Award winner: Hunting editor Ken Bailey earned first and third place finishes for his hunting features

Outdoor Canada magazine rounded out the annual journalism awards season on June 17 with even more trophies for the mantle: four National Communications Awards from the Outdoor Writers of Canada. These latest honours follow the four honourable mentions and one Gold National Magazine Award the publication received back on June 4, making it the country’s top fishing and hunting magazine in terms of award-winning content.

Announced during the Outdoor Writers of Canada conference in Whitehorse, the winning Outdoor Canada articles and writers include:

• Magazine Feature Hunting
  First Place: Hunting Editor Ken Bailey, “Buck fever” (October 2009)
  Third Place: Hunting Editor Ken Bailey, “The odd couple” (Hunting 2009)
• Magazine Feature Fishing
  First Place: Editor Patrick Walsh (that’s me!), “The Tree” (March 2009)
• Magazine Column
  Second Place: Fishing Editor Gord Pyzer, “Man overboard” (October 2009)

Gord Pyzer, incidentally, also earned two awards for his work with In Fisherman magazine: second place for Magazine Feature Fishing, and second place for Magazine Feature Other.

Outdoor Canada has struck gold once again! Last night at the prestigious National Magazine Awards, the magazine earned the top award in the How-To category. The winning piece, the Ultimate Skills Guide, appeared in the Summer 2009 issue. A collection of articles on how to do everything from land a float plane to how to camo your man cave, the guide was designed by Art Director Sandra Cheung and written by Ken Bailey, Craig Blackie, Alan Davy, Gord Deval, Aaron Kylie, Jake MacDonald, Jim McLennan, Wayne Phillips, Gord Pyzer, Mark Raycroft, T.J. Schwanky, Bob Sexton, Ryan Shervill, Judy Wearing and Patrick Walsh (that’s me!).

Outdoor Canada also received four honourable mentions during last night’s gala at the opulent Carlu in downtown Toronto:

HOW-TO CATEGORY
* Hardwater Action Guide (Winter 2009), by Gord Pyzer
* Why You Need Slow Death (May 2009), by Gord Pyzer

SPORTS & RECREATION CATEGORY
* How Hard Could It Be? (April 2009), by Mark Anderson
* The Fly Boys (May 2009), by Mark Anderson

Congratulations all!

In Outdoor Canada magazine’s Winter 2010 issue, we published an in-depth investigative report into the shooting death of an American hunter, Mark Harshbarger, during a 2006 hunting trip to Newfoundland. The Meshoppen, Pennsylvania, man was shot by his wife, Mary Beth Harshbarger, who claims she thought he was a black bear.

At the time “Another Fine Day Afield” was published, 44-year-old Harshbarger was in the midst of fighting an extradition order to Canada to face two charges: careless use of a firearm and criminal negligence causing death with the use of a firearm. On March 29, she lost her most recent legal gambit after the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the extradition order, which was issued back in April 2008.

And now just yesterday, U.S. District Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie ordered Harshbarger to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service by 2 p.m. on May 14. She will then be held in custody pending her extradition to Canada, the date of which has yet to be announced.

While news of the shooting death has been reported in the local Pennsylvania media, the Outdoor Canada story has been cited for revealing previously undisclosed details of the shooting. The NBC affiliate WBRE Eyewitness News, for example, ran a spot on the article back in February. And now, CBC’s premiere investigative news program, the fifth estate, is looking into the case, using the Outdoor Canada story as its springboard, and writer Charles Wilkins as a resource person.

Nominations for the 33^rd annual National Magazine Awards were announced last night at a special event in Montreal, and once again Outdoor Canada is up for several honours. In all, the magazine and its contributors earn five nominations.

Leading the pack with two nominations apiece are Fishing Editor Gord Pyzer and Field Editor Mark Anderson. The fifth nomination goes to the collective of staff, field editors and contributors (including, again, Gord Pyzer) who participated in last summer issue’s Ultimate Skills Guide.

