Reserved for Hunting - How's that for POSTED!
While Shooter and I were traveling to the clay ground the other day the inevitable subject of Hook and Bullet magazines came up, and I remembered this post from a couple of years back. One of my favorites. Still as true now as it was then.
Keep well
Your pal
SBW
The chef, writer , and wag Anthony Bourdain once said that you could tell a lot about a country by the food it eats and the pr0n it makes. I'd like to add to that list. Hunting magazines are also a window into the national physic. If anyone ever asks me if i'd like anything brought home I tell them 'Hunting mags and dried pork products'.
I love hunting magazines for several reasons: the adventure stories, the kit reviews (because as regular readers will know I'm a sad kit-tart), and then there's the shameless dichotomy between the editorial standpoints of 'guardians of a noble tradition, champions of the simple life' and sell 'em a gadget to get the advertisers in'. Love it!
While manly hunters mock girly fashion magazines they miss the point that the two genre's have grown out of a common desire - to sell advertising space.
First hemlines will rise, then they will fall, _____ will be the new black, the first lady will first be elegant, then too thin, then too fat, before being found to have the dress sense of a cockney builder and the hair of a fishwife. Products and advice in next months issue will rectify these and other concerns.
Meanwhile: Camo will be photo realistic and change seasonally, last years 'fleece technology' wont cut it this year, chokes will tighten, then be unnecessary, shotguns will get lighter, then they'll get heavier to soak up 'felt recoil', fleece will be out - wool back in, you like your .270? Have you considered a .280 yet? Here's a _____ made better by the addition of some photos of leaves. Products and advice in next months issue will rectify these and other concerns.
In short if there's a chance of selling a double page spread to an advertiser, X will be the new Y and no one will ever know how we managed without it [for all these thousands of years].
Here's a round up of what I learned reading french hunting magazines by the pool
This year
- Could be THE year!!!!!!
- Ammo's a helluva price these days
- Barrels will be a little shorter
- Cartridges a little larger
- Blaze orange is the must have colour of the season.
- Scent suppressing clothing is to be mocked.
- Knives are getting longer again and some come with a take down spear handle.
- Custom rifles aren't selling, as off-the -shelf now offers what was until recently not-at-any-price accuracy for a lot less cash.
- Take down rifles are the next big thing - convenient for the hunter to transport - convenient for the manufacturer to sell you another barrel for next year's cartridge.
- American rifles offer fantastic value for money, but if you had the cash you'd go german wouldn't you?
- Czech is somewhere in between.
- Tikka are so good for the money what's the point of SAKO?
If your hunting magazine is offering you any more please let us know.
Your Pal
SBW
Well pretty much the reason I no longer buy magazines or subscribe to online media as if I need anyone elses opinion! If I did I'd tell them what I thought!
ReplyDeleteBB
Deletenice to see you commenting again I missed ya
SBW
Couldn't agree with you more. Remington do the best value for money rifles and shotguns and you don't feel paranoid about bashing them around through the bush (the real world).
ReplyDeleteSako are wonderful but better by a Tikka and put the change towards a week with some outfitter like this guy in Poland :http://www.venator.pl/
There are countless other places but Alex finds his site fun because he can shoot things.
Hippo
Deletei was handling Shooters Remmy 700 the other day, they really are pretty reasonable for the cash, although i really loathed the stock and the way it fitted my face, Andy is a big fan too
Plenty of Tikka fans reading this Chad has one with a stainless barrel in 6.5x55 swede, Nice.
SBW
That is some serious observation, SBW! When you mentioned that they reflect a country, I cringed for the U.S. Of course, we have every single possible style of hunting magazine, but the first thing that flashed in my head was a bikini-clad woman with an AR-platform rifle standing over the corpse of a 300 lb. boar.
ReplyDeleteJosh
DeleteMy favourite US hunting mags are vintage F&S and one that I think is called Trad bowhunting, lots of older guys in plaid making bows and getting very very close to their prey, with nice aphorisms like "any animal taken with a bare bow is a trophy' .
