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Bowhunting rags vs. Website deer warfare
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. .jpg) 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. |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
Fran, you're absolutely right......but I honestly feel like us around here are the exception to the rule. I don't mean this arrogantly, just matter of fact.....the folks around here just generally have more knowledge than the "general public" and you would be surprised how many don't have a clue, and have never read most of what is inside.
Hey, I have an idea.....To hell w/ the law stuff, why don't you start a new magazine for those of us that know it all already? What say ye? :D |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
I've stopped all magazine subscriptions over the past few years. Except Buckmasters, I think Jackie called me when I was half way through an 18 pack. I must have signed up for life to that rag.[&:]
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RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
I agree with everything you said. For me, this is the low spot of 'learning' throughout the year. The learning will increase rapidly with increasedpractice and the season opener's approach. The magazines are aimed at the masses which might not include compulsives. If the magazines are boring you, I believe you're OK. If you don't savory the learningopportunity on every hunting/range/scouting sortie, you might be in trouble.
Suggestion: Amazon.com has an excellent used book option and there are still some books out there containing original, thought-provoking content. Have you read the Eberhart books? |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
I could not agree more with you. It is not that I think I know everything there is to know about deer hunting/patterning deer, but the mags just keep putting the same old information out there time and time again. I have zero magazines coming to my house, where as 5 years ago there were 6 or 7 showing up every month.
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RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
well a lot of new people can learn A LOT on the internet, and A LOT in magazines, i read both, tend to learn something new in every article or thread
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RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
ORIGINAL: Rory/MO well a lot of new people can learn A LOT on the internet, and A LOT in magazines, i read both, tend to learn something new in every article or thread |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
Wherein lies the problem (IMO) is in people's home hunting grounds. What works for you may not work for my situation. There is NO "cookie-cutter" ideology that I've read or heard anywhere except:
Deer must have food, water and cover Deer must make little deer Isn't it really as simple as that? Our plight is catching them during some phase of wandering between or aroundthese things. Everything else we read or take in.....we have to apply to OUR woods. We also cull quite a bit of the information we get....and there's nothing wrong with that. Finding a good rag that's chock full of useful information is difficult. The closest thing I've found is D&DH. It's the only subscription I carry....and I've read all or part of most of the mags out there. Every man here IS, IMO, THE number one authority on the gorunds he hunts. To think otherwise would be pretty arrogant. I take these publications for what they're worth....but when I have a real question about deer hunting....I know where to get the answer(s). Then....I apply that to my woods. The more I learn about these animals....the more "random" some of the tactics seem to become. When I have a "gut feeling"....I go with it....."methods" be-damned. |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
ORIGINAL: millerhunter13 ORIGINAL: Rory/MO well a lot of new people can learn A LOT on the internet, and A LOT in magazines, i read both, tend to learn something new in every article or thread i tend to learn the most from those two mags |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
Thats why I don't subscribe to any magazine. Its all recycled information that is useless for the most part unless you hunt private ground in the midwest farm country.
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RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
The only magazine I subscribe to is Big Buck mag. It has very few adds compared to most out there. I'll pick up North American Whitetail and Deer & Deer Hunting mag from the news stands though.;):D
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RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
If I'm reading a magazine, I enjoy reading more about someones adventure than I do about what tactics and /or gear to use.
You nailed my thoughts on being able to learn from a "cookie cutter" magazine. |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
ORIGINAL: rybohunter If I'm reading a magazine, I enjoy reading more about someones adventure than I do about what tactics and /or gear to use. You nailed my thoughts on being able to learn from a "cookie cutter" magazine. I have learned far more useful tricks on the Internet that I have in magazines. They are great for getting the basics, but once you understand how to identify deer poop they aren't much help. |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
For the novices(me) out there they can really be helpful. I do understand what you mean in regards to recycled info. I used to fish professionaly and to buy a fishing mag was like being regurgitated to over and over and over. But occasionaly they would try to sell you something. I guess you are saying That will happen with me to my hunting mags I buy now huh.
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RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
Very rarely to I read something in a magazine and think "Now that is going to be useful". Occasionally something might pop up but nowadays there are more ads, filler, and regurgitated(sp?) material than ever before. I like the stories and pictures (yeah I'll admit it) but really it is like I am buying these things out of habit rather than necessity or usefulness.
