Submission Guidelines

Follow the below submission guidelines to create a compelling story and increase the odds of being a featured story.

Evaluation

We evaluate all stories based on photo quality, trophy quality, and the overall quality of the story. Stories with the best of all three aspects are the most likely to be published as feature stories in the Western Hunter Magazine. We also pick others for the “All Tagged Out” section of the magazine, or you can be highlighted on Wester Hunter Online in the Hunt Stories & Adventures category. 

Western Hunter’s Story Guidelines

You don’t have to be the world’s greatest writer to submit your hunt story; don’t worry we have a team of writers and editors that will help you along the way. However, here are some guidelines to keep in mind that make a story more compelling to the readers.

1. Word count - Submissions are to be 1,200 – 1,500 words. Stories longer than that will be edited down or returned to you for revision.
2. Leave the advertising to us - Do not promote companies or products, although the guide, outfitter, or landowner’s name can be mentioned. If a product was used on the hunt, it may be put on the Gear List block at the end of the article.
3. Show us your emotion –  Hunting is an emotion-filled sport – whether it was positive or negative, its part of your story and we want to hear it. Be descriptive in what you were feeling, and why you were feeling that way. Draw the readers into your emotion.
4. Describe the scenery – Take a bit of time to describe the landscape around you and set a mood for the hunt. Create a picture in the minds of the readers. 
5. Reflect – Take some time to reflect along the way. What did you learn? What could you have done better? What went absolutely perfect because you planned ahead, or trained a certain way. You want the readers to come away from your story having learned from your lessons.

Image Guidelines

Having proper images to go along with your story is mandatory to be published in the magazine. Please avoid submitting low-quality, small, or low-resolution images. We require high-resolution images to ensure the highest quality end product for our readers. Images can be from any aspect of the hunt, i.e. camp, glassing, hiking, etc. This is another opportunity to help draw the reader into your story.  

We hope to receive images that are at least 1.25MB in file size – Please do not resize your images down or compress them in any way in order to send them to our editors. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@westernhunter.net

Gear List

Include a short list of gear that you believe made a worthwhile impact on your hunt. Think weapon, clothes, pack, boots, any piece of gear that you want the reads to know you were using. These will be included at the end of your story and gives our reader a bit of insight into what you were using during your story.