MISSOULA — After two months as novice magazine publishers, five hunting buddies from the Missoula area are confident they’re following the right trail. Real Hunting magazine’s second issue comes out Dec 20. It’s the brainchild of Chase Cooper, Mike Terzo, Jeff Llewellyn, Joe Gasvoda and Erik Peterson, lifelong hunters and longtime friends.

After talking about it for several years, they decided they were tired of looking at “horn porn.” That’s their nickname for high-gloss hunting magazines that emphasize stories and photographs showing hunters with expensive gear who have bagged the biggest and best trophy animals on the planet.

Llewellyn, Peterson and crew knew that kind of thing didn’t happen to them or to most hunters they know. A trophy to them didn’t have to be 400-point elk or a 200-inch deer.

They were happy to get a nice buck, maybe a bull if they were lucky, to fill the freezer for the winter, to get out in the woods, to tell tall tales about the one that got away. So they decided to start their own national hunting magazine. Their goal is to show what happens when people like themselves head outside with hunting rifles and bows.

Real Hunting’s debut issue came out in October. Most hunting magazines “have become too commercialized,” Peterson said. “We want to reach down-to-earth hunters. People like us.”

Their plan is to publish a new issue every two months, emphasizing “real stories by real people,” which is the magazine’s motto.

None of the five friends has any journalism or publishing experience. Cooper, of Victor, is a wood-floor salesman and installer. Terzo, of Turah, is an engineer. Llewellyn, of Florence, and Gasvoda, of Hardin, are freight brokers. Peterson, of Lolo, is a financial adviser.

But they say they have the business skills and hunting experience to make their magazine a success, filling a niche that no one in the industry has thought to fill.

First, they picked what they liked best from existing hunting magazines. Then they came up with a business plan, pitched their idea to publishers, distributors and advertisers, invested some startup capital and went to press.

So far, they say it’s been a success. About 4,000 of the 5,000 copies of the first issue have been sold. They’re available at newsstands, hunting businesses, convenience stories and elsewhere.

About 650 subscribers have signed on, including many from outside Montana. More advertisers are getting interested, too.

The magazine’s founders thought it would take two years to generate enough revenue to hire a full-time person to be the editor and business manager, but they’ve done that already.

They’re printing 6,000 copies of the upcoming issue. They hope to print 10,000 issues of their first-year anniversary issue next October.

Most of Real Hunting’s stories are first-person accounts from everyday people. The spelling and grammar are cleaned up, but nothing else is changed unless the hunter asks for help. Unlike many hunting magazines, Real Hunting doesn’t reveal where its hunters got their game, so the sites aren’t flooded with other hunters.

The magazine’s newsstand and subscription rates are a few dollars cheaper than many other hunting magazines, Peterson said.

More information is available at www.realhuntingmag.com.