16ga.com ~ View topic

Joined: 13 Apr 2015 Posts: 75

I have to agree with Wyochukar. I would also add that I look forward to every issue but especially the late summer/fall editions as they focus on upland hunting. Gets me revved up for the coming season.

I do enjoy reading the recycled stories from now extinct magazines. Those going back to the late 1800's and early 1900's are particularly entertaining. As far as the great writters are concerned, they did not all appear at once. Maybe one or two per generation, and we are fortunate to have them. For all of you experienced in the fine art of shooting, hunting and dogs, perhaps you can put pen to paper and submit to the magazines. Your wisdom may inspire a new generation.

Yes the magazines are filled with high end hunting lodges, guns and accessories. I find this interesting and inspiring. Can I have as good or better hunting experience without the cost; yes! Can't afford one of the new guns, but I can search and find high quality used guns within my budget, I can make or find good quality substitutes for almost every high priced item. And at the end of the day be it a refreshing adult beverage or a tall ice tea, my satisfaction of a day in the field is as good as or better than the experience of a high priced lodge.

So my opinion is the magazines are a good source of entertainment and information. I intend to continue my subscriptions and look forward to each issue.

WyoChukar,

Garhart as usual your long post made a lot of sense to me, I guess we grew up in a very similar manner. When I see leased land I cringe never liked people forming clubs and turning the property into a lease for hunting or fishing, for the most part even posted land here in Potter County, Pa is very unsettling. I am not against land owners doing what they want with their own land, a few years back I had to post our property because we ended up with bullets lodged in our log cabin from unsafe Deer hunters. Even had to install a big Game Commission type gate to close our private road, way to many poachers. All our properties now have 24/7 security cameras I can monitor from my computer, no matter where I happen to be.

I can understand being on both side of the sporting situation, having trained Grouse dogs for many many years and helping Dave Meisner until he passed away I had to watch closely what info I related, especially on the Net. For me that is all gone now and I pretty much say what I please, and have become controversial because my experiences are different than most sportsman. Having been raised in Potter County, Pa mostly in the back woods by my Grandfather and Father my views on life are quite different than the average city sportsman.

I am one of those old sportsman who would like to see you write a good book on Upland Hunting and Fly Fishing, you have the talent and your stories are fantastic and drawn form experience. Not sense Spiller & GBE have I read anything I like so much.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1308 Location: Western WA

Try Fur Fish Game. Yes, a it often contains a certain amount of timeworn material but some of the newest and most interesting and innovative ideas in hunting and fishing can be found therein because the contributors are typically independent hunters and fishermen (including GARHART!!), not professional outdoor product hucksters.

B.

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa

I agree, FFG is the only magazine that I continue a subscription. I've even given up on New Zealand Hunter when they started having full page advertisements on the page facing a product they were "testing". For years I subscribed to Rifle and Handloader but that was when Ken Waters wrote for them and before Barsness pushed his propaganda. So now I look forward to the monthly installment of Lew and Charlie and a few articles on hunting that are generally quite good. the fishing and trapping is of interest to others but that's fine.

Brewester11 & AmericanMeet,

I definitely agree FFG is a good read, and very different from other magazines.

all the bet,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1840 Location: Central ND

American Meet,

I had forgotten all about Handloader, good stuff in that one.

I recently started with FFG, the jury is still out......but it isn't looking good! Laughing

Joined: 07 Sep 2011 Posts: 567 Location: wheeling, wv

WYOCHUKAR, your magazine articles are always "a breath of fresh air', I always search them out, whether they be in SS, or may favorite, FFG. They are the real deal, not a canned, or guided hunt on property I could never get on. Like you, I do my own legwork, looking forward to 2 trips to the great north woods for grouse, and a late season trip for pheasant to either Kansas or S. Dakota.

my favorite magazines are made of metal and accept ammunition.

Joined: 31 May 2009 Posts: 153 Location: Orofino, Idaho

I guess the outdoor magazine I enjoy the most is Sporting Classics. The writing over a range of subjects is quit good. I take mild exception to the comments about the latest Shooting Sportsman issue as I actually enjoyed it.

Like others here at now age 68, I grew up in the era of Outdoor Life, Field & Stream and Sports Afield. Oh how the first two have fallen; Sports Afield still presents some good stuff if you are an international big game hunter with $$$. However, it offers near zilch to the average bird hunter and ZERO to anglers. I've subscribed to virtually all the others and sorry, Gun Dog ain't what it used to be and talk about repetitive articles...

T-Bone,

I agree 100%, I usually do like the SSM and the latest one was good for sure.
Still have the Sporting Classics, decent read each month. Having been closely associated with Gun Dog, I sure agree with you it's not what it use to be, it now seems they make a living on repeat type articles. Further one of my big gripes is loosing the Grouse Point Almanac magazine, the only real Grouse hunting magazine with great writers. I got rid of the Upland Journal shortly after the GPA changed format. Sports Afield is still decent for an international type hunting mag, I do wish they had more bird hunting articles however.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

This is an interesting thread. I'm late to this party, but find much resonance here with my own thinking and actions of late, regarding sporting magazines. I had reduced myself several years ago to Shooting Sportsman and Gray's Sporting Journal. A couple of years ago I dropped Gray's and a bit over a year ago I let my SSM run out, all for basically the same reasons I hear in this thread. I do run out and search the stands for your articles though, WyoChukar, as you are "one of us", and we know first hand on this site of your adventures and orientations, and the fine ways you document them for our enjoyment.

