I've noted this before, but October ranks high on my list of favorites. It's not the best month for whitetail bowhunting, but it's good enough. Elk season is over and so are most of the other early opportunities for pronghorn, mulies, caribou and other far flung critters. I like the frequent cool fronts, clear blue skies, frosty mornings and colorful leaves; the dry air and the scent that hangs on the breeze. October really gets my blood stirring.

I also like the fact that sometime later this month whitetail bucks are going to kick into high gear, not rutting, not yet, but sniffing around a lot, and late in the month, chasing all over the woods. It's a time when I see bucks I've never seen before, and some I haven't seen for a while. They magically appear as if they've been living in some hole throughout the year and now have suddenly emerged.

October's a time when you can sit in a stand and enjoy the weather -- not too hot, not too cold -- geese cross overhead, in formation, and, if you're anywhere near water, the whirring wings of ducks can be heard above the tree tops at dawn and twilight, trading from place to place, as excited about the crisp air as the rest of us.

I know that the record books show that more trophy bucks are taken in November, but I like October better. There's still hope. The best bucks aren't holed up with breeding does yet, so they're active and more visible. Smaller bucks are still sparring, and I've spent entire evenings listening to the click-clack of antlers as young bucks tested each other. Big bucks are still lurking in the shadows, but they're getting more and more curious about all things "Deer," meaning they'll investigate scents and sounds. The biggest whitetail buck I've ever seen in bow range came to me in October. He didn't present a shot, but we stared at each other for a moment, and that was good enough for me -- enough to make me long for more Octobers.

Changing the subject to some Bowhunting related business, I need to clarify something in last month's column where I mentioned that Nevada doesn't offer bonus points (I know I'm going to get mail on that statement). What I meant to say was that Nevada doesn't offer preference points. Nevada does give bonus points for applying for a specific tag, and you earn one for each year that you apply for the same species. However, these aren't true preference points. A preference point generally guarantees that you will draw a tag after so many points are accumulated. Nevada's bonus points don't apply in the same way. The drawing's better odds go to those lucky enough to receive a random low draw number in the lottery. Even if you have a sizeable number of Nevada bonus points, they aren't likely to help you if you don't have a low draw number. For example, in the 2003 tag draw for bull elk in one Nevada unit, four of 19 hunters with five points drew tags, while only two of 20 hunters with 11 points drew out of the same pool of tags.

Finally, welcome to BOWHUNTING'S new associate editor, Ryan Hamre. Ryan is a young, hard-core hunter who like most of us, would rather be in the woods all the time. We're fortunate to have his talent and passion pouring into the pages of this magazine, as well as the woods. Fortunate for us, Ryan suffered an injury that required him to give up his dreams of professional hockey years ago. He turned his energies toward bowhunting at that time, and the rest is history. Welcome aboard Ryan.