Dale Bowman

For his decades of efforts helping make Shabbona Lake and the people who use it better, Rich McElligott earned one of the seven berths in the 2025 class for the Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame.

Arden Katz caught his personal-best crappie caught through the ice while ice fishing the Fox Chain O'Lakes.

Jim Opoka earns Buck of the Week for a big buck he arrowed in Cook County.

Perch fishing building on the lakefront and ice fishing varying widely lead this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.

The Outdoor Writers of Ohio organization have maintained Ohio's state record fish listing for decades, a one-of-a-kind way of doing it that has worked.

Illinois deer hunters harvested a preliminary total of 82,495, up from 76,494 last year. County-by-county breakdown also included.

Lingering sandhill cranes in Holiday Hills and an astonishing note about hunting, meat-eating ground squireels in California are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

From a big northern pike caught on the Chicago lakefront to a big land acquisition for Hackmatack NWR to lakefront use questions, it's the outdoors year in review.

Lakefront perch continue to draw anglers while ice fishing continues north but is done south for this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.

Brian Markham takes Fish of the Year honors for the 26-inch, 8.1-pound walleye he caught Nov. 15 near DuSable Harbor.