From the Editor

There’s still great power in print.

By Kirk Deeter

I only go to my mailbox (which is roughly a mile from my house) every three or four days, because there’s usually nothing in it that I care about. I’ve gone “paperless” with bills, I send Emails (or text, or just call) instead of writing letters, and the junk mail that asks me to consider selling my house or switch dentists goes straight in the recycle bin. But I do check the mailbox because that’s where my printed magazines land. I got my Bonefish & Tarpon Trust Journal the other day, and loved it. I also get Garden & Gun, even though I live in the West instead of the South, because every issue of G&G is an artifact. I admire the work Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited do with their beautiful, perfect-bound publications, and not just because I’m jealous of their formats. I’ve loved The Drake magazine for years, because I care about great writing and photography. I genuinely like sitting in a comfy chair and reading about things that flip my switch, so I think print is still the best medium through which to absorb those things. If you want to learn how to make your own mayonnaise, hear about the hot fly rod or figure out what’s hatching on a certain river, that’s what digital is for. And thank goodness for that. The challenge for print is to be transcendent. In 2023, thanks to our readers, TROUT won the People’s Choice Best Print Publication award at the Outdoor Media Summit, and our contributors also collected numerous awards from the Outdoor Writers Association of America. We are deeply grateful. We’ll keep pressing, if you’ll keep reading.