Reprinted from the October 2011 issue of the Northwoods Sporting Journal
Can you imagine a magazine that could bring together outdoor stories from our past, combine them with modern sport, and reach a large audience? Read on, I think I’ve stumbled across a publication that does just that. What I’m wondering now, though, is where it’s been all these years….or where I’ve been!
When I began writing at Outdoor Sporting Library just over a year ago, one of my main goals was to reconnect with the history of our outdoor sporting literature. I realized that there were so many hunting and fishing stories of the past that have been all but forgotten as time passed and outdoor writing evolved. I enjoy the old stories, and I think many fellow readers do as well. But bringing them back to the forefront in today’s sporting world is a challenge much greater than can be tackled with just one column a month and a small website.
A miniscule number of old time hunting and fishing stories are ever mentioned in any of today’s outdoor magazines. In fact, very few will even print outdoor fiction anymore, let alone old articles of fact and fiction both. “Gray’s Sporting Journal” is one of the few I was aware of that printed much fiction, but even they don’t seem to do any reprints of the classics. So I was at a loss. That was before I stumbled upon “Sporting Classics” magazine.
I was killing time at a local bookstore one day a few months back and found “Sporting Classics” on the magazine rack. It was a big magazine, over double the thickness of the others. I flipped through the pages with awe. It was just what I’d been looking for.
“Sporting Classics” is a bimonthly publication that prints about 200 pages filled with hunting and fishing articles. It’s self described as “not just another ‘how-to’ magazine”, which is evident in its pages. The magazine is the only one I’m aware of that reprints numerous old, classic hunting and fishing stories from the golden age of outdoor writing. These reprints include stories from the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Nash Buckingham, Burton Spiller and many more.
In addition to reprinting classic sporting stories, the magazine also cranks out numerous stories every month from its 11 columnists, all of whom are experts in specific outdoor topics. Examples of new material printed in the magazine include articles on gun dogs, bird hunting, big game trophy hunting and fly fishing. A great deal of care is taken to combine the older material with the new, which makes Sporting Classics a really interesting magazine to read. The artwork, photography and paper quality is also top notch.
“Sporting Classics” is no doubt a magazine targeted for the affluent sportsman. This is obvious in the numerous advertisements for high end hunting destinations and expensive shotguns. Still, despite the fact that most of us can’t afford one of the fancy bird guns or high end optics sported in the ads, they’re still fun to look at, and make the hunting and fishing tales no less interesting.
I really enjoyed my first experience reading “Sporting Classics” magazine. It’s refreshing to know that many of the old time outdoor stories are being brought back to life, and I’m not the only one who enjoys them. I’d encourage you to give “Sporting Classics” a try. If you enjoy reading about the outdoors of yesteryear, I think you’ll like it.
Subscribe or learn more at: www.sportingclassics.com
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