Are there any readable British magazines on shooting and stalking these days? I subscribed to Countrysport abut several years ago, with great articles by Archie Coats and others, but then it declined in my opinion. Now I have been without a British sporting magazine for almost ten years. I almost took a subscription to the American magazine Shooting Sportsman, but I would like to find a British magazine, covering stalking as well.

I have bought the occasional The Shooting Gazette when I have been in London, but it is too narrow for my taste and honestly, guess how much I care for those 'social pictures' or articles on 'driven clay'.
I want to read about grouse and partridge for sure, but also about stalking and wildfowling.

So what do you recommend?

Regards,

Marterius

We don't really have any magazines which could compare with say Petersons "Hunting" and to be honest Shooting Gazette is about the best we have. Although it does have a strong bias towards driven shooting (thats a traditional/major part of the British shooting scene) it does carry articles on both stalking and wildflowing although these tend to be "seasonal"...They also have the odd "themed" edition on different aspects; for instance the current edition is the gundog issue.

There is a specialist subscription only magazine called "Stalking"...I have just come back to it after a period away because I felt it had got into a repetitive rut. However the relaunched magazine is now in a new colour larger format and is quarterly instead of monthly. The bulk of each edition relates to stalking in the UK but there is usually a story or about hunting abroad as well. It is not a "technical" "how to" magazine, more a collection of reader stories with a few tips thrown in as well. The magazine is run by a stalker more as an affair of the heart than anything else, and it still has a distinctly amateur feel compared to the American slick/glossy hunting magazines.

Regards,

Pete

Thanks Pete!

Perhaps I should try the Shooting Gazette for a year after all. I looked Stalker up on the web, and it seems nice indeed, but a bit to narrow in scope for me.

Regards,
Marterius

I agree with Pete.

Shooting gazzette is the best we have. I still read the Shooting Times, but more out of habit than anything else. I've found that ST is actually quite repetetive in it's articles, with the same thing covered fairly regularly. It rarely lasts me longer than a couple of hours these days.

I do like the SG. I do a bit of driven shooting so that aspect probably suits me. The only thing (I think) it misses out on, is the "grass roots" part of shooting. Having just started running a small Shoot, there isn't a lot there for the amateur keeper. Still there is plenty of specialised literature on this sort of stuff elsewhere.

Have you looked at Sporting Gun? They have a great questions and answers section.

FB

Marterius
Might want to check out this on line magazine,
it's free.
www.sportingrifles.com
Also The Scottish Sporting Gazette, it's printed only once a year but it's nice.
James

Pete and Fallow Buck,
Thanks for your advice, I have just subscribed to SG for a year. From what you say, it seems to deserve a try.

James,
Thank you for the hint about Sportingrifles.com, not at least a good link to have that last half hour in the afternoon when one is fed up with the job!

But I need a printed magazine for those nice moments in the sofa with the dog beside me and a little glas on the sideboard, so SG it will be, besides my Swedish hunting magazine.

I bought the occational Scottish Sporting Gazette in those days I was fishing river Spey but I like to read about the shooting south of the border as well, even if my old Scottish friends would not undersand why. And as you said, it comes only once a year.

Regards,
Martin