Wildfowl Magazine Decision

Scott O.

Scott O.

Well-known member
It looks like I have to make a decision to re-up my subscription and frankly I am not sure I will after all of these years.

Are you like me?

Do you want to know which load will knock down a wood duck at 60 yards? I don't even care because I will NEVER take that shot.

Do you enjoy reading about me and my (Dad, Uncle, Son, Buddy... pick one) when we were hunting (Geese, Puddlers, Divers...pick one) in (ND, SD, Iowa...pick one) and it was really (Sunny, Cold, Wet, Snowing...pick one) but we (Limited, Did pretty well, Got skunked...pick one). I call those "Equation Stories" and they all seem the same to me anymore.

I don't like the "Equipment Edition" because it only seems to support the big names and I know for a fact that there are a lot of duck related businesses that never get the time of day or recognition for their quality products.

I DO like the backpage by Alan Liere because I think its quietly funny.

I think the first place I turn is the "Boats and Blinds" because I like to see what people come up with.

I like the game dog articles because they remind me of Sandy (that just made my eyes water)

I would like to see more HOW-TO articles that appeal to the creative side...the stuff that lets the individual do something personally to fool Mother Nature.

For instance:
  • An article on building a boat, start to finish as so many guys have shared here, starting with Eric. Even if it takes a couple of chapters over the months.
  • How to paint a cool decoy even though I have seen many posts here and on MLB from some real Masters of the art
  • How to make a decoy...carved, foam, burlap and foam, canvas over wireframe etc.
  • Photo submissions (Hitch, Steve and many others do it here all the time and its always cool)
  • Any other innovative ideas that require more ingenuity and imagination then money
Thats just me. If there was an alternative like that, I would probably choose it.
 
Scott,

That's why I let my subscription lapse also. Same 'ol crap month after month. I find the reading on this forum much more interestion than any magazine in publication. For the price of a year's subscription, I just bought "Big December Canvasbacks" by our own Worth Mathewson and it's awesome!
 
For me it's like a bad car crash...I can't look away. I haven't subscribed since about 1987 but when I go to Tractor Supply and I see it there by all the equestrian and Organic Plains Dirt Farmer magazines.....I have to buy it. Usually the cover is the hook. On the way home I turn the page and it's one of three writers hunting either California with photos highlighting a hunt that took place in 1979 or a piece that focuses on the incredible opportunities that used to be available in NoDak etc etc etc ad nauseum and of course the requisite article that tells me I need to shill out about $5K to enjoy hunting in some exotic locale.
 
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What magazine would you suggest in it's place?
My aunt gives me a magazine subscription every year for Christmas.
It had been Outdoor Life, but since they dropped McMannus it isn't worth opening the cover.
She asked what I wanted instead and I was thinking Wildfowl, but I am not sold on that either.
Not trying to hijack, but any suggestions?
 
Scott,

I still get a subscription but will likely let it go rather than re-up. I'll let it go for the same reasons you stated and the same reason I don't get Outdoor Life, Sports Afield or a bunch more anymore. It's mostly fluff and geared to the newbies - nothing wrong with that but its not me.

I do still get Shooting Sportsman though I admit its a little high brow for me. Some of the authors they use regularily like Tom Roster, Chris Batha, Mike MacIntosh I like and look forward to. They write substance rather than fluff.

I've cut back on most of my subscriptions this past year. The big pile of unread mags is one reason, economics is another. Then again my interests are changing a little. I haven't gotten Bow Hunter in many years but might start with a Traditional Bow Hunter mag in the near future.
 
Other than the DU and Delta mags there is little out there. Grays is pretty cool for reading, but a large portion of their stories also follow the "equation" system - just more well written.

Wildfowl being under new management might be receptive to submissions on your bullet list. Having submitted something I made to their boats and blinds contest a few years ago and then getting something published later on as and "honerable mention" winner showed me that in that section of the mag they take what you write, edit it just a little for length and then publish it.

I have been wanting to see a full on published build of a boat rather than the edited short story style stuff that is in there now. The boats and blinds section typically does not convey enough info for me and I want more. I am very tempted to put together an arcticle on my next boat build this spring. I am planning on a boat from scratch this time, so I might as well document the hell out of it.
 
I seem to be reading less of it as time goes on. But I do usually get through it by the time the next one rolls around. Now a days get very little from the equipment issue. There seem to be more articles that don't get read, but what else is there?

