A Real Hunting Magazineby STACEY LISHOK n Ravalli Republic
Attention hunters! Big game season may be over but don’t fret. There’s a new outlet for the hunting enthusiasts to get their fill of elk, mountain goats, bears and more found in the pages of Real Hunting Magazine.
Featuring user-submitted stories and photos from the first-time hunter to the backcountry veteran, this brand new bi-monthly publication prides itself on being real, their motto is: “Real Hunting, Real People, Real Stories.”
“We’re looking for the guys and gals that take a few weeks off during hunting season and go tromp around in the woods and shoot and to them, it’s a trophy,” founding member Erik Peterson said. “This is really dedicated to the everyday Joe hunter that pursues the game and (does) it for the love of it.”
A real hunter is defined by the magazine as someone who does not hunt behind fences, practices good hunting and conservation ethics, passes along hunting knowledge to the younger generation, is not a professional paid to hunt animals for commercial gain and does not buy a Governor’s tag.
“That was the first thing we created,” Peterson said. “We wanted to make sure everybody knew what a “real” hunter was.”
Distributed in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon, Real Hunting Magazine’s primary focus is western big game and has appeared to have found its niche audience with the release of its debut issue. “People have really been buying them,” Peterson said. “The response has been great ... it took us about a month to realize that this thing was going to be a lot bigger than anticipated.”
Co-founder Jeff Llewelyn agreed. “I was amazed at the response,” Llewelyn said. “It’s been overwhelming.”
From planning to print
The brainchild of five avid hunters, Real Hunting Magazine got its start when Bitterrooters Chase Cooper and Llewelyn had similar concerns as friends Peterson, Mike Terzo and Joe Gasvoda about the evolution of hunting magazines.
“We were just sick of seeing high dollar hunting man’s magazines,” Llewelyn said. “The working class doesn’t really have any ... that was my interest in starting (the magazine).”
Peterson echoed that statement. “We came up with the idea of making a magazine dedicated to the everyday hunter and thought it would be successful,” Peterson said. “None of us have a magazine background, we’re all hunters.”
The five men decided to put out their own magazine following an adage, “if you want it done right, do it yourself,” as explained in the Message from the Founders in the OctoberNovember issue.
“There hasn’t really been any magazines that really focus on Montana hunting and youth hunting,” Peterson said. “So we’re going to focus on youth, people that are overcoming physical limitations to hunt and we’re also going to focus on women hunting.”
Looking through other hunting magazines, Peterson said the founders picked out areas they liked the best and combined them for Real Hunting Magazine. This resulted in departments, or sections that will be included in every issue such as a Real Hunting Gear Review, Tips and Tricks, Conservation Thoughts, Future of the Hunt where Peterson said the magazine will talk about the next generation hunting and Saving the Hunt, which includes what people are doing to catch poachers and make hunting ethical.
“We wanted this not to just be a collection of hunting stories but to give tips, education and information,” Peterson said.
Working with Benjamin News and Century Publishing, the group printed about 5,300 issues in Couer d’ Alene, Idaho, of the 83-page debut of Real Hunting Magazine. In it are mostly reader-submitted stories from around the state, including the Bitterroot about hunting such as Derek Zeiler’s tale about taking a mountain goat and a story entitled “Houdini” by Cooper, one of the founders.
“Submissions have been from all over the Northwest,” Peterson said. “We started in Missoula and the Bitterroot Valley and spread around.”
Along with the six or so feature stories, the magazine also includes a section of short stories. “What separates this magazine from others is most magazines have feature stories but they don’t have a lot of little ones,” Peterson said. “We just wanted as many little stories as we could ... we included 27 in the first issue so we’d have a lot of content.”
Although the stories are submitted, Peterson said they’re not edited for content as much as grammar, spelling and flow. “We want to keep the stories as real as possible,” Peterson said.
One of the main principles Real Hunting Magazine practices is it will never reveal where the animal was taken like some other hunting magazines.
“We said in our magazine we’re never going to tell you the location of where the animal is shot,” Peterson said. “We might tell you, hey it was shot in the Bitterroot Mountains .... but we’re going to tell you it was shot up No Tell ‘Em Creek so we can keep those spots exactly what they are. We want to keep the secret hunting spots as secret as possible.”
The founders also wanted to make the magazine affordable at $20 for a year’s subscription. “For the price of a box of shells or some hunting equipment, you can get a full year’s subscription,” Peterson said.
Online opportunities
To compliment its print publication, Real Hunting Magazine launched a Web site complete with issue highlights and reader-submitted pictures in various categories. Also online is an updated news feed with pertinent information for the hunting world.
“Every 10 seconds, a news bit that has something to do with hunting rolls through,” Peterson said. “This (feature) has been pretty successful for us.” Along with the ever-changing news bits, the Web site also features updated moon phase info with the current moon conditions.
“The moon is really indicative as to how successful the hunting is going to be,” Peterson said. “For example, if a full moon’s out at night, then all these critters are eating all night so you’re not going to have as much chance to get them because they head into the woods a little earlier. Hunters pay attention to the moon.”
The site is also one of the easiest ways for readers subscribe to the magazine and to submit their stories as well as any pictures. Pictures are divided up by category and are constantly being updated.
Like its “Real Hunters Board” in the actual magazine, the Web site also offers a Hunter’s Forum message board for anyone wishing to provide feedback or sound off on issues.
For the future
Peterson recognizes that there is still some fine tweaking to do in regards to the publication. “There’s a lot of things we did incorrectly from a magazine stand-point,” Peterson said.
Only two boxes remain of the 5,300 debut issues printed and the magazine will continue to grow. Peterson said they’re looking to print about 8,000 of the December/January issue.
“This next issue is going to have (stories) from Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa and Oregon,” Peterson said. “Our No. 1 goal is to make this a national publication. We want to have subscribers all over the country.”
Llewelyn said the founders would also like the magazine to expand its younger generation-geared coverage. “I would like to see more youth promotion,” Llewelyn said. “That’s an interest of ours.”
Growth for the magazine does not mean selling out, Peterson said. “One of our goals is to not sell out,” Peterson said. “We’re not going to put in four-wheeling stories just to sell advertising space ... we’re going to keep the stories as real as possible.”
Real Hunting Magazine will continue to try and reach out to those real hunters. “We want to keep putting out something that’s good to read,” newly-appointed editor Lindsey Richtmyer said. “We’re not focused on trophy animals.”
After all, as the magazine’s mission statement reads, “One hunter’s biggest animal ever taken might not make another hunter’s wall. We at Real Hunting realize this and are committed to giving every hunter the opportunity to have their story told.”
For more information on Real Hunting Magazine, visit www.realhuntingmag.com.
Sports Editor Stacey Lishok can be reached at 363-3300 or slishok@ravallirepublic.com