Also earning multiple nominations are two of Outdoor Canada’s sister magazines at Quarto / Q on Q Media. Explore picked up an impressive 19 nominations, while Cottage Life garnered nine. Both titles are among the top 10 magazines with the most nominations.

The nominations were selected from among 390 submissions from 84 different Canadian magazines in 47 written, visual, integrated and online categories.

Congratulations all! Here are the nominations for Outdoor Canada and its contributors:

HOW-TO CATEGORY

• Ultimate Skills Guide (Summer 2009), by Ken Bailey, Craig Blackie, Alan Davy, Gord Deval, Aaron Kylie, Jake MacDonald, Jim McLennan, Wayne Phillips, Gord Pyzer, Mark Raycroft, T.J. Schwanky, Bob Sexton, Ryan Shervill, Judy Wearing & Patrick Walsh
• Hardwater Action Guide (Winter 2009), by Gord Pyzer
• Why You Need Slow Death (May 2009), by Gord Pyzer

SPORTS & RECREATION CATEGORY

• How Hard Could It Be? (April 2009), by Mark Anderson
• The Fly Boys (May 2009), by Mark Anderson

The only thing I can think of that would beat going fishing this weekend is taking a trip to the International Centre out on Airport Road in Mississauga for the third annual Spring Fishing & Boat Show. Actually, the best scenario for this weekend would be to go fishing and go to the show.

Yeah, I’m banging our own drum a tad here—Outdoor Canada has a booth at the show, and our very own Fishing Editor, Gord Pyzer, is hosting the Master Angler seminar series. And let’s not forget the $50 Outdoor Canada Show Bucks, handed out hourly to lucky visitors. But seriously, if you’re into fishing, boats and some smokin’ deals, you can’t miss this show.

I was talking to show organizer Andy Pallotta this morning, and he was even more excited than he usually is. “It’s going to blow your mind,” he promised, described the various bells and whistles he has in place to great the public. Click here for a sneak preview.

And when you do go to the show, be sure to stop by the Outdoor Canada booth. Gord Pyzer himself will be on hand at appointed times on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to provide one-on-one angling advice and sign autographs.

Plus, we have a great contest going: if you subscribe to the magazine (or renew your subscription) at the show, your name will go into a draw to win one of four Rapala rod, reel and tackle kits. Each kit will include a Rapala TS2 fishing rod, Rapala Volt fishing reel. Sufix Fuse fishing line and an assortment of Rapala, Storm, TriggerX, Terminator, BlueFox and Luhr-Jensen lures. Many thanks to our good friends at Rapala Canada/Normark for providing these great prizes.

Watch this space for reports from the show over the course of the weekend. I hope to see you down there.

Outdoor Canada magazine’s penchant for sometimes going beyond the typical hook-and-bullet fare found in most other outdoor magazines has struck a chord with news watchers in northeastern Pennsylvania.

In our recent Winter 2010 issue, we ran an exclusive investigative piece by Charles Wilkins on the controversial shooting death of American Mark Harshbarger during a 2006 hunting trip in Newfoundland. The Meshoppen, Pennsylvania, man was shot by his wife, Mary Beth Harshbarger, who claims she thought he was a black bear. She is currently fighting an extradition order to face charges in Canada.

While news of the incident has been reported in the local Pennsylvania media, the Outdoor Canada story is garnering attention for revealing previously undisclosed details of the shooting. So much so, in fact, the NBC affiliate WBRE Eyewitness News recently ran a spot on the article. Check it out here.

Firing form: Walsh tears up the range

First, the hunting gear highlight. Today at the Bass Pro Shops Media Day at the Range (the hands on warm-up to the SHOT Show kicking off tomorrow), Hunting Editor Ken Bailey and I shot the new Beretta A400 Xplor semi-auto. Two words: sweet and light. We were shooting Federal target loads, so there was no real need for the Kick-Off system, but it was clear the two oil hydraulic absorbers inside the stock can more than the trick when it come to all but eliminating recoil. Ken liked the Xplor so much he’s as much as decided to include it in his round-up of the best new gear for 2010 (to appear in the May issue of Outdoor Canada magazine).