That being said there are lots of new hunters/bowhunters every year so I am sure someone finds them more useful than myself but give them a few years and they will feel the same way. As much as we make of this it is still deer hunting, it is ultimately as easy or as hard as each hunter makes it in the woods they hunt andmany tips and articles don't really fit where I hunt. Last year I had a spot I really liked and was hunting it with some success (as far as sightings &not being detected) but I felt i wasn't set up quite right. I posted the pic and got some really good ideas that were helpful to me in a real world/real time kind of way. That to me was much more useful than anything I read that month. Also having access to hunters that are hunting very close to me (whether it is VA, NC, WV, etc) is super helpful because you get lots of input on deer activity and that can be really helpful during the rut and other times as well, like weather fronts. |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
ORIGINAL: buttonbuckmaster I've stopped all magazine subscriptions over the past few years. Except Buckmasters, I think Jackie called me when I was half way through an 18 pack. I must have signed up for life to that rag.[&:] HAHA thats awsome....same thing happened to me!! only they called new years eve i was drunk an they said i was gettin all kinds of stuff so i signed a 5 year deal... o well |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
I just like reading the magazines. Especially Deer and Deer Hunting. I've found it very informative when I was starting out. Now what these mags need to do is deliver more to the poor boys. Tired of seeing articles about food plots. (If you happen to have a couple hundred acres you're not doing anything with come out a buy a Deere and plant a plot. So then when you get that first buck you can say it cost me a couple hundred thousand for him.)Inform me on mocks, scent control, making own grond blinds or mineral licks. A trial and error magazine would be great.
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RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
I like the stories about a hunt—with pictures of the animal and the hunter. If I need information about something, I ask a question here and/or use Google. Who has time to flip back through God only knows how many magazines because you remember reading it in one of the many hunting magazines you get?
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RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
Most of the time the wife and I will be in Wal-Mart and I will go look at the Magazines, sometimes I buy one sometimes I dont. What makes me buy one is if they have alot of good deer pictures, dead, alive it doesnt matter. Also if they have some bowhunting pictures. I will read bits and pieces of them but I mostly get them for the pictures......
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RE: Bowhunting rags vs. Website deer warfare
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. |
RE: Bowhunting rags vs. Website deer warfare
I still read the mags and all the books though.
But I do tend to agree that most of the writing is garbage. Their are a select few with some good insight however. But I won't name names. But there sure are alot more who have no business writing in my opinion either. But again I won't name names. I wouldn't want to answer the door one day and have a scary masked man with a mullet (thats for you Justin) stab a spoon into my gullet and make a lamp shade out of me. The secret when reading the articles is to apply your own experiences into the article itself. Most all writers have 'curse of knowledge' and write like we all know what they are saying exactly. The truth is.. we often don't. That is where the problem really falls. That and... lost in translation. |
RE: Bowhunting rags vs. Website deer warfare
I do subscribe to a magazine.I only get deer and deer hunting.This magazine is awesome.The articles by Dr. Charles Alsheimer,John and Chris Eberhartare great.These guys know there s***.The magazine goes beyond hunting and gives you detailed info about a deersinner workingsetc and every other aspect of a deers life.The articles in this magazine are lengthy not just 2 paragraphs.
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RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
ORIGINAL: DropTine249 I do listen to the Drury guys. They are gospel when it comes to hunting. |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
Deer & Deer hunting is really the only mag I truely getting something out of it. Science of deer hunting I enjoy.
After years of reading magazines it has become the same old articles just the verbage different. T |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
I just get them for the pictures! [:-]
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RE: Bowhunting rags vs. Website deer warfare
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. |
RE: Bowhunting rags vs. Website deer warfare
While I do read a number of magazines,I don't gain a whole lot of insight from most of them.Deer and Deer hunting is a consistently informative magazine.North American whitetail provides the stories on some of the biggest bucks killed across the country.Bow and Arrow hunting is very objective in their equipment and clothing reviews.
Most of the value I get from reading comes from books.I have read many and will continue to do so.It is a process separating the good and great authors from the pretenders.In reality there are probably three or four books that could be read over and over and would be all any one needed. |
RE: Bowhunting rags vs. Website deer warfare
TSOC,
What do you think those book titles would be? I really like Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails and Precision Bowhunting by Eberhart. |
RE: Petersen's Bowhunting
I take the rags the same as the hunting videos, purely entertainment. some articles are informative, but I think I acutally get more from here.
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RE: Bowhunting rags vs. Website deer warfare
I agree, magazines tend to be dull and repeat themselves. The human factor on here always brings in a new perspective. That can be refreshing of frustrating at times, but we learn from it either way.
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RE: Bowhunting rags vs. Website deer warfare
north american whitetail is one of the only magazines i will read because different bucks and stories are in every one, although i still read petersons bowhunting because of the true bowhunting adventures and sure shots lol
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RE: Bowhunting rags vs. Website deer warfare
Kevin,
I have both of the Eberharts books and have found them to be excellent.I have also think that Hunting Trophy Whitetails in The Real World by Don Higgins,Year-Round Trophy Whitetails by Joe Brooks,Bow Hunting Trophy Whitetails by Bobby Worthington and Mapping Trophy Bucks by Brad Herndon are all top notch. I have been purchasing deer hunting books over many years now and have a pretty decent collection.The one's that I have mentioned are the best of the more recently published books. |
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