Outdoor writers .. Anyone like 'em?

Track down Randy Wayne White's collections.

 

When I first got out of college (which wasn't that long ago), I got offered a job as an outdoors writer. I didn't want to do it, but then I looked at the paper's circulation size, and the circulation sizes where most of my buddies started, and I said, 'Where do I sign?'

Did it for a year, wrote some fun features, talked to a lot of people with two first names, saw a lot of pretty places ... and then marched my happy ass into a college beat.

But, yes, there are some damn fine outdoors writers out there, and some of these subjects (people, trends and events) are really fascinating to write about.

 

My situation is different because I work in Boulder, but I'm a full-time outdoors writer/editor. And our section is focused on "outdoor rec," like hiking, climbing, cycling, mountain biking, skiing, etc. We also do hunting and fishing, but I'd say it's only about 20 percent of what we do. We have one page a day and a weekly section, so we have found a way to make a fairly large outdoor section profitable. But, again, it's a different situation. Boulder is a hub for a lot of those activities. Backpacker, which I agree is very good, just moved here because of it. To me, Outside is a must-read each month.

 

To Frank Ridgeway, please send your above observations to the editor of my paper. He's the one who flushed a full-color back page ad five days a week for a high school-ish beach report, an extreme sports writer (mountain climbing, hiking, triathlons) who writes about his friends every week, and a column on butterfliles and tide pool dwellers, among other things.

 

Son of the South heading that way again as Field & Stream Editor Sid Evans, originally of Memphis, departs for another mag:


Pity Field & Stream. Its editor, Sid Evans, is one of the best magazine journalists around -- and he's leaving town.

Evans gave notice on Wednesday. He's moving to Charleston, S.C., to become editor in chief of Garden & Gun, a fledgling high-end lifestyle magazine he describes as "Vanity Fair of the South." Well, an aspiring "Vanity Fair of the South" -- launched in April, it has a circulation of only 150,000, compared to 1.5 million for Field & Stream.

"People were definitely surprised," Evans says. "I'm a little surprised."


Full story:

www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2007/10/26/gifted-editor-decamps-for-points-south

 

We had one at my old paper whose famous tagline was:
"Well, that's another one ready for the freezer,"
Cracked me up.

 

The first paper I worked at, in the 1970s, had a veteran outdoors writer -- I think he was about 110 years old -- who always ended his columns with a tip.

His best one: Hunt during the day rather than at night because it's easier to see the animals.

True story