I just started getting my subscription to Wildfowl Carving Magazine which I am excited about.
 
DU and Delta mags are the only ones I find worth reading anymore.
Waterfowler.coms magazine used to be good, back when I was a member. Lots of articles about regular guys like us. But I havent had a subscription in 3 years.
 
Man, there are very few outdoor magazines of any kind that I'll pick up let alone subscribe to anymore. Any magazine that ever runs a cover page reading something like "TOP TEN (formerly) SECRET LOCATIONS FOR..." doesn't stand a chance of making it to the bathroom library.
 
I don't subscribe to any outdoor mags any more; they are same old, same old, and same the old. The only outdoor writers I remember from my youth, that I still find interesting to read are Jack O'Conner and Wild Elmer Kieth, Hell I was There, Salmon River, Guy (interesting bombastic old duffer).

I do subscribe to Sky and Telescope as I am interested in amateur astronomy and for the most part I can read an issue multiple times and still find that nugget of interest.

Online I subscribe to FineWoodworking.com and always find something of interest that improves my woodworking skills.

I enjoy much of the American Fisheries Society publications also for you hard core science types.

Matt
 
I was disillusioned with Wildfowl years ago. I continued to subscribe for Worth's stories, but when they parted ways I let my subscription lapse. I picked one up at the magazine rack in Barne's and Nobles' recently to thumb through it and the stories were all the same old shit they have been printing for years. The "equipment issue" was always a rehash of the same paid advertisers. Not one of the "reviews" was ever critical of the product.
 
I've bought one copy, was kind of dissapointed, thought it was too expensive to subscribe, and now getting confirmation from you guys. It's NDR, but I really like Predator Extreme, it's not "exteme" at all, very personal experience, scientific, well written articles. I don't call predators much, but I do find them interesting. This mag is somewhat gadgety, I don't think I'll ever shell out the money to buy an electric caller, when the same money would buy a gun, but even the reviews on these things are not infomercials. I reupped for 3 years, I'll tell you if I'm as jazzed after 3 years. Most mags just repeat themselves after 2 or 3 years.
 
Not Duck related but good magazines on the wild places we love.


Quality Deer Management Ass. QDMA membership mag. Read every page. It comes bimonthly.

Northern Woodlands, A small local rag about the new england forestry industry. A little on the crunchy side but a good balance of wood info and sustainable forest articles with a tree species covered each month.
 
It is amazing to me how the "definitive" waterfowl magazine (Wildfowl), can be oblivious to the holes in their magazine.

For example, most hunters spend as much or more on their decoys then they do on guns, yet the magazine has no section on decoys. No ideas on what is available, how to make them, rig, or create motion.

The history and lore of local decoy and boat designs, ways to hunt, etiquette, or even local waterfowl legends, is completely absent from the pages.

Most states claim the number of waterfowl hunters is down, and they probably are, yet the number of dedicated hunters is up, and it is time Wildfowl magazine recognizes this and makes a magazine for waterfowl hunters.
 
I fired all the outdoor mags over 20 years ago, I'd still look them over for free, but I won't pay anymore for the same old crap.

I have a couple boxes of Jack O'Conner era mags, other then his articles, the rest are basically the same to this date, just the names are changed, lol.
 
Don't get me wrong about WF. Every once in a while they had articles that were actually interesting a la the Sutton hunt, poling a momarsh around hunting rails or gallinules a few years ago. Some of the other guys on this board have also been featured in various hunts over the years

Maybe I am just biased. The personal connection of having actually talked to the guys doing the hunting made it more interesting I guess.
 
Gray's is pretty tolerable, the ratio of truly good writing to cookie-cutter template stories seems higher than most. The most recent issue had an ice-fishing story that was one of the better short stories I've read recently, hunting-related or not.
 
Someone on this forum mentioned a magazine about carving decoys. I can't remember the name of it, but I might want to take a peek at it. I agree in that a lot of writers just seem to "burn out" after writing 1000 stories. How many ways are there to say the same thing, I don't know. I guess if I had to do it, I would run out of nes stuff to say. Maybe the secret is to rotate the mags. Every now and then I run across an old mag from the 60s or 70. Those are fun to read sometimes. The birds haven't changed any. I really like the photography in Ducks Unlimited, although it used to be better than it is now. I suppose the cost of everything keeps going up.

I might really like to subscribe to "executioner monthly." I will need a retirement job soon.

Dave
 
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