Illinois bowhunters are slightly ahead of last year's pace for harvesting deer.

Allison Cisneros talks about what drew her to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie this afternoon on "Outside," and how she became the become volunteer coordinator for The Nature Conservancy there.

Several south suburban guys--Alan Epich, John Kudia, Bill Anderson--sent photos of mantis in the south suburbs.

Looking back, it looks like last year this was the time for me to get serious about deer season, just like bowhunters are getting serious big bucks loopy with the rut, that's the focus for this Wild Weekend Wandering around Chicago outdoors.

It's surprising, but not shocking, to hear that the big show around Chicago outdoors, the one in Rosemont, has been cancelled.

In August, Cathie Kramer photographed this tern skydiving at Rock Run Rookery, shortly after it was opened by the Forest Preserve District of Will County.

Area rivers are putting on a decent to good bite, especially for those switching to live bait, and crappie fishing should keep improving on most local lakes and ponds, those lead this Midwest Fishing Report.

Aaron Clasen.arrowed a life-time buck, a 14-pointer in Pike County, to earn the Naperville man BOTW honors.

Click here for the Fishes of the Week, which turned into today's column about fishing the Indiana streams for salmon and trout.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

Bucks are beginning to move and ducks are not, those two strains lead this Illinois Hunting Report.

Sometimes reading through the fishing reports for the Kankakee River from Norm Minas is like stepping into a deep hole and finding yourself over your waders in truth.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

Illinois bowhunters are ahead of last year's harvest rate for deer, and the shift toward more bucks is but one indication of the early stages of the rut.

Ken Gortowski talks about his strange journey toward no-holds barred conservation efforts, and how he came to combine words, images and conservation, this afternoon on "Outside." (UPDATED the link for Water Dog Journal.)

Dog stories are classic fixtures of outdoor writing, and Bob Zettler nicely sets up a classic dilemma, all dog owners eventually must settle, with his yellow Lab Chunk.

It's one of those weekends with an eclectic mix for Wild Weekend Wanderings around Chicago outdoors.

Cindy Gustafson bagged her first deer with a bow, a nice buck, last week, and I thought her report of it was a good representation of the kind of things hunters think about in the blind or on the stand.

Rivers received strong reports this week and are much featured in this Midwest Fishing Report. (For some reason, Minocqua report just popped in, so I added it)

Click here for the FOTW, a first muskie.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

Overall, it was a surprisingly solid opening weekend for waterfowl in the north zone, and that leads this Illinois Hunting Report.

Ed Sorenson died on Sept. 26, and will be memorialized Wednesday.

Illinois bowhunters are about on pace with last year's harvest.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

J.R. Black talks about his multitude of efforts to preserve and restore the Kankakee River, including a wild story about shooting in the early years of the history-making Kankakee Iroquois River Clean Up, this afternoon on "Outside."

It should be a good weekend for combining fall color watching with other outdoor activities in this Wild Weekend Wandering around Chicago outdoors.

Mulling things on my morning ramble

with Storm, the family's mixed Lab.

The opening of fall trout season in Illinois on Saturday leads this Midwest Fishing Report.

Click here for the FOTW, a fine northern pike from the Des Plaines River.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

Remember the zone line changes for duck and geese

in northeast Illinois when prepping for the north zone openers for waterfowl on Saturday, which leads this Illinois Hunting Report.

As expected, the stretch of warm or hot weather for the last week dramatically slowed deer harvest by bowhunters, though the weekend youth hunt had solid numbers.

Joel Greenberg and I do one of our seasonal shows, which have become quite popular, this afternoon on "Outside."

The weather looks so nearly perfect that I am not sure that anything matters other than getting outside; and here's some help in doing that this Wild Weekend Wandering around Chicago outdoors.

Click here for the FOTW.

I did not expect such an extended stretch of good, stable weather in early October, but we will be thankful and give some options for fall fishing in this Midwest Fishing Report.

Click here for the Grant Farmer's first buck by bow.

It only seems apt to run the Stray Cast here.

So I go out this morning to find an action photo of harvesting and, of course, a thick fog is just lifting, so farmers are only working on equipment and such; but fields are being harvested.

Chris Young has quite the tale in the State Journal-Register of a young hunter being attacked by what he described as a mountain lion over the weekend in Pike County.

A great weekend for the opening of bowhunting for Illinois deer translated to great harvest numbers by Illinois hunters.

Jim Saric's well-dserved induction into the Hall of Fame is coming, I just wish the giant of the muskie world was going into a place that didn't hold a debunked muskie catch as its key record.

Ray Marshalla discusses the record populations of ducks this fall and the dramatic changes in waterfowl migrations in Illinois in recent decades this afternoon on Outside.