bushcraft and survival mag

[bigant]

You cant read the Forum on the bog! So I agree, a mag is a great idea!

laptop?

but yeah a mag/book would be great i would buy/subscribe to one from some of the masters we have on the forum here. had a look through the current offerings and its seems half the pages are adverts and shiny pics and the other half is just reprints of old combat and survival topics..

 

[phill_ue]

Yeah you can. Laptop and WiFi rule. Can't wait for the new ipad, I'll be on here.. on the bog all the time

Thank god we haven't got smell-o-vision!

 

[waterman]

I wish I was able to comment accurately on this thread but despite my money being taken for a years subscription in early december,I have yet to receive a current magazine.
I have been in telephone and email contact but apart from acknowledgements of a problem have not received my subscribed magazines. I had a phone call concerned that I would not receive jan/feb 2010 issue and succesfully got me to part with more money for this issue and guess what. No fool like an old fool .I have not received that issue yet. Today a had a small amount of success. I received 2 magazines! jan/feb 2009 and march/april 2009.Trouble is I read these a year ago! perhaps the subscriptions are so succesful they are running a year behind. I dont know if I can really be bothered chasing any more, the time wasted could be better spent in the woods, on the river or reading the forum.
Take advise and buy it from wh smiths when you are passing with spare beer tokens otherwise dont bother. They dont deserve the mis placed loyalty many of us have already given them.
The glass is half full though. £34 down the pan but spring has arrived and as the mag is too shiney to use for its most appropiate use, I will use it as a fire lighter and use a dock leaf for the other!!!

 

[hog]

I must say that when I subscribed to the mag for a year, I thought it was crap, so I ended my subscription.

 

[Diamond Dave]

Sorry to hear this Dave.....I just hope they don't start to believe their own publicity...

 

[Dave Budd]

Sorry I've not replied for a few days folks, I've been running a knifemaking course over the weekend and have only just got back in I got to work at 8:30 on friday morning and didn't leave the woods until 7pm this evening, at which point I went straight out (7:20pm) to run a Scout meeting!

So, again thanks for your kind and very constructive words I think we have all seen the downward spiral of the mag and are all very well aware of it's faults. I guess the book might have to become a reality afterall, as long as I do something basic in my own unique stylee (there are so many books on blacksmithing and knifemaking by people who are more knowledgeable and skilled than me!).

I've had a few pm's from folk with magazine ideas etc, and thankyou for those, definately good food for thought! :You_Rock_ I'll reply to them tomorrow (when I can think straight again)

I'll post a better response tomorrow once I've had some sleep!

 

[Nonsuch]

Yes, I think I will pull the plug on my subscription as well. "May Rears" irritates me beyond reason, I don't like the way they aren't paying for content, which is extremely light anyway, and BCUK is 100 times better !

NS

 

[Siberianfury]

May rears aint the only thing that annoys me, all the kiddy stuff in the back, bloody hell, im sure george george would rather write about knives and making bows ect than painting eggs.

 

[Bootstrap Bob]

Fact is that the mag is aimed at people that are Grylls fans rather than Mears et al fans.
So it's style over substance.

Absolutely, has anyone else noticed over the past year that the magazine appears to have evolved into the Bear Grylls fan club magazine.

Yes, I think I will pull the plug on my subscription as well. "May Rears" irritates me beyond reason, I don't like the way they aren't paying for content, which is extremely light anyway, and BCUK is 100 times better !

NS

I don't mind Ray so much but I think my subscription will lapse this year too.

May rears aint the only thing that annoys me, all the kiddy stuff in the back, bloody hell, im sure george george would rather write about knives and making bows ect than painting eggs.

I think those kiddy articles (not George's) started to appear in 2008 and that's when it started to take a nose dive. One that springs to mind was something about throwing sticks in some water and timing them down a stream

I have to agree with what has been said about Dave's articles, they were the best bits but it is now full of adverts. There are a few articles worth reading but they are reducing every edition.
I did get a contributors pack from them last year but decided against sending my 'how-to' articles hoping that something better would come along aimed more at the BCUK membership types.
Does the BCUK mag need resurrecting I wonder?

 

[John Fenna]

Does the BCUK mag need resurrecting I wonder?

Erm ... YES!

 

[Muddy Boots]

To be fair the only issue I bought was because I recognised some of Firecrest's art work in it and thought it may have been some how linked to BCUK.

I thought that a lot of the: try this, do that, make this sort of stuff had been lifted straight off here a dumbed down slightly.

I gotta say the cover price doesn't justify the content and since getting into Bushcraft I have learnt more skills and picked up better advice on this forum than I should imagine a life time of subscription to that magaizine would generate.

Oh and SWAT was a great magazine and I remember it fondly from my yuuf.

 

[robevs73]

As a protest I have put my 4 years worth of B&SS magazine on ebay!!! get rid of the bloody things!!

 

[Lurch]

"May Rears" irritates me beyond reason,

It's not just me then!

 

[John Fenna]

You are far from alone there Lurch!
I thought "Badly drawn - Boy!" was a band until I saw that carp..boy! is that badly drawn...written...conceived...

 

[Wilderbeast]

Sad day for the magazine, and for me. They have decided that the magazine is 'evolving' and so after something like two years, they no longer want me to write for them

They wouldn't say who is going to be the new sharps writer, but I hope it is somebody competent and not just a one-trick-pony gobsite. Though I suspect they will tow the company line better than I would ever consider and I'm sure the magazine won't miss me calling them to complain about some misprinting or other editing error

So, any magazine editors out there looking for a new writer?

That's a real shame mate you were my favourite writer! My first issue was the one where you did an article on hand made bushy's and how to spot a bad one at a fair etc! Top article!

However to be honest I didn't continue my subscription- whilst I thought it was good I started to find it irritatingly commercial- far too many adds and not nearly enough articles. I don't mind the odd advert but it was getting too much,

You're better than that mate

 

[robevs73]

have you noticed the woodlore add in the back? i cant see Ray writing an article for add space can you?

 

[Paganwolf]

I pulled my subscription after a few editions, and its got worse IMO, Dave you was one of the good contributors and I recon your not the only one they have ****** off either, you will see more of the better regular contributors dropping out of the magazine. Specialist hobby mags like this run buy someone who is not in the hobby from the offset and see it as a business adventure and is just in it for the money and glory never work in my experience, ive seen a couple go down the pan and P!ss the better contributors off then folding and then they end up owing subscribers money from the owed issues,I certainly wont be giving any more of my hard earned cash over to see the same ol adverts, its worth a flick through in a shop i suppose but thats it for what it costs. A big glossy mag it may be but remember you cant put a shine on a sh!t

 

[John Fenna]

No can flick through the latest copy in WHS - it is in a sealed poly bag....are they wise to the idea?

 

[Paganwolf]

No can flick through the latest copy in WHS - it is in a sealed poly bag....are they wise to the idea?

LOL and that stops anyone??

 

[robevs73]

Does the BCUK mag need resurrecting I wonder?
yes it dose and they owe me 3 copies!