RECOIL Issue #31

Since bursting onto the scene a few years ago, RECOIL has shaken up the world of firearms magazines, growing from a one-off, let’s-see-if-this-works issue to the biggest newsstand gun publication. Along the way, we’ve added RECOIL OFFGRID and CONCEALMENT to our print portfolio, created a killer website with a ton of unique content, branched off into video with RECOILtv, and produced a constant flow of high-quality social media posts across different platforms. At this point, you’re probably thinking, “OK, Harrison, if you pat yourselves on the back any more, you’ll get tennis elbow. So what’s next?” I thought you’d never ask.

By the time this issue hits the shelves, our team will be putting the finishing touches to the next item you’ve been asking for.

A decade ago, a good buddy and I were feeling suitably warm and fuzzy after a great dinner with friends, slumped in front of a glowing wood stove with whiskey in hand while the rest of the guests made small talk. The group who’d gathered around the table that snowy winter’s night brought with them a potluck collection of food and drink gathered from the local area. Venison steaks, wild duck cassoulet, winter vegetables, and wine from the vineyard down the road had all been crafted with passion and reverence. Sharing them united a group of Americans with a wide range of backgrounds and political views.

As the fire flickered, my buddy and I relived some of the adventures that foreshadowed the dishes that wound up on our plates — the doe that wandered past while he was trying to remember where his treestand was, the sound of what seemed like a thousand birds dropping into a decoy spread on opening day, the turkey that took what seemed like a lifetime to come into the decoy. That’s when he posed the question, academic at the time, “What if there were a hunting magazine that didn’t suck?”

On June 30, it’s no longer a hypothetical question. Taking the same, no-holds-barred editorial stance we embrace in our current lineup, CARNIVORE will toss a frag into the cozy clubhouse of the hook-and-bullet media. The most important reasons we hunt are to put food on the table and to share this country’s incredible natural resources with our friends and families. It doesn’t matter whether we hunt with a stick and string, or a suppressed black rifle, we’re all on the same team. It’s time someone stepped away from the horn porn and recognized it. Check out RECOIL Issue 31.