It's the internet that's killing off magazines and newspapers.

Near us more than one newspaper building and business is for sale.

We don't get the paper anymore. We "look it up", listen and watch the TV news.

Here on the forums I get all the juice I want and more about my interests.

quote:

Originally posted by Marp:
Man Magnum out of South Africa is still old school.
You can order it on Amazon.com

Thanks for the tip about Amazon. I was just getting ready to renew my long-standing subscription from South Africa for $80. Amazon is at $47! Perhaps the saving is in the bulk mailing. Will look at the return address to see if that is the case

I used to read the Shotgun News once in a while to think about another gun.

Now I can flick the laptop to Gunbroker, GunsAmerica etc and get fresh, up to date classifieds free and pictures too!

I can order the items right here, right now.

The only mags I get are the free American Rifleman and American Hunter that come with the life memberships to the NRA.

We were walking around in a store last night and there was a Rifle magazine specific to Big Bore guns. I glanced at it and noted that I had read all that stuff 20 years ago.

Here on the net I can write about what I am interested in for free.

It's the internet that's killed off all the magazines and newspapers.

Here is why we don't need to buy magazines.

I like the Chrysler 300 I have with the Hemi. A guy I know has the SRT8. I wanted to think about it.

I was able to find all the juice I wanted about the SRT8 right here on the net free and immediate.

STR8 review

The Internet has had an effect on the popularity of outdoor magazines and will continue to do so. Consider all the hunt reports on this forum and how little of that reaches the print media.
Here is another example of an outdoor website that actually pays its contributors for stories. This sample is about lesser known big game from around the world, many of which are available on US hunting ranches:

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/...ls-never-heard-pics/

As you saw, the site covers a broad range of outdoor activities including guns and hunting.

That site lost me when they title an animal as a Sitatunga and it's a Nyala. Brain trust obviously.

I have a box of Petersen's Hunting in my garage. They are from the mid-1990s. I tried to "give them away" in a garage sale a few years ago. Still got them.

I think I'm a victim of the good-old-days. I grew up hunting in New Mexico with my dad and his friends; then my brother-in-law and his family, then on my own. I relied on the magazines and experts to turn me on to hunting techniques, calibers, bullet weights, etc.

I agree with most of the comments here. The "experts" are just shills now, whoring for some manufacturer. I don't subscribe to any hunting magazines now. When I occasionally pick up one, I'm generally bored to death with the articles/commercials. I even saw a photo of a monster mule deer that appeared in an article about ten years earlier. That's just lazy.

The writers (I can't really use the word experts) are about qualified to carry my lunch box if we were in the field. They don't seem to know a great deal about the animals they hunt. They don't seem to know much about the weapons they use. They really don't have much knowledge to impart. Very seldom, if ever, do I hear what caliber or bullet weight they used.

The TV personalities are no better. If I was a kid just starting out, I don't think I would know any more about hunting after spending an hour reading their articles or watching their programs. They are a waste of time.

I am still hanging tough with African Hunting Gazette. The photography is worth the cost.

And Handloader and Rifle, the easy answer for B-day and simple Christmas presents.

Now only read The Field,rarely even open The American Rifleman.

Fully agree with the diminished quality of today's gun/hunting mags. I have subscribed to Rifle & Handloader since the mid '70's. The new issues I can read in about 15 minutes and I usually put them out for the 4H kids to take home and read.
Their current appeal and writing focus seems to be totally directed to boost their sales to the WalMart crowd. The depth of their current articles, for the most part, is very shallow.

Their reloading articles are but a shadow of the great in-depth articles written by Ken Waters (conservative loading) and Bob Hagel (balls to the wall loads). I only continue subscribing to read the common sense approach of John Barsness and also enjoy Mike Venturino's and Terry Wieland's articles, although Wieland does not begin to fill Ross Seyfried's shoes.
The older issues of these magazines from the 70's through the mid 90's I keep, refer to, and reread frequently.
I also used to subscribe to Hatari Times but Harald Wolfe's spotty publishing schedule finally caused me to let my subscription lapse.
It has been great to see the resurgence of Sports Afield under Diana Rapp. I don't know how their sales have been but it is refreshing to see that a quality, in-depth hunting/guns mag can still be printed.

I think the only magazine that I get that's hunting related is the magazine SCI puts out every other month. I've subscribed to most of them at one time or another and always felt they focused on everything but hunting. They water the magazine down to have something in there for everybody and when it's all said and done, you get one story on hunting, one of fishing, one of grandmas pie recipe and so on.

What I really want is a good magazine on tractors and working the land!!!

Sports Afield does it for me
Nowadays it's best there is

DC - I have been subscribing to Sports Afield for several years now and agree that it is/was he best out there. I always renew at either SCI or DSC but having real reservations this year.

I always have to cut out the pages containing Shane Mahoney and his crap immediately upon arrival. Now my last/current issue had 12 pages of high dollar Real Estate ads. I don't buy Real Estate from a hunting mag, so most likely will not renew if this is the way they are headed. Anyone else out there see this as odd?

Larry Sellers
SCI(International)Life Member
R8 Blaser
Sabatti "trash" Double Shooter

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
I would agree on JOC as I was never a big fan of his, however, the New Sports Afield has been a breath of fresh air in the hunting magazine business. Diana Rupp and staff have done a lot to put journalism back into writing. Peterson's Hunting, NRA American Hunter, Outdoor Life and the SCI magazines run a distant second. Gray's Sporting Journal is very good but has gotten a little too "ethereal" for me. Too many made up stories to believe the writers.

Anyway, I agree with the comments above.

Same goes for hunting TV shows. Put that is another thread.

Larry, that's exactly what I was thinking. Too many Real Estate ads. I'm also not a fan of Mr. Mahoney either. I'm good on my subscription till the first of 2016. After that I'll have to re-consider. Mr. Mahoney seems to be the golden voice right now.

I have actually subscribed to very few magazines of any persuasion. I get the Rifleman because I am a long time Patron Member and I get Safari Times because I am a life member of SCI. As a youngster I read all of them in the library at school. My favorite gunwriters of the time were JOC,Lucien Carey,Warren Page. I corresonded with JOC and Lucien Carey and they answered every letter every time. They were somewhat responsible for my attending TSCJC as they highly recommended it. In later years after going to Zimbabwe and seeing the magazine about their hunting I tried subscribing for several years but the deliveries and subscriptions got to be too much of a hassle. Also tried subscribing to Harald Wolf's publication for several years but it just became too erratic. Corresponded with him for some time and met him once when he was in the states. He wanted to come to Arizona and hunt Javelina with me. Today I rarely read any outdoor magazines,don't know when I have bought one.I came to this forum after hunting in Africa and actually participate in 2 others about African hunting. Have no idea who are current writers and some on here that seem to be well known I have no idea who they are. I have been interested in firearms and African hunting all my life and dreamed for years of building a rifle and going to Africa hunting. Both desires have been fulfilled many times over. The other hobby I have is photography and I have followed that in magazines closely for many years and they too have become less than they were some even to their demise such as Modern Photography. That field closely follows the computer industries which changes so rapidly I don't see how a monthly magazine would ever stay abrest of it. Such is technology today.