Some things are just priceless, such as reading Brad Miller described as ``NBA star'' in a PR release.

This is the rivers post for the Midwest Fishing Report.

Once again, this Midwest Fishing Report encompasses lakes and such, and I will post the rivers of Chicago fishing separately.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

This second split of the Illinois Hunting Report looks at the opening of the 2010-11 season for bowhunting deer.

Andrew ``Drew'' Rasmussen earns Fish of the Week as much for his appreciation of night coming down Northerly Island as for his big chinook salmon.

. Fast crop harvest and everything but deer highlight this Illinois Hunting Report.

Ed Bowen sent a photo of a bonus find while scouting for deer on Sunday.

Several readers report another insult for Chicago fishermen: a $10 charge to go into the main lot used by fishermen at Belmont harbor.

Color change is well underway in the North Woods and the first signs are beginning here, and the Morton Arboretum in Lisle is beginning its annual color update for those who savor the change in Chicago outdoors this time of year.

John Ardaugh of Joliet (Local 174) and Larry Landers of Gardner (Local 916) the annual Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters bass tournament on Lake Shelbyville Saturday

A faithful reader sent a note worth mulling about the recent walleye catches on the Chicago lakefront by Jobet Palmaira (left, below) and Dan O'Brien.

The story on Jobet Palmaira catching a 28-inch walleye at Belmont Harbor on Sept. 18, brought another account of a walleye caught in September on the Chicago lakefront.

Saturday I poked my head into Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

Some of my neighbors only vaguely know what I do, but they know I love critters.

Time for trail cam photos, and William Barrett sent a good one with a apt quip.

As usual, this is the busiest weekend of the fall for Wild Weekend Wanderings around Chicago outdoors, led by Hunting and Fishing Days, National Public Lands Day and the usual fall doings.

My wife thought this was a woolly bear, those fabled forecasters of winter, crawling around our yard Tuesday evening.

I saw my first mess of hedge apples littering the ground this morning while rambling with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Jobet Palmaira is the fisherman who caught the surprise walleye at Belmont Harbor Saturday, and a lot of people will find him even more of hero when they hear his side of the story.

Shoreline events and the shoreline fishing for salmon and trout lead this Midwest Fishing Report.

Because so many of the river reporters wax poetic and/or are long-winded, I am splitting out the reports on the rivers of Chicago fishing into a separate section of the Midwest Fishing Report.

I tried to put some perspective to the latest walleye caught on the Chicago lakefront, this one at Belmont Harbor Saturday morning. Click here for an update.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

Mark Tsurkis of Wheeling caught the first legal lake sturgeon of the hook and line season on the Wisconsin River at the Wisconsin Dells.

. Ridiculously fast crop harvest leads the Illinois Hunting Report.

On Friday, the IDNR announced the initiative ``Target Hunger Now!''

Anybody know this Chicago lakefront fisherman?

Detours to side trips sometimes are the best part of the day.

A week ago, I took what has become my annual boat ride with the folks from National Marine Manufacturers Association.

There are openings for high school bass fishing teams in the Oak Lawn Community High School Bass Tournament on Oct. 2.

I managed to make the Fishin' Buddies! youth fishing event at Wampum Lake before the thunderstorms shortened it yesterday.

Mike Howley sent this from Hickory Hills for Buck of the Week: Unplugged.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Indoors and out, this is the most varied and packed Wild Weekend Wandering around Chicago outdoors I ever remember pulling together.

In some sense, the choice is simple:

This

or will Northerly Island revert to this again?

The Morton Arboretum trumpets a ``a mast year.''

Add Horsetail Lake in Cook County and Grove, Pickerel and Silver lakes in DuPage County to the lakes open for fall trout.

I need to double check on the open lakes in DuPage and Cook counites, but here is the general word from the IDNR about the opening of fall trout season.

Not sure exactly what a ``eco-noir'' documentary is, but it sounds like something to my tastes. And that's how Ghost Bird is being described.

Fall river fishing and shoreline salmon and trout lead this Midwest Fishing Report.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

On an August evening, Chuck Atkins caught one of the biggest smallmouth bass from Lake Michigan.

Illinois high schoolers hopeful for a state championship in bass fishing better learn Carlyle Lake, the finals are going to be there for years.

A sandwich tern has been reported at Montrose this morning and Doug Stotz gave Rick Remington, who originally found it last week at Northwestern, a historical perspective on

the rare Illinois bird.

Crop harvest, which is moving so fast that deer hunters are able to scout many fields unheard of in mid-September, again tops this Illinois Hunting Report.

Found an interesting breakdown of possible budget cuts (inevitable) at the IDNR on capitalfax.blogspot.com.

Lakers starred in the Chicago Yachting Association's Salmon Classic, which was moved to Sunday with a weigh-in at Montrose Harbor, according to Capt. Randy Schmidt.

My heart goes out to Duke O'Malley, who lost his lifelong soul mate Joan.

Rick Remington took a wonderful photo of a sandwich tern, an extremely rare bird for Illinois.

Last last week, I received my first free upland game permit in five years.

The idea of Jim Miller demonstrating how to build a birchbark canoe in Chicago's River North neighborhood is the kind of thing that gets me thinking about the outdoors and the modern urbanized world.

Bill Loos spotted this Buck of the Week: Unplugged in a forest preserve in the Palos area.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum on Chicago's North Side is hosting a film screening and panel discussion on Asian carp Thursday evening.

Pheasants Forever has its state by state forecast for pheasant hunting out. News is generally good; except the Iowa outlook is bad.

This is an eclectic Wild Weekend Wanderings around Chicago outdoors, and it should be for a late summer/fall weekend. I like it.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

John Speckine of BJ Sports in St. Joseph called late yesterday to say the salmon and steelhead started coming in good on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan.

One of the sign posts of natural change is the arrival of the first fall color report from Wisconsin.

John Goss has been named as the new Asian carp director, and drawing praise from fronts as varied as IDNR director Marc Miller and the National Wildlife Federation.

Tom Dart? Mike Quigley? Lisa Madigan?

Chicagoan Michael Skidmore will fish for $1 million.

The return of shoreline kings on southern Lake Michigan highlight this Midwest Fishing Report.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

Ray Hinton Jr. caught this symbolic Fish of the Week, a nice chinook salmon from the South Side of Chicago.

The beginning of crop harvest headlines this Illinois Hunting Report.

Here's the statement of current IDNR director Marc Miller on the death of former IDNR director Joel Brunsvold:

While hunting yesterday, I first heard the news that Joel Brunsvold was very ill from a stroke.

Miguel Murillo and his son Danny won the first Bridgeport Bass fishing tournament on the Chicago River.

Tom Brink nominated this backyard buck for Buck of the Week: Unplugged.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Give Mike Gofron another victory in a walleye tournament.

It's a holiday weekend and there's plenty of good options for Wild Weekend Wanderings around Chicago outdoors.

It's a mixed review for opening day of dove hunting--as expected, generally down--in this special edition of the Illinois Hunting Report. This update is probably it.

Click here for update.

Information on Illinois' Controlled Pheasant Hunting programs is now online.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

A look at holiday options and a smattering of shoreline salmon starting in Illinois lead this Midwest Fishing Report.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

Sunday was a big day for big brown trout on the Illinois waters of Lake Michigan, big enough that Salina Wunderle and Bill Szafranski earned double Fish of the Week honors.