ORIGINAL: quiksilver

So there I am, perched on the toilet and flipping through this month's issue of Petersen's Bowhunting, when reality gives me a stiff backhand across the chops. I know all this stuff.

The "new gear" section features a whole bunch of uninspiring, boring, useless gimmicks, along with a few bows andother itemsthat are yesterday's newspaper. You've either seen it all before, or it's so useless that you hope to never see it again.

There are a few articles with actual substance, but the material leaves a little to be desired. It's your standard funnel-ology, interspersed with a couple nuggets about thermals and timing, ingress and egress. blah. Just another author telling me the same story that I've already been told 3000 times.

I find a few minutes to read the obligatory heart-warmer that they stuff into every issue. This is the only story that really piques my interest anymore.

Then, they have a "tuning" section, telling us everything that we already know about getting a good paper tear and finding the right broadhead.



They cram in a few articles about competitive archery. I give them the finger and move on with my life. Like the face of Medusa, I try not to look at it, and turn the pages quickly. If I wanted a magazine about 3d shooting, I'd buy one. This magazine is called "Bowhunting." Come on.

Maybe it's because I spend at least an hour a day on this site, cycling through the posts, looking for somebody to tell me something that I didn't already know - or scanning the posts for something intriguing enough to make me click the Internet Explorer icon and go on a safari of my own to dig up something that might make a difference someday.

After finishing the umpteen millionth issue, I can no longer hide the fact that I feel like the authors are talking down to me, as if I'm some kind of bowhunting, know-nothing newb. Like I'm stupid. Telling me crap that I already know. Telling me crap that I probably knew before they ever did.

Is this it? Have we learned everything? Have we reached the level where you have to delve into the second layer and find out for yourself, because no magazine writer is going to dig that deep?

Honestly, some ofyou people are more intriguing and thought-provoking than any magazine ever will be.

I realized last night, on the toilet, that I'm an internet hunting junkie. Magazines just don't appease me.