Do you find magazines biased in favor of western hunting?

[John Y Cannuck]

Seems to me that you can't get much eastern hunting in the gun rags any more. All long shots, and mountain hunting.

[longwinters]

I think you are right.  Probably because most of the writers hunt on ranches etc   and not on public land.  This helps their success rate and makes them look like , perhaps, better hunters than some of them  are.  I would like to see them hunt on land that doesnt cost big $$$ to hunt like 80-90 % of hunters do.  But it is tough to write articles about not getting anything . . . isnt it. :eek:

[John Y Cannuck]

To read some of the stuff, they see so much game, it's like going to the market and selecting which one you want.
Our guys are lucky to see anything, much less get to shoot it. I was extreemly lucky on the deer hunt last year, and scored three. But, my Dad, went 25 years without seeing anything at all.  One of  the other guys in camp is currently on an eight year dry spell too.
The writers need to get back to what hunting is about, it's not just the kill, or my Dad would have quit years ago.  
We hunt in an organized camp of about eight guys. (They float in and out)

[willis5]

Some people are just lucky. Other people have the time and money to see lots of game. others get PAID to hunt game year round... if you hunted 300 days a year and had to pick your 10 best hunts and write only about them, it would seem like you were more of a hunter as well. They don't write about failure, cause it makes them look bad and no one wants to read about a trip that was uneventful. I would love that job though...

[bigbore442001]

In a simple word, yes. I too have noticed that the big slick magazines cover hunting west of the Mississippi more than east of it.

Hunting in the East is tough. Not from the point of climate or  altitude but in the wariness of the animals, the hunting pressure as well as finding a place.

The state of Maine has some of the largest whitetail deer in the nation. It is not unusual for deer close to or above 300 lbs to be taken. My friend shot a buck DRESSED at 260 lbs. That is official weight at the check station, so not BS and anyone can look it up. But the problem is that the success rate in Maine is around 8 to 10 %. So, only 1 out of 10 hunters will get something. It is tough hunting.

If a magazine editor or better yet, a hunting video producer were to make a video of this they would use up a lot of film and it may just be pretty pictures of the woods.

I would like to see more on hunting in the East. Due to my job I cannot take any time off during the hunting season. I do the majority of my hunting within 30 miles of my home. And 80% of that is within 10 miles.

About the only magazine I read is Fur-Fish-Game. They seem to still cater to the average sportsman. I find their articles more helpful and about trips that I can do. Petersen's Hunting and the like are just glanced at the newstands.

[freddogs]

 It's true ,they write about western hunting more than eastern. I think some reasons they write about western hunting is that it's easier for non residents to hunt a variety of species out west than to hunt in the east. Here in Wisconsin I can hunt deer or sometimes black bear or small game. We only, with a few exceptions can hunt whitetail deer. In the west you can apply for elk, mule deer, antelope, moose, black bears,whitetail deer,sheep , and goats. I almost forgot cous deer and blacktails. That gives those writers more to write about.
I have to agree that reading about guided hunts that it's unlikely I could ever afford to go on is boring. I understand that writers like to be successful. Not shooting a deer in NW Wisconsin last year would limit what you can write about. You can have hunts out west where you can see a lot of critters and not have to shoot the first one you see ( on public land).I don't subscribe to any major magazines anymore. I read the Trapper & Predator Caller.

[John Y Cannuck]

I think the big thing for me, is that the hunting methods, tactics if you will, are much different.
For example the newbie hunter from the east reading this stuff, thinks he needs the biggest long range ray gun going.
They talk about stalking game, well, thats sorta true for the east, (still hunting) but we don't see it from five miles away, when we see it, it's
 IN range.

[bigbore442001]

I agree with the ray gun approach. I see a lot of hunters, young and old alike, getting the super magnums where they are not needed. The longest shot I ever took and killed a deer was at 75 paces in Connecticut. Beyond that, one couldn't see any further.

I believe that in the east, a 30-06 or similar class of rifle will take care of anything the region has to offer.

[Raging480]

And if the articles are about whitetail hunting, its all open fields, and farm land.  Sure, you can see more deer out feeding,but you will see more humans at a diner(food plot) than you will on some back country road (travel route). but I'd like to see more stuff about hunting deer in the big woods.

[sport240]

Funny...I had noticed that too...glad I'm not alone anymore...LOL

Sport240

[Cabin4]

what magazine names are you talking about ?

[John Y Cannuck]

Cabin 4
It would be easier to list those that aren't biased IMO. It would be a short list.
On it I would include only the local magazines, that is to say, magazines that are published in areas like my home province of Ontario, and marketed for that area. I don't see any of the national mags that carry much in the way of eastern hunting.

[WW1]

Morning
            I am wondering if they sell hunting magazines there that are about the west, and magazines here about hunting the east???....
I live in Washington, and I would bet a $10 bill, in most of the magazines here I have only read articles about the Blacktail maybe 4 times in 10 years....most that I read are back in midwest and east for whitetails.... if I want to read about Blacktails I have to buy a mag called Washington-Oregon Game and Fish.....this Magazine deals with just the 2 states and the animals and fish we have here to hunt and fish for...we are lucky enough here to haver all three species of deer plus elk and black bear also cats...
             just dont want you folks to feel left out....try living here and look for articles about local stuff...but maybe that is better cuz then not as many people to run into in the woods....hahahaha....want a Challenge?
try comming out and finding and bringing home a mature blacktail buck in his own back yard!!...he is a ghost......Rob in Olympia