My first distinct memory of Outdoor Life magazine is tucking an issue carefully beneath my pillow before falling asleep. I was probably eight years old and I was on a family fishing vacation in northern Wisconsin. There was a big bass on the cover. Within those printed pages were all the heroic adventures a little kid dreams about, not to mention the know-how needed to out-fish my dad and catch that cover-model trophy bass. To me it was more than a magazine; it was a treasure map.
So it’s with more than a little sadness that I deliver this news: Outdoor Life magazine will not run in print this year. The economics of the print business can no longer support our legacy title. But it’s with much more than a little excitement that I also announce that now Outdoor Life will truly be more than a magazine: This year, OL will publish four digital editions.
Instead of getting our issues delivered to your mailbox, you can get the digital editions on your phone, tablet, or computer. Just like the quarterly print issues you know and love, the digital editions will feature quality narrative writing, world-class photography, and in-depth reporting. Plus, the digital issues will offer a sleeker and more interactive design than a print magazine ever could, giving us the opportunity to incorporate video, audio, and animation. The first issue will drop in June, with more issues coming every other month.
With your subscription to Outdoor Life, you’ll get access to part of our archives, where you’ll find some of the greatest stories from the magazine’s history.
All OL subscribers will also get a bonus subscription to digital editions of our sister publication, Field & Stream. Look for an announcement in the coming weeks for directions on how to access, or purchase, your subscription to the digital magazines.
Beyond the digital editions, we’re also supercharging the content on our website. We’re bringing in new contributors with fresh voices, we’re expanding our conservation and public lands coverage, and we’re investing in rigorous reporting. This week we’re launching our first podcast, which will be available on Spotify, Apple, and everywhere else you find your podcasts.
So I hope you’ll continue reading, listening, and following along during this exciting new era for OL. After all it is you, our diehard audience, who has made the Outdoor Life tradition meaningful.
The cool thing about my first memory of Outdoor Life magazine during that North Woods vacation is that it’s not all that unique. Many OL readers have grown up with the title, and in a lot of families, as in mine, the OL tradition is passed down from generation to generation, like a beloved heirloom shotgun. You’ll find old issues stashed away in libraries, deer camps, and outhouses all throughout the country—each tattered copy its own thread of a 123-year history. Our promise to you is that the upcoming digital editions will continue that legacy well into the future.
All these years later, I’m still a fan of Outdoor Life, regardless of my job or title. Though, I don’t think I’ll sleep with this next issue under my pillow. I might just pour a tall glass of whiskey, pull up a chair to the campfire, and power on my tablet.
—Alex Robinson, Editor-in-Chief