STRAY CAST: Derrick Rose talks at news conferences like a propeller-scarred muskie swims Fox Lake.

(This site and our outdoors media company are named for the Stray Cast, which has snapped off the end of my outdoors column on Wednesdays in the Sun-Times outdoors page s...

Astonishing bright for being dark when Lady and I stepped off this morning. Then I figured out why, the supermoon, just waning off that blood full moon, was high in the western sky.

It spilled light on the night.

This was a morning to walk down the darkness through to...

The railroad guys were doing calisthenics when Lady and I rambled out of the wilds around the town pond.

The railroad guys, grown-ass men, looked kind of sheepish, as I circled behind their circle of calisthenics. Like maybe they were kind of embarrassed to have anothe...

Nothing says ``I love you'' quite as well as the first hedge apple.

Found the first hedge apple of the fall this morning on the east side of the south old pit. There are remnant trees from an old fencerow of Osage orange along the east side of the town pond.

Hedg...

STRAY CAST: In the beanball battle with the Cardinals, Joe Maddon showed he swims with all the other old baseball sticklebacks.

(This site and our outdoors media company are named for the Stray Cast, which has snapped off the end of my outdoors column on Wednesdays in...

A rabbit was so intent on trying the old I-will-sit-so-still-they-will-not-see-me trick this morning that I walked within a leash length of it sitting in the yard south across the alley from the bus barn.

I am not sure the rabbit realized the peril it was in. If I had...

Some really big muskie came from Shabbona Lake over the weekend, including three 45 inches or longer. This one at 46.5 inches was the longest.

The coolest photo was of a 45-incher.

Clint Sands at Lakeside said that bucktails took all but one muskie reported over the wee...

First time I met Joel Greenberg, years ago, he started ``shushing'' next to some thickets in Chicago's North Shore before dawn.

Thought of that this morning when I heard all kinds of small birds around town as Lady, our family's mutt, and I rambled off. Portions of the...

 With teal season ending Sunday in Illinois, it is a good time to check out Aaron Yetter's latest blog entry from his aerial surveys for the Illinois Natural History Survey. Survey numbers are posted at www.bellrose.org.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resource...

Indiana is joining other states in tightening regulations for catfish.

The new regulations will not take effect until a couple more legal steps are finished.

OK, the video to the left fascinates me for its natural live feel.

I digress.

Here is the word from the Indiana...