After all, this Web log is named for the Stray Cast, which has snapped off the end of the outdoors column in the Sun-Times on Wednesdays since April 2, 2003.

Here's today's:

Brian Urlacher on Sunday reminded me of the first time I left my dad on a deer hunt sitting in the pines along Laurel Run while I hiked, alone with memories of what once was, up through the hardwoods on Paddy Mountain.