For Canadians like us who enjoy things that go bang, it was a real treat to fire some of the stuff we normally don’t get our mitts on—namely, handguns and fully automatic rifles. We shot the likes of Glocks, revolvers, the .410 Judge, some cool Ithaca offerings and several different ARs from outfits such as Steyr and Sturm Ruger. Bucket list item #43: Shoot machine gun. Check.

We also made our way over to the long-distance range, where both Ken and I went two for two, ringing the bell at 880 yards with the .338 Lupwa, the same round preferred by U.S. snipers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was something else to ping a target I could barely make out with the naked eye. No wonder the bad guys never know what hit them.

Finally, what would a day out in the desert be without peeling through the hills on a quad? Yamaha suited us up with boots, gloves and helmets and let us tool around on the latest Rhino side-by-sides, as well as the new Grizzly 550s and 700s with auto steering. Smooth rides all, and no bones were broken.

All in all, it was a cool way to spend a cool (and wet) day in Nevada. Thanks to Bass Pro Shops, the numerous suppliers and the Boulder City Pistol and Rifle Range for putting it all together. Now, time to go lose some money on the tables…

My apologies to regular readers of this blog; I haven’t posted in a while due to the Christmas break and the fact we’ve been extremely busy at the office. Or, more to the point, I haven’t had much to say of late in terms of outdoor-related pursuits. Things are about to change, though.

This Sunday, for starters, I’m heading down to Las Vegas for the massive Shooting, Hunting and Outoor Technologies Show. Joining me will be Outdoor Canada’s Hunting Editor, Ken Bailey, and our crack sales team of Rose and Randy. Things kick off early Monday, when Ken and I head out to the desert for the annual Media Day at the Range to try out the last hunting firearms. Oh yeah.

So, be sure to watch this space for updates. I’ll also be Tweeting from my brand new Twitter account. Please visit my Twitter page and sign up for an RSS feed of my Tweets. Talk to you next from Vegas.

I have some exciting news to report today: Outdoor Canada, along with sister Transcontinental Media magazine Canadian Home Workshop, has been sold to Quarto Communications, publishers of Cottage Life and explore magazines. The sale was announced late yesterday, and we’ll be making the move to our new digs in downtown Toronto starting next Friday. We here at Outdoor Canada are pretty stoked about the deal, as it opens up a whole new range of opportunities for the Outdoor Canada brand. Best of all, our new owners want us to keep doing what we do best: create Canada’s best fishing and hunting magazine. Watch this space for further news in the weeks and months ahead. In the meantime, you can still find us online at www.outdoorcanada.ca.

If you are a hunting outfitter or guide, there is still time to participate in Outdoor Canada magazine’s comprehensive survey about the best guns, cartridges, ammunition, optics and techniques for big game.  We’ve compiled a fairly lengthy contact list, and the surveys have been sent out.

Of course, we may have missed a few experts, so if you’re reading this and you’re a guide or an outfitter, or if you know someone who is, please fill out our survey by clicking here. Just print out the survey, jot down your answers and please mail it back to us at:

Outdoor Canada, Attention Bob Sexton, 25 Sheppard Avenue West, Suite 100, Toronto, ON M2N 6S7.

Or, you can e-mail Associate Editor Bob Sexton and he will e-mail you a copy of the survey. Either way, we’d really appreciate your input. As a way of saying thank you, in fact, the name of every guide and outfitter who completes the questionnaire will be entered in a draw to win one free classified advertisement in Outdoor Canada (value $600, to be used in our Hunting or October 2009 issue).

The results of the survey will be compiled and analyzed by Hunting Editor Ken Bailey, and his report will appear in our popular Hunting annual, due out in mid-August. It should make for fascinating reading. Thanks in advance to all who participate.