In the UK they tend to be about selling you stuff or the English class system.
Pop me an email with you address and I'll send you some
SBW
I love gun/hunting mags -- though the endless "AR platfrom" got a little tiresome. Its got to the point where lack of an AR, of some sort, is a mark of being deeply unpatriotic. I own one, of course.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree the US has become the land of the the AR I've decided that 'kudos in lumps' will only go to those who choose a more imaginative /nerdy calibre - 6.5 Grendal for me
ReplyDeleteSBW
Sympathise with that. Buy me a Grendal, please.
ReplyDeleteI like thumbing through/reading hunting magazines, too--the older the better! One of my favorites(being a canine fanatic) is "Full Cry", a hunting dog magazine that's been around FOREVER in the U. S.! Not only the scenthound stuff you would expect(beagles, coonhounds, lionhonds, bearhounds), but some sighthound entrants on occaision, terrierwork(including many on Airedales), even some dachsund work! And fairly free of the gobs of advertising in most of these mags--just a collection of newsletters, basically. I also enjoy various state wildlife magazines--usually a combination of naturalist AND hunting/fishing themes(despite the ever looming AR's). I don't mean to be biased here, but I think OUR state wildlife magazine is the BEST(and has been for decades)--"Wildlife In North Carolina".....L.B.
ReplyDeleteLB
Deletestate wildlife magazines sound like an interesting genre
I'll do another round up of dog blogs shortly
SBW
I'll have to send you some copies........???
ReplyDeleteCheers Lane
ReplyDeleteSBW
Hi! I´ve found your blog through Greg...interesting to follow you. Between our hunting season I do a lot of photographing of our wildness and are lucky to see them. If you look on my posts from Oct 2011 to Jan 2012 there is a lot from our hunt. Mainly moose and with our dogs on roes.
ReplyDeleteLindsjö
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, i've only been able to look at a small section of your blog [so far] - you are some photographer!
SBW
Hippo, I'll send you my email.
ReplyDeleteI love, absolutely, Trad Bowhunter. There's one called Trad Bowyer, too, and Primitive Bowhunter, and they are all fun. Also within that genre are Backwoodsman and Backwoods Home. F&S and Outdoor Life have become much less entertaining to me over the years, and I think it's the same problem you cite for the English ones. The authors there are still great (I love Petzal and Love), I just more frequently see articles like The Seventy-two things You Must Own to get the Deer (Bass, Walleye, Trout, Elk, Coyote) of your Life! Or their "Top Gear" picks, which are basically ads for dozens and dozens of things. Also, they got rid of Pat McManus, which stings.
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To worm my way into the rifle conversation: I shoot a .270 Savage 110E, which is the best gun for the money ever, and a Winchester 30-30 lever action, which is the prettiest gun for the money ever. The closest thing to an AR platform I've ever had was a Ruger 10-22 (AR's wish they were Rugers).
Josh
ReplyDeleteIs Backwoodsman still printed black and white? I think I bought a copy once in a truck stop in SD.
People laugh when tell them of my admiration for David Petzal - in that moment all they are doing is showing their pomposity - just because he writes (mainly) about guns why should that mean he's not a master of his craft - he just happened to choose guns.
F&S is an odd brand - even a fool could see that there's a lot of great milage to be had but the parent corporation just seems to be content to let it splutter to a halt.
All the modern Bow hunting magazines i've been sent over the years are worse still. The guys with the identikit goatees and ball caps, as the saying goes 'if I wanted a uniform I'd be a security guard'. I suppose Tiffany is quite cute if you like 'em like that, but by rigorously focusing on the lowest common denominator all a magazine actually becomes is a specialist publication for the retarded. Also why the 'dominator' and 'extreme killer' names?
On the rifle tip:
The Savage 110E is certainly a very clever piece of design, the drop box magazine makes a lot of sense to me, if i were in the market for a .22 I think I would have gone for savage until the recent arrival of the take down 10/22. Me likey, me likey a lot.
SBW
Hello every one,I'm new to here;
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you all!!