Many good hunters can talk for hours about their ideas and experiences, yet they feel they can’t write well enough to submit an article. Write your article as if you were talking casually to a group of friends. Do the best you can, but don’t let concern about perfect spelling, punctuation, or writing style prevent you from writing. Write clearly, then reread your article several times and fix phrases that seem unclear. Have a friend or spouse read it and make suggestions. Remember that the key to good writing is re-writing. Our readers want good information, so if you think you have something valuable to share with other hunters, we want to hear about it.

We would like to publish your articles telling fellow hunters your ideas and experiences. Here are some of the guidelines you should follow.

1. Remember that it is more difficult to read content on screen than to read ink on paper, so Internet articles should be shorter than print magazine articles. Be kind to your reader and to yourself. Keep your article under 1200 words. A length of 600-800 words is ideal and will more likely be read than an article of 1500 words. Consider breaking a long article into a 2-part article. Short pieces of 200-500 words are welcome.



2. Material will be edited to keep the grammar, punctuation and spelling to a professional standard. Long sentences may be broken into two sentences. Needless sentences will be eliminated. However, every attempt will remain to keep your words as much as possible.



3. Write not so much to be understood, but to avoid being misunderstood. The secret to writing well is thinking clearly. The reader is trying to understand; don’t frustrate him.



4. Be specific. Avoid vague statements like, "Position yourself near a good trail.” Don’t assume people know what that means; they may be reading your article because they don’t. What exactly is a good trail? What type of terrain features or vegetation help you identify it as such? What does “near” mean? Include enough specific detail to give the reader a complete picture. It is easier to edit out extra material than to ask you for more information to fill a topic out.



5. Photos that help explain the article are extremely helpful, but articles will be considered without photography.



6. When submitting an article, include a “thesis”, a sentence or two about what point you are making. This will give us a guideline when editing, and help us stay true to your objective.



7. Give brief biographical information about yourself, including where you live and hunt, how long you have been a hunter, and any personal information that will be important to the members understanding your perspective.