Eastmans' Hunting Journal and Eastmans' Bowhunting Journal are both dedicated to you, our subscribers. Part of our purpose is to give hunters the chance to share their stories and tips with other hunters. Eastmans' considers three major factors when evaluating a submitted story: Photo quality, story quality, and trophy quality. Each of these factors is assigned a rating. Those stories with the best combined ratings are the most likely to be published as feature stories. Submittals with lesser combined ratings still may be published, but more likely in the trophy photos section or on our website.

We need four major items in order to complete your story:

1. Photos.
2. Story.
3. About the author.
4. A completely filled out equipment list (click here or see download above).

Following are some guidelines and tips on improving your chances of having your stories and photos published.

Photo Quality: Quality field photos are a must. Decent and respectful positioning of the animal is a big plus, as is making sure your rifle is not pointed anywhere near you. Take some extra time to clear away obstacles, hide tongues, and avoid obstructed backgrounds. Try to make sure your trophy is highlighted and easily visible. Avoid odd shadows when at all possible. Also, quality support shots of the hunting area landscape, camp, other wildlife you encountered, etc. are crucial to add more visual support to the story.

Photo Guidelines: Digital photos are preferred, and should be as high resolution as possible. Try to keep photos at 1MB or larger, JPG and TIF formats are preferred.

Story Quality: Each year, we receive hundreds of stories. A high percentage of these all start out the same way (I couldn't believe it when I came home and opened the mailbox and found out I had drawn the tag-of-a-lifetime), proceed the same way (completely chronological), and end the same way (I'd like to thank my lovely wife and family for all their support). Sound familiar?

Think of your story in this context: You submitted your story because you want to share a special event in your life with people you know will appreciate it. Over 50,000 people will read it. What is it you want to tell them? Why is it special? Dig deep in your thoughts and find a way to connect with your readers. That doesn't mean you have to write like Hemingway, or use 10-letter words; it means you should try to make your story unique and more than just a blow-by-blow account (click here or see download examples above). Don't worry about perfect writing or grammar; our editors will take care of that.

Story Guidelines: Generally, 1000-2500 type-written words in Microsoft Word, submitted either by email and/or by CD. If you don't have Word, you can copy the text directly into the body of an email.

Submittal Procedures: Our most preferred route is to receive everything via email, with a follow-up CD sent straight to our office if you have a large amount of photos. Please include good contact information, including email and one or more phone numbers. Send your story, photos, "about the author", and fully completed equipment list to ryan@eastmans.com, mark@eastmans.com or through the mail at Box 798, Powell, WY 82435.