Hats off to Mike Schoby's editorial in the June issue of Petersen's HUNTING. He discusses some hunters with whom he had shared an elk camp. These guys bought all the Kool Aid "Best of the West" sells and they went for it hook, line, and sinker. The guy thought a shot an elk at 740 yards was a "chip shot." He missed it clean (thank God).

Mike didn't name the show by name, but the dots all point to it (the host sells the rifles and scope the hunter bought).

You mean it's not just turning the dial and shooting?

I agree the editorial was great but I have a problem.

There are exactly 3 articles about a hunting trip in this publication. It isn't until page 48 out of 80 pages you see the first article written about a hunt, which was Boddington's article about the 6 most dangerous hunts. It seems as though people want to gripe about hunting shows and similar hunting channels about all the advertizements taking up X minutes within a 30 min program.

What makes this publication any different? It was nothing but a bunch of advertizements!

that's an awful long shot!

+1 graybird, I could'nt agree more.

Grybird,
That is why when the current subscription runs out I will be down to just one 'hunting' mag., 'Sport's Afield'.
C.G.B.

Graybird- Exactly! One of the reasons why I no longer suscribe to ANY mags. Plus too much misinformation, exaggeration, falsehoods, misrepresentations. Too many just shills for hunting & allied industries. Many are good writers and storytellers but not so good as hunters, gun "authorities", etc. Just sometime compare the magazine writing and subject matter of some of the oldtimers: O'Connor, Ackley, Cooper, Sitton, Milek. Too few of their like writing today. Boddington, though some will disagree, is in that tradition.

quote:

Originally posted by cgbach:
Grybird,
That is why when the current subscription runs out I will be down to just one 'hunting' mag., 'Sport's Afield'.
C.G.B.

plus another....took me all of 5 minutes to flip through it and throw it in the trash.

Ditto that guys! I don't know how many years I subscribed to Petersens (decades!), but I let it run out last month. Even though I enjoy the articles by Craig, there just aren't enough quality writers/articles around in most of the magazines any more to bother with them. I enjoy my monthly Eastmans magazines now as I'd rather read and see what the average guys are doing on mostly DIY hunts that any of us can do without all the BS and thousands of dollars spent on guided hunts!!!

Likewise here,

At one time I was taking a dozen or so different rags. Now Precision Shooting, Varmint Hunter, and American Rifleman. American Rifleman comes as part of my NRA membership.

GWB

I agree wholeheartedly with what's said above regarding advertisements. How can you take an article which purports to compare and contrast bullets, for example, seriously when there is a Swift ad inside the front cover and a Nosler ad on the back? I realize that the ads are a necessity, but they have to create some level of bias and misinformation from these publications.

my favorite sporting magazine has always been Grey's Sporting Journal. absolutely superb photography, engaging writing, and advertising for a very sophisticated clientele, therefore not the average "WHACK 'EM & STACK 'EM!" you see in off the shelf rags.

I was lucky as a child to be exposed to Grey's as my dad has had a subscription for over 20 years.

quote:

Originally posted by MHC_TX:

quote:

Originally posted by cgbach:
Grybird,
That is why when the current subscription runs out I will be down to just one 'hunting' mag., 'Sport's Afield'.
C.G.B.

plus another....took me all of 5 minutes to flip through it and throw it in the trash.

Same with me. I get weary of the Viagra ads and the all of the other junk and no meat.

I think BUGLE still has the most hunting stories/articles and is not in it just for the money. Von Zwoll seems to know rifles/shooting and would probably join us in laughing his ass off at best of the west and the other "reality" hunting shows. These shows just prove P T Barnum's old adage.

I met a fellow the other day who seems to be a pretty good long-range shooter; apparently he's ex-military of some sort (he was pretty vague about it), and I can say for certain he's retired law enforcement here in Nebraska.

His range goes out to 400 yards. After shooting what I'd brought (just at the 100 yard range), he pulled out a 22-250 he'd cobbled together recently. He walked me quickly through some MOA stuff and then said, "let's go over to the long range and shoot some plates."

So, with the 22-250 off a bi-pod with a squeeze bag under the stock, I whacked the 18" gong at 350 yards - no problem, didn't miss a shot.

Then he said "now shoot the 7" gong" (same range). I think I was 3 for 6!

That was off a bench, with a bi-pod and bag, and wind in my face! And I'm a better shot than 95% of the people I know!

Talk about a big dose of humble pie! Now, put me in the field, with stress, less time to shoot, and less than perfect rest/hold, and I'm sure I shouldn't shoot at >300 yards.

An eye-opener, for sure!

friar

Hmmm. Another vote for Gray's, then Shooting Sportsman and African Hunting Gazette...

I already have African Hunting Gazette. It might be time to renew my subscriptions to Man Magnum and African Hunter Magazine.

I have had loads over the years. Grays Sporting Journal, Sports Afield, African Hunter, Eastman's Journal (only seen 2 so far) and Rifle are all good and still worth getting IMHO. Occasionally get Double Gun Journal when it has a few rifle articles, but mostly about shotguns...

If you are an anglophile, Fieldsports is ok (quarterly)...

Haven't seen Magnum or African Sporting Gazette for a few years since I let my subscriptions lapse... Same with Petersen's Hunting and Rifleshooter...