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Write for this paper
Contributor guidelines
This paper is better when it is written by people who were actually there. Here is what we want, what we pay, and what happens to what you send.
What we are looking for
First-hand accounts from people who were on the ground. A road you drove last weekend. A unit you hunted. A stretch of river you fished after the restriction lifted. A build you finished and what you would do differently. The value is in what you saw, not in what you can summarise.
We particularly want trail and road conditions, because those are perishable and no single agency page covers them all. A report of two paragraphs and a date is worth more to a reader on a Friday night than a thousand-word essay.
We are not looking for gear reviews written from a product page, roundups assembled from other roundups, or anything you would not put your name on.
How to send it
Email the desk. Plain text in the body is fine; no formatting required. Tell us where you were, when you were there, and what you found. If you took photographs, say so and we will ask for them separately.
If you want to file conditions regularly, say that too. Regular contributors get their own byline, an author page, and their reports go up faster because we are not verifying a stranger each time.
What we pay
Nothing. This paper runs on a volunteer basis and everything on it is free to read, with no paywall and no subscription. There is no budget to pay contributors and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
What you get instead is a byline, an author page collecting everything you have filed, and credit that stays attached to the piece.
What we are actually asking for is a small amount of your time in service of people who use the same country you do. A report that saves someone a four-hour drive to a closed trailhead, or tells a hunter the check station moved, is worth more to that person than anything we could pay you. If you can spare that, it is genuinely appreciated.
What we do with it
We edit for length, clarity and accuracy, and we will come back to you with questions rather than guess. Nothing runs under your name that you have not seen in its final form.
You keep the copyright in what you write. By filing, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to publish, edit and archive it here, and you confirm the work is your own, that any photograph is yours to give, and that you have not published it elsewhere first without telling us.
Corrections are handled the same way for contributors as for the desk: a dated note at the bottom of the piece rather than a silent edit.
What we will not run
Anything that gives up a location that should stay quiet. Specific spots on small water, den sites, nesting areas, and pull-offs that cannot absorb traffic. If you are unsure, describe the drainage rather than the pin.
Trespass, closures crossed, and anything filmed doing something illegal. We will cover the fact that people do it; we will not showcase it.
Undisclosed sponsorship. If a brand gave you the thing you are writing about, say so in the piece and we will disclose it.