Thread: Nz outdoor hunting

Originally Posted by Gillie

You guys think you might have some unrealistic expectations?

"Never read a bad review" - of course you haven't read a bad review because the bad reviews don't get printed You expect the writers to buy the gear they review? No, it is supplied to them and most likely by companies that already pay for advertisement in the magazines. And writers and editors do not bite the hand that feeds them. The magazines are a competitive market, so printing bad reviews gets you less advertising income and less items to review.
Also writers don't often get a piece of gear for months on end to use prior to putting something to print and as the vast majority of them also have day jobs and families they aren't exactly full time in the hills - so if a bit of kit doesn't fail on them in the first couple to four trips then they will write that - of course that doesn't mean the same bit of kit will therefore last someone 20 years.

“Never seen a good group” – yep, again not surprising considering writers basically have to stick with factory ammunition and that stuff isn’t cheap considering what writers get paid for a magazine article. And please forgive the writer for not wasting ammunition to re-sight the rifle in every time they tray another ammunition through it! There is likely some discussion here of practical accuracy compared to "it does 0.5MOA but I never shoot it that way in the hills". You are right though - some writers, including myself, simply can’t shoot a decent 100m group…

"Never heard of the shotgun writers" - not surprising this either - the shotgun writers are unlikely to be competitive shooters - most writers are not. As a competitive pistol and shotgun shooter yourself R93 would you be happy putting your training at risk by learning a new trigger, new stock, new ammunition every month?
A little while ago I offered one of the wholesalers the opportunity to send me one of their new long range scopes. I had a couple of long range steel competitions coming up and I would have been able to run a direct comparison of their new scope against some of the top end brands. You can see this as a risk for them though? What happens if their brand new and reasonably untested scope doesn’t stack up in direct comparison to the competition… and so it is safer for them to send it to someone who will test it by itself. Same could well be said for a shotgun, pistol, or essentially any piece of kit.

Now I do a little bit of writing for NZ Guns & Hunting (so go ahead and make your assumptions about my bias for this post ). I only do a little bit of writing because I don't have the patience for it and most of the time I don't feel I have sufficient expertise to comment much. I have only really done product reviews on stuff I have personally brought and so my negative comments have been limited to little things (and for the most part these negative comments have made it to print). My writing is also not so flash and I tend to try and focus more on photography than the actual article content.
Anyway, I was given a bit of advice from a writer I respect a few years ago - they said "only write something in a review based on your own experience, if the review goes bad then write that, if it felt cheap but worked for you then write that, if it was awesome then write that – let your editor decide what to publish or not publish”.

But bottom line the consumer votes with their money and you guys don't bother buying magazines... I do recommend though that you give writing a go for yourself – writing 3 or 4 articles will go a long way to pay for your next helicopter trip!


By the by - this post is one of the reasons some of what I write doesn't get printed - I simply don't know when to shut up, meaning a few of my articles are simply too long to be printed. A couple of years ago, after reading a couple of articles on shooting technique I didn't agree with, I wrote up my shooting approach at a long range steel competition (mostly a field competition). I went into detail about position set up, natural point of aim, hard hold vs free recoil, bipod technique, wind calling and bracketing, rapid fire technique, some reloading considerations, hand placement, breathing, holding vs dialing wind, competition tactics, mind set, etc... but it ended up so long it will never be printed.

How bout posting the article here where it will be appreciated ?????
My shooting sucks arse so any advice is good...

I don't mind being a Salmon and swimming against the current, So I don't mind saying that I enjoy nearly all of the magazines. I don't necessarily buy them all but generally think they are a good read. My other hobby is muscle cars, now I read all of those magazines as well. I may not agree with everything written in every article but it is a subject I enjoy reading about it regardless of the articles viewpoint.

Hunters are all different, have different viewpoints, ethics and methods they like to use. No article is going to cater for every taste. And remember besides the regular contributors and the editors reviews, the stories are sent in by "Average Joe's" who are giving a go at writing about their hobbies or trip. I think good on them and if they have taken quite a few hours writing about their story to fiordland/stewart island/southern alps then it doesn't hurt to read it.

I would rather have magazines on the shelf covering my favourite pastime than them all to be removed because some people think they are crap!

I wonder if this will be like a gun city thread that everybody will bag the shit out of them cos it's fashionable to do so be but secretly by stuff from. Personally I don't mind the hunting/shooting magazines. I regularly by nz guns n hunting off n on the Nz outdoors n sometimes though very rarely Greg duleys masterpiece NZ hunter for the plain fact I get something out of it and quite often sporting shooter just because I can.


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I buy them all off the shelf when home a couple times a year.
It's the only bit of sanity I get when working away from home.
Yes some of the articles don't do it for me.
But some stories are well done.

I used to buy them every month but now only if i am down at the store and have a quick browse and see an article or test that interests me.
I enjoy gillies articles as thats one of my interests.


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I don't buy them to often. I used to but never turn down a free copy and im not one to read them front to back either but if I see a familiar face or something I maybe interested in I will read it more just browse through them looking at what animals have been hunted who's doing it and were what's new to the market ect so I don't mind them

You should get the latest R93, your idle is on the front cover


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Originally Posted by Smiddy

You should get the latest R93, your idle is on the front cover


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What was Vladimir Putin doing in Nz?

Actually I was looking for a copy coz I heard there is a real sasquatch called Smiddy in it😆

I will make sure I get to read it😆


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I got a years free Rod and Rifle subscription once. By chance it had all the Wap blocks so was a good score. Don't buy them otherwise. @Pointer just pinch's them anyway hahahahahaha jokes bro

The prodigal son returns.

Originally Posted by tiroatedson

I wonder if this will be like a gun city thread that everybody will bag the shit out of them cos it's fashionable to do so be but secretly by stuff from. Personally I don't mind the hunting/shooting magazines. I regularly by nz guns n hunting off n on the Nz outdoors n sometimes though very rarely Greg duleys masterpiece NZ hunter for the plain fact I get something out of it and quite often sporting shooter just because I can.


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There does seem to be an awful lot of that sort of carry on between us hunters doesnt there? Same goes for guys bagging other guys about shooting velvet stags.....
I bought one issue of NZ Outdoor Hunting becuase they were running a competition I thought i might like to enter, but after the date of the competition being "drawn" and not seeing the names of any winners in the issue where they had supposed to have been announced I emailed them to enquire and recieved no reply, seems like it was just a bit of a have to get people to buy the magazine.
Obviously rhe guys that produce it are fellow hunters and maybe some constructive feedback to the editor would be welcomed by them?

I buy Rod and Rifle and NZ Hunter, both have knowledgeable editors and some good articles. I'm going to write some articles for R&R too, if they'll publish them!

Is this the one dougie writes for?

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Is this the one dougie writes for?

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Did write for...


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Originally Posted by BRADS

Did write for...


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Is Dougie that girl who works for Hunters Element? Why has she stopped writing?