 Cover of vol. 129 no. 1 (2024) | |
| Editor-in-Chief | Colin Kearns |
|---|---|
| General Manager | Adam Morath |
| Total circulation (December 2012) | 1,254,889 (2012)[1] |
| Founded | 1895; 130 years ago (1895) |
| Final issue | 2020 (original) |
| Company | Field & Stream |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Language | English |
| Website | fieldandstream |
| ISSN | 0015-0673 |
Field & Stream (F&S for short) is an Americanmagazine focusing onsport hunting,recreational fishing and otheroutdoor activities. It was a print publication between 1895 and 2015, and became anonline-only publication in 2020. After the magazine's purchase in 2024 bycountry musiciansMorgan Wallen andEric Church, the magazine later returned as print publication.[2][3]
Founded in 1895[4] by John P. Burkhard and Henry Wellington Wack,Field & Stream at one time had more than one million print subscribers, with a significant online following as well. Depending on theseason and the availability of information, the magazine may offer advices oncatching bass,trout,birds,deer andhunting equipments such asrifles andshotguns. The magazine also offers tricks,survival tips, random facts andwild gamerecipes. In addition to those departments, each issue contains longform featured articles, for which it is renowned.
Warren H. Miller was its managing editor from 1910 to 1918. The magazine absorbed its chief competitor,Forest and Stream, in 1930.[5]Henry Holt and Company purchased the magazine in 1951. The company published the magazine on a monthly basis in New York City.[6] Holt eventually ended up being owned byCBS, which sold their magazines in aleveraged buyout, led by division head Peter Diamandis, to the Times-Mirror Company, which in turn sold their magazines toTime Inc. in 2001. Sid Evans was brought in to replace Slaton White, who remained on staff, as editor.
Field & Stream was one of 18 magazines sold toBonnier Group in February 2007. That year, after a five-year tenure that had an editorial revival of the publication, Evans left to helmGarden & Gun magazine, in Charleston, South Carolina, along with then editor ofSaltwater Sportsman and formerF&S features editor David DiBenedetto.
Anthony Licata was then appointed editor, and under Licata, the magazine won two coveted National Magazine Awards for General Excellence, in 2009 and 2014.[7]
The magazine's current contributors include C. J. Chivers, Jonathan Miles, Bill Heavey, T. Edward Nickens, Phil Bourjaily, Rick Bass, J.R. Sullivan, Keith McCafferty, and David E. Petzal. Notable past contributors include Robert Ruark, Ted Trueblood, Ed Zern, Nick Lyons, Tom Kelly, Thomas McGuane, Gene Hill, and Jim Harrison.
The magazine is currently edited by Colin Kearns, who was promoted from senior deputy editor in the end of 2016.
In January 2017, owing to financial difficulties at Bonnier Corporation, the magazine's publishing frequency was scaled back from nine issues a year to six, and several longtime members of the editorial staff were let go, in a "blood bath" of cuts, according to theNew York Post. In October 2021, Bonnier Corp. soldField & Stream, along with its sister title,Outdoor Life, to North Equity, a venture equity firm that alleges to scale "transformative digital media brands". The magazine's commemorative 125th-anniversary issue was its last print edition until 2024.
In January 2024, it was announced that country musiciansEric Church andMorgan Wallen purchasedField & Stream and planned to relaunch the print magazine with an apparel line and live music festival.[8] The relaunched magazine was released in July 2024.[3]
TheField & Stream trademarks were formerly subject to various trademark licensing agreements between CBS Magazines (and its successor-in-interests, Times-Mirror Magazines, Time Inc., and Bonnier Corporation) and Field & Stream Licenses Company (FSLC).[9] A lawsuit filled by Times-Mirror Magazines against FSLC was rejected by theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2002.[9] FSLC later assigned the trademarks to American Sports Licensing, LLC (ASL) in 2014, ASL later assigned the trademarks to current owner, F&S IP OWNER LLC in 2023.[10][11]
The rights to use theField & Stream name on retail was held byDick's Sporting Goods for its retail storeField & Stream after the company acquired the rights in 2012.[12] The store later rebranded to Public Lands.[13][14]
The magazine later reacquired the rights to useField & Stream name on retail from Dick's Sporting Goods in 2024, consolidated the trademark ownership.[2]
