I cannot stop looking at your magazines. When did your business start? I only have one issue (number 3).

Carol Lacky

Here's a tip you can use for most magazines. On the cover, or on the spine, of a publication,you'll find a volume number and an issue number. The volume number tells you how many years the magazine has been published. The issue number tracks the publications through the volume year.

If you look at this month's (November) issue of the Conservationist, you'll see "Volume 64, Issue 11." Can you tell how many years we've been publishing? Outside In, which started nine years ago, is published in February, May, August and November. The magazine you're reading is "Vol. 9, No. 4." On the cover of August 2003 Outside In (above) you'll find "Vol. 9, No. 3."

What do crickets and ants eat?

Leon, 9

Crickets mainly eat green leafy plants, but they also eat small insects. Crickets that inhabit your house might also eat clothing and other fabrics. Ants are like nature's vacuum cleaners. They eat all types of plant and animal material, both fresh and rotten and all stages in between.

Where are the best places to look for fish in small creeks?

Logan

In creeks, fish often remain close to root wads, rocks. branches. logs and other kinds of cover. That's where you often can find longear sunfish, green sunfish, largemouth and smallmouth bass, rock bass and shad. Deep water also provides security for fish, as will riffles and small rapids. If you're quiet, you can often observe minnows, as well as crayfish and sculpins, in shallow water near the bank.

Can you tell a buck's age by how many points it has on it antlers?

Austin, 12

The number of points or the size of a buck's antlers aren't accurate ways to determine the deer's age. Biologists "age" deer by examining their teeth. For example, a buck up to 19 months old will have three cusps on its third premolar. At about 20 months, its third premolar will have two cusps. From that age on, age is determined by tooth deterioration.