Wildfowl Magazine Decision

Scott,

My then fiancee (now wife) signed me up for it 3 years ago, and conitnues renewing the subscription as one of her gifts to me each Christmas. The stories got so old after awhile. The only parts of it I enjoy are Spencer's dog training section (bought one of his books), the boat building section, and the last column, which I find funny, and reminds of of the "news from lake woebegone" from prarie home companion!

Alas, because of starting to build a boat, and buying one, I now get more from this webiste!

AA-
 
I let my subscription lapse this year (only had it one year as a gift from my wife) for the same reasons stated in the earlier posts. Not one article ever told me anything I could really use. Growing up in a duck and deer camp, listening to the hard lessons learned, as well as viewing these forums has been a thousand times more helpful than any article written.

Instead, I took up writing my own hunting short stories. I always kept a journal and I find my time is better spent putting pen to paper or, in today's technological world, bytes to hard drive. Plus I have a tangible record that I can give to my kids and grandkids down the road. The way my memory is, I'll probably enjoy reading them myself when I'm 80 or 90 and complain to my wife how the author did not really get it right. Duck hunting is tradition and hard won victories in difficult conditions. It is one of the few remaining struggles between man and nature on nature's terms. Oh by the way, we do it willingly and would have it no other way. I would recommend you try to write about your experiences if you do not want to read about someone else's.
 
Every once in a while you can run into a good article in any magazine. Im hooked on waterfowl hunting, so anything about the subject gets my attention. There was a magazine I started reading when I first started waterfowling called Waterfowl Hunter. It no longer exists. It was a good magazine. The internet has more information with all the wisdom that is accumulated by different people. Thanks again Al Gore. John
 
Like a lot of you, I find myself reading the internet and not the magazines. I've let a lot of my subscriptions lapse, but the one I still do enjoy leafing through is Gun Dog Magazine. I enjoy the articles from James Spencer - and what I consider to be an everyday Joe, witty, writing style he uses helps me relate. Articles on getting old "Mallard Muncher" out of mothballs at the end of summer and back in shape are nice to see from time to time. It's a bimonthly mag, and is a welcome surprise every time I see it in the mailbox.
 

WE SHOULD MAKE OUR OWN!!

I recently picked up a copy of "Wildfowl". It has been about fifteen years since I subscribed. As her royal highness is fond of saying, "WE WERE NOT AMUSED". It was thin both in content and spine. I only grabbed it because I saw a pic of Jeff Coates when I flip through.

With this community I get everything I ever wanted in a magazine and then some. The stories are far more enjoyable, the pics, well to be quite frank, they are excellent. If I want to know something about an area, a product, or a guide, all I have to do is ask.

I say we create one small side bar and every month somebody gets a chance to highlight something. We could call it the "Patterson Report". Stuff everybody could have fun with, "This month on the Patterson report, Yukon Mike on how to chip out a rustic ice toilet for the blind". "Why gator's don't make good retrievers" By Special K the Cajun in Trainun.

The world she is a changin. I'm sure in a few years we will be ragging about when we could not stream 3-D, while instant messaging, from our sat linked smell-o-vision, all of which we will accomplish from our in blind(which is covered in genetically engineered camo) coffee maker.
B
 
Rustic Ice toilet for the blind??.........sound like an exercise of extreme danger that requires great skill and daring........the TP is freely provided by all readers....
 
Seems the quality of outdoor magazines is a product of marketing........the objective....sales and eventually a profit.....no sales, no profit and out of business...thus, the conclusion is plenty of sales must be happening for these "poor quality" magazines to stay in business.....

Just a bit of ruminations over the comments and observations from this thread.......the comments here must be from the minority view point of the shooting/hunting public...

Matt

PS. not that I personally agree with the current content/format of the magazines....
 
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I think the editors of Wildfowl should pay more attention to the content of the articles how can they let someone talk about shooting Boone and Crocket ducks in the article. The magazine is not the one from fifteen years ago. I really do like this forum.
I could not figure out how to enter the location I am from the New Jersey shore
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"thus, the conclusion is plenty of sales must be happening for these "poor quality" magazines to stay in business....."
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That may actually be the point, Matt...Wildfowl has gone out of business, or at least replaced Editors, a few times in the past 15 years if I am not mistaken, undoubtedly for the very reasons you suggest. Maybe each new owner tries to bring it back with even more sales (and hopeful profits) but just can't find the balance between useful content and endless advertising...or maybe the market is simply waning for printed magazines in favor of internet based media, especially those magazines with a relatively narrow focus and following like duck hunting.

I agree with the statements above, in that this forum offers me more hunting related interaction and knowledge then any other source (except maybe my hunting buddy Pat who happens to know everything, just ask him).

Truthfully, ask any question about any species, locale, boat type, hunting method (even migration progress ;-) and you will usually get a reply from someone with a fair amount of personal expertise on that particular topic.

Not sure I would try to change anything about the forum either. Seems to work ok as it is.
 
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Wild Fowl Magazine has become a "Cookie Cutter" magazine. There are still some good articles in there once in awhile, but it's not the same as it once was. Most of the time, I find myself reading most of it in the store and I only buy it, if there is a "Do it yourself" type of article or an article with actual useful content. It's not just duck related, but the magazine that I enjoy the most is Fur Fish and Game.
 
Odd you mentioned Fur fish and Game,,,haven't seen one of those in years... I used to trap so that was a common magazine in the pile.

Matt
 
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