What do you want in an outdoor magazine?

[AGarbers]

What do you want to see in an outdoor magazine? We have several in the state. Indiana Outdoor News, The Gadabout, Midwest Outdoors, Indiana Game and Fish, and now Wild Indiana.

What type of articles do you look for? Hunting? Fishing? Species specific articles? Lake specific? Human interest? Conservation?

What about articles do you enjoy? What do you find annoying?

What would you like to see more of?

What other magazines do you like and why do you like them?

Do you prefer web-based media over print? Or, do you like print better?

Thanks in advance.

 

[woodsie57]

I'm a bit fan of " The Backwoodsman" magazine. Lots of good stuff, low budget do it yourself ideas, etc. has a kind of old time feel to it that's really unique.

 

[mkgr22]

I subscribe to Midwest Outdoors, and I also browse your Open Road web site from time to time.

I enjoy narratives of successful fishing trips that don't go overboard on "scientific" details of water temp, depth, etc.

I quit subscribing to more gun magazines when the articles began to be no more than press releases from manufacturers, including stories about pickup trucks and ATV's.

 

[Crappiepro]

I used to read "Indiana Game and Fish" got it for acouple years. Then I went to Tennessee and was at a lodge, there I found "Tennessee Game and Fish" I picked it up and started thumbing through it. I found an article about bass fishing spinner baits/ in their state lakes and there was a picture(the same picture in Indiana Game and Fish) of a guy holding a bass. I had just read a different article in Indiana Game and Fish where the same yellow toothed guy in the same picture saying they caught fish at an Indiana lake.
Now how is that real world? That just seem's like a the Mag is just making article's up and have no experience at the lakes their writing about!
Just thought I'd share this LOL!

 

[Woobie]

I subscribe to Midwest Outdoors, and I also browse your Open Road web site from time to time.

I enjoy narratives of successful fishing trips that don't go overboard on "scientific" details of water temp, depth, etc.

I quit subscribing to more gun magazines when the articles began to be no more than press releases from manufacturers, including stories about pickup trucks and ATV's.

I could not agree more. Journalism is in such short supply in gun and outdoor media.

 

[den57]

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's Bugle magazine.....

 

[Hogwylde]

Soft paper.....so they can be used in the outhouse

 

[SigFan07]

I wish I could find a magazine that covers fishing but does not push bass boats down your throat. Something that focuses on bank fishing, canoe/kayak/john boat fishing, camping and spending time in the outdoors, and a little science behind the fish and other animals and general nature science.

I've bought a couple of Indiana Game and Fish and the articles seem too general, like they could have been written in another state for another state, change a few words, and then say it's all about Indiana. That is cheating journalism in my opinion.

Midwest Outdoors is sort of fun to read but so many articles seem to be about Minnesota and Wisconsin. When my BassMaster subscription expires I will probably subscribe with In-Fisherman (not that great but not bad either) and maybe Midwest Outdoors.

 

[John317]

I like Indiana Outdoor Magazine as I like finding out about parts of the state and wildlife outside of central IN and it gives me an idea of parks I want to visit. But I do like a magazine with pictures I miss those magazines you'd see at a doctors office growing up...

 

[AGarbers]

As a writer for both Indiana Game and Fish and Midwest Outdoors, I can tell you this: Yes, some of the articles in the Game and Fish publications are used nationally, and some regionally. A few in each issue are Indiana specific. The fishing articles in the past few years are going to be lake specific. The Game and Fish publications call for their articles six months in advance, so unless I have a photo on file of the topic I am writing about, I don't have the time to run out and get one. In those cases they use file photos they have in stock, or go to known photographers that have a huge stock. However, while I provide photos with almost all of my articles, the editor can do what he or she wants, and use something they already have that looks better. Notice how all the fish photos have the person looking at the fish and not the camera. Their face is not in shadow and they don't look like they came from a soup kitchen. The same goes for deer photos. They don't want photos that have blood, the rib cage slashed open, or the tongue hanging out. They don't want photos of deer in the bed of a pickup truck or with people milling about. Some pro photographers carry glass eyes and shove them into the eye sockets to make the kill look fresh. Since the magazine does have sponsors, they also want to see current camo patterns and not stuff from 30 years ago.
Midwest Outdoors has a small Indiana Section in each issue, but it is limited to what guys like me submit. If nobody is submitting material on a certain topic, they can't run it.
Thanks for all the comments. Keep them coming. I am now president of Hoosier Outdoor Writers (HOW) and I am going to use some of this for the articles in our newsletter.

 

[AGarbers]

I could not agree more. Journalism is in such short supply in gun and outdoor media.

I agree. The publishers don't want anything that will upset their supporters. And I have written articles on conservation, such as the plight of Indiana's ruffed grouse, only to have them refused.

 

[Chase515]

I read Fur Fish and Game, I enjoy the combination of hunting stories, trapping stories, and fishing stories. If any of your magazines are similar let me know and I'll order.

 

[Kart29]

Fur-Fish-Game is everything I've ever wanted in an outdoor sports magazine. It is truly the magazine for Practical Outdoorsman.

I once had two magazines on my nightstand. One was American Hunter or such from the NRA, the other was Fur-Fish-Game. Both had an article about a big game hunting adventure. The American Hunter article showed a picture of a paved parking lot in front of a swank hunting lodge - Acura and BMW SUV's in the parking lot. The Fur-Fish-Game article showed shelter made with some tarps strung up in the woods and a woodburning stove in the lean-to shelter. The hunters had packed the stove up in a canoe part way and packed it in on their backs the rest of the way. I know which author I consider to be the true sportsman.

I think Ed Hall is one of the most knowledgeable and well rounded gun writers I've ever read.

I hate magazines that are 90% about trying to sell me something.

“The ordinary traveler, who never goes off the beaten route and who on this beaten route is carried by others, without himself doing anything or risking anything, does not need to show much more initiative and intelligence than an express package," ― Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey"

 

[AGarbers]

I could not agree more. Journalism is in such short supply in gun and outdoor media.

Does anyone remember the gun reports magazines back in the mid-1980s? They didn't accept gun manufacturer ads, loved BAT ammo, and hated Llama firearms. I loved those magazines but I assume they went belly up.

 

[mkgr22]

Does anyone remember the gun reports magazines back in the mid-1980s? They didn't accept gun manufacturer ads, loved BAT ammo, and hated Llama firearms. I loved those magazines but I assume they went belly up.

Gun Tests magazine supposedly buys all their test firearms and ammo at retail shops, to avoid any bias. I used to read some of their issues. No ads, either.

Gun Tests