Game Warden. I get BC Outdoors as part of my membership in the BC Wildlife Federation.

I occasionally buy an outdoors magazine off the rack at the store if it contains some articles that interest me.

Mr Conservation

[Esox]

I only buy/subscribe to 2 and they are only published once or twice a year. Theyre kind of a cross between a book and a magazine and are fantastic. If any of you are fly fisherman and buy The Drake, theyre very similar to those. They are "The Journal of Mountain Hunting" and "The Modern huntsman".

[Arachnodisiac]

Yes! I was just going to say just this. Last month, I wrote an article on the wild boar issue in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and it was science-based... which demonstrates that hunting actually makes the problem worse. So, I was quite happy to be able to write that piece, as it is important for everyone.

Originally Posted by tonnage

That's why AO is different. It's not just a hunting, fishing and trapping magazine, its a magazine that writes about all of the things that affect us in Alberta's outdoors... it's the best way to keep up to date with what's going on in the province and what's going to affect us as outdoorspeople. My 2 cents.

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by Arachnodisiac

Yes! I was just going to say just this. Last month, I wrote an article on the wild boar issue in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and it was science-based... which demonstrates that hunting actually makes the problem worse. So, I was quite happy to be able to write that piece, as it is important for everyone.

Do you have a link to your article? Or can you tell me how hunting them makes the problem worse? Not doubting you, just never heard this before.

[FCLightning]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Do you have a link to your article? Or can you tell me how hunting them makes the problem worse? Not doubting you, just never heard this before.

I believe the idea is that hunting pressure disperses the animals over a wider area hastening their spread to new territories


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[Dean2]

Originally Posted by FCLightning

I believe the idea is that hunting pressure disperses the animals over a wider area hastening their spread to new territories


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I read the article. I am paraphrasing and interpolating from the comments in the article but what I took from it was: First issue, hogs spread from escaping from hunt farms and are proliferated by those wanting to be able to offer hunts for money.

Second theory goes that hunting makes them nocturnal and more skittish and A couple of quotes from the article,

"Research in other parts of the world have repeatedly shown that hunting doesn't reduce wild boar numbers" and "that even if we eliminate 70% every year the population will continue to grow".

How you eliminate 100% is a mystery and is not explained in the article. Cure for that would seem to be to allow night shooting them like they do in many U.S. states. Allowing moderators would help too. How hunting translates into harder to trap I don't really follow.

In Texas they breed and release or capture and release hogs on large land tracts for hunting because the hunting pressure is high enough to remove all the hogs on the property over a couple of years. In Texas, Georgia, Hawaii and some European countries most places where hogs are a problem is where hunting is not allowed. I know from hunting boar in Europe that hunting is a VERY effective way of reducing hog populations and the harvest there is carefully manages so as not to over deplete the population. Many of the farms in Germany, Hungary, Poland and the like use wild boar as a large revenue generator from selling the meat to stores and restaurants. One 60,000 acre farm we hunted in Hungary made more from selling the wild game than it made from all other revenue sources combined.

My experience varies greatly from the conclusions the science based approach the author, Sheri Monk, claims to work from.

The article is in the April edition of Alberta Outdoors.