The American Beagler Forum

What are the best magazines today? IVe been out of loop so long I have no idea whats still out there and whats not.

Better Beagling?

Better Beagling was until a few months ago, quite frankly, it sucks now.

Around the time or maybe slightly before the new owner took over, BB went from a full fledge magazine to basically a 10 page leaflet. I appears to me that H&H may have been a sinking ship and she (or more likely the prior owners of both) robbed Peter (BB) to pay Paul (H&H) to save H&H.

In the February combined issue, she put the gundog writers/articles in the H&H section and the brace coverage in the BB section.
She doesn't even recognize the founders (Bakers) or past owners (Harrington's) of BB.

Unless she separates the two again or better yet, sells BB to a party interested in gundogs, I will not renew my subscription and I have been a BB subscriber for years.
She needs to let each stand on their own, meaning the advertisers/writers that advertise/write in BB, be in BB and vice/versa.

ok thanks was told by another friend that BB dont do it... So I guess what magazine is left? Rabbit Hunter? But what about AKC?

Rowdy
You hit the nail right on the head!
I've been seriously thinking about writing the editor and telling her that if she cares absolutely nothing about covering the northern large pack, southern large pack, Mid-West and Mid-South trials then she ought to sell the Better Beagling part of her holdings to someone that does.
I for one certainly have no interest in paying for a subscription to Hounds and Hunting.
It's pretty disappointing and deceptive to turn to the Better Beagling "section" of the magazine and find out there's little of any interest there.
She needs to think about selling the magazine [ or giving the name Better Beagling ] to someone who will do it justice.
I'd like to see the people at Hark-N-Hare and Rabbit Kountry Northeast take it over as they are already doing a super job putting out a monthly on-line magazine with super pics.,interviews,etc.

Personally, I have been disappointed by the apparent lack of support for the young lady, and by some of the comments here. Magazines, and any type of print these day, are facing tough competition from other forms of print, particularly from the Internet. Both Better Beagling and Hounds and Hunting have been sliding downhill for years. I have been a subscriber to both since the late 70s, so I have watched the decline. I think the only possibility of saving either was to combine them as she did. Separately, both were going down. I don’t understand the animosity toward other types of beagle that might be different than what you/we have. Just read the parts you like and ignore the rest if you want, but be glad at least you still have a magazine at all.

I don't mean you any disrespect but be disappointed all you want.If the shoe fits you've gotta wear it.
You may be disappointed by the comments that Swampman and I have posted but the truth is that the "young lady" is doing absolutely zippity doo dah in respects to the Better Beagling aspect of the magazine.
This last issue has 26 pages of what comes after the cover shot.Looks like 7 of those pages are adds or forms,etc.Many of the other pages are adds for clubs that quite frankly your "core" group of Better Beagling followers don't attend and like it or not would not be welcome there to run their style of hounds [ U.B.G.F.,D.S.B.G.F.,etc.].The only Better Beagling type of info. of interest is the up-coming trial announcements for Large Pack on Hare / rabbit,S.P.O. on Hare and Mid-West S.P.O. and not being a trialer I'm not paying a $30.00 subscription fee for that.
No boast here but I starting writing for Bob and Pearl Baker @ B.B. in 1995.I was paid for articles submitted,listed as a contributing field editor and got my magazines for free.When Ralph and Sarah Harrington took it over they asked me to continue with the same arrangement which I did until they sold the magazine in 2013. That's 18 years.
When the DePreist's bought the magazine I wrote them a letter introducing myself and asking if they were interested in me continuing to submit articles,stories,etc.No response.It has become obvious that the folks that have recently held the reigns of Better Beagling are not interested in the aspect of beagling that those of us that have been subscribers to Better Beagling for many years are.Different strokes for different folks...... I just wish that she would transfer ownership to someone or group that focuses on OUR aspect of beagling cause the current offering sure isn't.
No animosity here about what folks run. When I'm not beagling I own a little Miata roadster with a roll bar,cold air intake,lowered suspension and sticky tires and I drive it faster than a guy my age probably should. I'm certainly not going to spend time reading about the new family Mini Vans.
As always.....JMHO.