There have been lots of very good writers for the shooting sports magazines, and a handful or two of great ones. They all eventually peter out as they must, and now I find their successors mostly repeating the old stuff -- at least to me. It's only natural. I'm still glad there are, and probably will be, good writers to come along after our old favorites, and what they put down might be new to someone, but mostly not to me, and that's not a problem for me or those writers; they need to look forward to inform new people, and I'm more a part of the past. I have a little library full of what I prefer to study. That, and the many good old hunting and gun books and articles from the past I have yet to read, will be enough for me. I do still like to keep up to date on equipment and hunting situations, but it really doesn't require a magazine subscription or two or three for me to do that.

I do worry the trends I see in society and our sport will interfere with the development of new writers with relevant experiences and perspectives. I wonder how the inexorably changing world will treat our hunting and shooting sports. Writers who understand the pursuit of game and the tools required to do so play a key part in defending and maintaining our practices and informing us of our human nature -- the nature and place of humans relative all life on this planet.

Thanks MSM2019 for the good topic.
Cheers!

Joined: 31 May 2009 Posts: 153 Location: Orofino, Idaho

The annual bird hunting issue of Gray's Sporting Journal is out and as always, worth a read. Even though I no longer own a pointing dog, Pointing Dog Journal is a nice magazine, too.

As always, good points by Pine Creek Dave and others here. One of the few forums I enjoy reading and posting in.

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa

Aside from having nothing of informational value I see a history of prostituting for manufacturers. With regard to the 16 ga the most egregious example was about 59 years ago when gun and ammo companies were pushing the 20 ga 3" magnum. In both magazine and book, authors would include bar graphs to show effective ranges of various shotshell sizes. Invariably the 1 1/4 ounce load from a 3" 20 ga was shown to have at least a 5 and sometimes a 10 yard advantage over the 1 1/4 ounce load from a 16 ga 2 3/4" shell. It was neve pointed out how this was possible since the 16 ga usually had a velocity and shot string advantage. But as with other advertisements, facts are never allowed to get in the way. People would read the articles and would come to the conclusion that the 20 ga 3" wa vastly superior and so sales soared and the 16 ga was left in the dust.

There are three questions with regard to printed material:
1. does it contain factual valuable information?
2. does it contain prose that is entertaining?
3. does it contain allegations that appear to be motivated not by facts but by producers incentives?

How these questions are answered will determine if an article is worth reading, is a waste of time, or even just a pack of lies.

AmericanMeet,

Your post is right on the money, this sales info was sold mostly because prior to 1926 most all 16 gauge guns were engineered and made with 2 9/16" chambers for 2 1/2" shells. It was real easy for the writes to down play the 16 gauge guns. I Grouse hunt with both the 16 and 20 gauge L.C. Smith guns, all the time. IMO the 16 is the better Grouse gun. IMO no 20 gauge gun should ever be engineered for 3" shells, if you believe you need more shot use a post 1926 16 or a 12 gauge gun engineered for 2 3/4" shells. I have different 16 gauge guns, some with 2 9/16" Chambers and some with 2 3/4" Chambers, as a Grouse gun both work exceedingly very well, no need for a 3" chambered 20 gauge gun what so ever.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 2125 Location: Hudson,Wy

PatrickB makes a very powerful statement about some of the motives and agendas creeping into our magazines. It's not in all of them, thank goodness, but it has placed me at a crossroads. Project Upland seems like a nice magazine with a future, I even wrote a grouse story for them. However, it appears that Project Upland is very rapidly turning into "Sierra Clubber's Shotgun Journal".

In print and online we are being bombarded with the climate change agenda by PU. Last night, their latest B.S. popped up on my screen about how cheatgrass will kill our dogs and is responsible for climate change. They bragged on aerial spraying of cheatgrass etc. This spray campaign has wiped out some of my chukar hunting spots since cheatgrass is what chukars eat, without it they die. Thus I am understandably irritated with them.

The alarmist tone about the grass awns being so dangerous to our dogs is only a ploy to garner sympathy and support. My dogs have put thousands of miles in running through the stuff over many decades-no problems ever. Is it possible for a dog to have an injury caused by a grass awn (seed)? Yes, but it is fairly rare and is a risk in any area where grass seeds (not just cheat grass) are shaped in the form of a long pointed barb. This is the same kind of abusive journalism that soured me on newspapers long ago.

It seems that PU has no clue that people turn to magazines of the sort as an escape from society's constant ration of doom and gloom, not to continue being beat up with more of the same. If I want to dip myself into the vat of despair, I will watch the evening news.

Earlier this year I sent in a number of short subjects for the possibility of running as a regular column at the end of the magazine. I fear I must contact the editor and withdraw them all if this is the direction they insist on taking. It's a shame, this new magazine had the potential to be an outlet for writers who want to share old fashioned type hunting stories, strictly anecdotal stuff. As with everything in todays age, politics once again ruins a good thing.