Magazine Review: the Backwoodsman Magazine

The Backwoodsman Magazine: The Magazine for the Twenty-First Century Frontierman has a lot of great information which I'll never use. It's great reading, though. I've enjoyed perusing the pages a lot

The articles are very hands-on and how-to for the muzzleloader, woodsman, homesteader, history buff, Indian lore buff, or for anyone interested in survival techniques. Each issue is full of articles of varying lengths on a variety of material.

Examining One Issue

For a practical demonstration, I'm going to focus on Volume 28, Issue 6, the latest at hand.

Cover blurbs promote articles on Pioneering With a Flintlock, Build Your Own Bug-Out Trailer, Wilderness Camping/And Survival, Make Your Own Lead Shot, and The Texas Knife.

The table of contents offers even more articles including a short piece on flint and steel firestarting tips, a couple pages on Making a Living From Your Woodlot, Improvised Snowshoes, a one page article on Composting Methods, a couple pages on Starting a Mobile Repair Service, a piece on the Tahchee Bowie knife, Basics of Ice Fishing, Handy Uses for a 55-Gallon Trash Bag, a couple single column stories on An Improvised Sail and Up-Grading Old Boat Plan, The Coach Gun of the Old West, plus an article on Buried Treasure Tales -- On the Red River Treasure Trail. There's more I haven't listed. Again, the magazine is packed.

A regular feature is two-three pages called Backwoodsmen Woodlore, containing brief tips of all kinds such as how to deal with frostbite, a candle lamp improvised from a glass bottle, frying-pan biscuit, how to braid rope, a cartoon-type presentation on making fire with bamboo, and another illustrated array of primitive fish hooks designs using bone and shell. Naturally, there is a letters section that runs four pages

There are plenty of ads for books as well as back issues.

The editors of Backwoodsman know how to get a lot of bang for their buck. Not overloaded with articles on guns, lots of good material.

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