Apparent lack of support?
I've been supporting BB for years and I should get what I paid for. These changes have been in place for several months now.
Lets call it what it is, a decision was made to kill BB to save H&H, now she needs to live with the ramifications of that decision.
Good decisions equal success, bad decisions equal failure.

Actually, I believe the decision was made to combine them to save them both, because both were fading away under the previous owner. If the Midwest and hare guys want what is left of Better Besgling to survive, they should support the new owner with stud ads, trial reports, articles, etc. Getting on here and rallying everyone against her will not help.

I think print magazines are going the way of the printed newspaper. Dwindling to irrelevancy. It's just too easy and inexpensive to share content online nowadays, and the printed magazine business model just can't compete. Looks to me like Bev sold off TAB at the right time.

Imho, most internet is mumbo jumbo or gradually turns to it. At least print hold you to your word. The quality of business is like your pack of hound, standard and selection. People hunger for the true soul of rabbiting hunting again, the true soul of fun, respectable competition. The internet has people so confused and distrusting that only clans of separatist and personal agendas prevail today. Most don't participate or grow weary of the bickering. Can you imagine beagling where there is no cell service...Where speed and miles traveled is more talked about than the houndwork...lol
I remember when this website used too be big business, but now we see how that's going.
Now back to a issue of 1989 Rabbit Hunter article, written by my friend Earl Holbrook about a UP Snowshoe Hare Hunt. AAAh the good ole days !

The Ga. Red neck read all this and was getting very interesting to find Out Who, the Editor was that has the souped Up Sprts Car with the slick tires? Dang the fellow didn't sign, His Name?

I was going to tell him to be Careful ~~
D.R.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

American Beagler Magazine returned my call today and the woman was very pleasant.
Just by talking with her, it seems closely to what BB was, geared towards hunting style hounds.

She indicated AKC clubs don't advertise with them now, mostly UKC.
I'm going to get an issue to check it out and if it is what she says it is, maybe we can persuade the NMHA, Midwest, Mid-South and any other AKC true gundog style hound federations to advertise with them.

I'll give my opinion once I receive and read it.

Looking forward to hear what you think of it Rowdy.

Show beaglers have a very nice quarterly magazine called “Show Beagle Quarterly” published and owned the last 18 years by Debbie Tissot in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the March issue, Debbie has an article “To Be or Not To Be” which questions if her magazine has a future.

She says “There was a time when I put out over 100 pages in many issues and generally no fewer than 72 pages.” (March’s issue was 56 pages). She says advertising is not supporting today’s magazine. She wrote “Since the advent of Facebook, advertising has dropped dramatically.....There is a huge difference between posting your latest win pic on Facebook, receiving 136 kudos and emojis and this staying in the news feed for 4-5 days, and taking an ad in your national breed magazine.”

“So, I’m stuck. I need more ads, more new subscribers, more justification to continue. I will take the coming year to decide whether ‘to be or not to be’.”

Bottom line is we all should subscribe to and support the magazines we have before they are all gone. Use it or lose it. If not, maybe on Facebook someday we can talk about what we’ve lost...

If you don''t keep your thumb drive updated, everything you thought you knew about rabbit hunting online can be gone tomorrow. There is such a big turn-over of websites and info deleted that it is unreliable at best. Your own archiving of info is the only proof and retention you can count on.
Show beagles are motivated more by style and fashion imho. The catfoot and stubby muzzle talk gets old after a while, you need hair to crop and style, blending of breeds to create new excitement and doodling.
An issue about the hounds that were sent from America to the UK after the wars to reestablish the Kennel Club would be an interesting read tho...Sometimes revisiting your roots can stir up interest and excitement of where you've broken ranks and bring back membership to set things right again.
Wishing her luck... Maybe the duel purpose hound could become fashionable again on that side of the table?