Here we are in March. Why don’t we do “in like a lamb, out like a lamb” this year, just for a change? We can make up for it another time by doing “in like a lion, out like a lion.” Or, maybe we did that last year. Does anyone remember?
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Our March issue is full of springtime delights. One of the first events of spring is the 42nd annual Missouri Whitewater Championship at Millstream Gardens, between Fredericktown and Arcadia Valley, on March 21 and 22. We have a story from last year’s race by freelancer Sylvia Forbes of Fayette, and a cover photo by Becky Tinsley of Fredericktown.
We’ve made arrangements with race director Mark Wehking of Ballwin to provide sample copies of this issue of Traveler to all the race participants and volunteers. If you are among that group, welcome to Traveler. We salute you for your efforts and hope you enjoy your rugged outdoor weekend.
Keeping with the geographic focus on Madison County, Jo Schaper brings us geology, history and great photos of Silver Mines and Kathleen Brotherton tells how Native Americans used the St. Francis River.
And keeping with the whitewater theme, we offer the concluding installment of William Childress’s adventure on the raging Buffalo River along with a reader-submitted piece by Bill Janis, headlined “Whitewater in Barnhart?”
If you’re familiar with the St. Louis suburb of Barnhart, that headline will get your attention.
I saw a sign that said Miracle Marine on a county road outside Potosi last summer, and drove winding roads to find a crew of metal cutters, benders and welders building aluminum boats inside an old egg-laying house.
The man in charge was a friendly, tall, fast-talking Canadian named Curt Dzuba. He showed me around, showering me with technical jargon about beams, bottoms, rake, etc., I couldn’t begin to understand. Journalism, I told him, is a math-avoider profession.
Out of that visit, and a couple more, came this month’s story on Miracle Marine, the successor company to Scorpion Watercraft, and the fishing and fire/rescue boats they build. It’s another in our series on outdoors products made in Missouri.
Spring turkey season opens April 20. That’s a ways off, but it’s not too early to begin planning. Bill Cooper writes on the declining turkey numbers and the need to polish your techniques to have a successful hunt. He 
also shares some tips from turkey guru Ray Eye. Heath Wood explains that to use turkey decoys properly, you have to think like a turkey.
On the fishing front, Bob Todd takes us to Pinewoods Lake near Ellsinore, a place whose signs always beckon to me when I drive U.S. 60. That’s the beauty of Traveler. We tell you about those places you’ve been meaning to visit, and hopefully whet your appetite to pull off the road.
Howard Helgenberg enlightens us on the art of tying trout flies. Tim Huffman is under the weather, but John Meacham attended one of his crappie seminars and summarizes some of Tim’s crappie techniques.
Jim and Donna Featherston say they’ve been under the weather too, but they were well enough to send us a piece on Old Buck & Hootie, a man and dog well-known to longtime Traveler and Missouri Conservationist readers.
And there’s more, but you’ll have to turn the pages and discover it for yourself.
The issue also contains Traveler Mailbag, Sun & Moon tables and maps of Clearwater Lake, Lake Wappapello and the Parkland region, and of these rivers: Meramec, Huzzah, Courtois, Big Piney, Upper Current and Jacks Fork and Lower Current and Eleven Point.
