The challenge of writing these words comes hardest at this time of year; the result of this being spring, barely the end of winter here in the frozen North, and this magazine arriving in your hands in the heat of summer, just in time for the serious preparations for bow season. Such is the lag in time from magazine production and printing to delivery.

But as we at PB so often note, bow season is always open...somewhere. I didn't return to Hawaii to hunt this year, as I usually try to do in February or March, because frankly, there just wasn't time. So, I won't be seeing my friends, island residents and fellow archers Steve Gelakoski, Jeff Grundhauser or David Kahoe, unless I can break away in May or June to hunt for axis deer. Most of the axis bucks are in prime antler condition in those months in the dense cover of Hawaii, and they should still be rutting.

The pain was lessoned however by a good whitetail I took in the Texas brush country in January on a hunt with the guys from Scent-Lok, particularly Mike Andrews, and their new partners at Gore-Tex. A lot about the hunting down there was just plain frustrating, but I managed to get an opportunity and make the most of it. This was not a high fence hunt -- not all of Texas is like that, hunting was tough, but being with a good group of guys took some of the sting out of it. The best part of the hunt, other than killing that buck, was tracking a big boar hog in the dark with Mike and our guide, T-Bird. Mike had hit the boar on a last-light, desperation spot and stalk. When we arrived to pick Mike up, he put us on the bloodless trail, and I swear to you, if I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it, but T-Bird tracked that all-black boar to his death bed in the pitch dark using nothing more than his nose. God bless him. It was one fine piece of trail work.

In November, I took a 10-point whitetail close to home. The buck, who wore a decent set of horns, had an enormous body; shoulders really. What made me most proud of this deer was that I was able to take him on public land, and that I'd done the things I needed to do, right. I'd seen the deer just once before, with a bigger buck. I never saw the bigger animal again, but was able to put myself in a position to kill this buck the next time I saw him, a month later. It's great when a plan comes together. Actually, what earned me the buck was spotting him and not hesitating to put an aggressive stand plan into action the same day. It felt like a get-him-or-lose-him situation, so I pushed my luck and it paid off.

Now I'm waiting on application deadlines for tag drawings for a number of hunts I'd like to take this fall. If even one works out, it will be great news. I've also got plans to try to take the bigger buck I saw last fall near home, if he has survived. I'm guessing he has, because bucks of that ripe age don't make many mistakes, they know more about hunters than hunters do. I've got a few tricks of my own in store for him, including the new tree-sling I've been practicing shooting from.

In the meantime, the 3-D season will be starting up soon, I've got a couple of new bows to set up, some new arrows to fletch with some of the newer vanes on the market and I'm working on tweaking my sight systems in a new way this year to get these old eyes on target with more certainty.

I've also got stand sites to prepare, some ground blinds to set, and a spring gobbler or two to put an arrow through. But really, I'm just lollygagging right now with nothing to do until September arrives. Know what I mean?