Saturday, September 12th, 2026
My Account

Breaking News for

Sportsmen Since 1968

Main Menu
Menu
Search
My Account
Saturday, September 12th, 2026

Breaking News for

Sportsmen Since 1968

Main Menu
Menu
Subscribe to Outdoor News

Gretchen Steele

Gretchen Steele: When the regulations become a hunt of their own

Blogs, Featured, Fishing, Hunting, Illinois, National Fishing, National Hunting, Opinion /

There was a time when preparing for hunting season in Illinois meant finding a place to hunt, checking the weather, sighting in the gun or bow, and maybe negotiating with a dog that had discovered a fresh mud puddle. These days, another item belongs on the checklist: figuring out which rules actually apply.
That may sound simple, but Illinois outdoorspeople know better. A hunter, angler, or trapper can start with the annual digest, move to an IDNR webpage, follow a link to the Illinois Administrative Code, and then discover that a site-specific rule changes the answer again.

Gretchen Steele: When the regulations become a hunt of their own Read More »

Gretchen Steele: Around here, the best things leave tracks in the mud

Featured, Hunting, Illinois, National Hunting /

Some anniversaries arrive looking polished and put together. There’s cake, speeches, and a program folded in someone’s hand. Others wander in from the bottoms with mud on their boots, coffee cooling in a paper cup, and marsh water on their cuffs – clear signs they’ve been somewhere worth the mess.
Twenty years – when you say it out loud, it sounds so tidy, so simple. But anyone who’s helped with a conservation banquet knows that it’s never that simple.

Gretchen Steele: Around here, the best things leave tracks in the mud Read More »

Snake bite highlights Illinois’ last remaining massasaugas

Featured, Illinois, National News, Nature Page & Night Sky, News /

A 41-year-old Michigan man learned the hard way that getting too close to an eastern massasauga rattlesnake can be dangerous. The man was bitten last month while attempting to photograph an eastern massasauga at a boat launch in Michigan’s Proud Lake Recreation Area.
For Illinois, the incident provides a reminder of a very different concern: The eastern massasauga is not only venomous, but it’s one of the state’s rarest reptiles.

Snake bite highlights Illinois’ last remaining massasaugas Read More »

Gretchen Steele: Young silver carp found in the Marseilles Pool of the Illinois River

Featured, Home Page News, Illinois, National News, Nature Page & Night Sky, News /

Here’s a sentence I hoped I wouldn’t be writing this summer: crews just pulled several hundred baby silver carp out of the Marseilles Pool of the Illinois River — about 80 miles from Lake Michigan, and closer to the front door of the Great Lakes than these fish have any business being.
The catch came Aug. 14 during what the biologists politely call “routine intensive monitoring” of the upper river. The fish measured a modest 4 to 6 inches. It’s the first time invasive carp this small have shown up this far upriver since the monitoring program started keeping score back in 2010.

Gretchen Steele: Young silver carp found in the Marseilles Pool of the Illinois River Read More »

Gretchen Steele: Illinois’ summer heat is a burden, but also a ‘wildlife manager’

Featured, Illinois, Nature Page & Night Sky /

It was barely daylight, and I was already out on one of the trails at Illinois’ Pyramid State Park, wondering what in the world had possessed me.
Heat and I have never gotten along. These days it flattens me flat, and it sends my MS into a full-blown snit. So much so that if one more well-meaning family member suggests I get one of those “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” gadgets, somebody is getting slugged.

Gretchen Steele: Illinois’ summer heat is a burden, but also a ‘wildlife manager’ Read More »

Gretchen Steele: Southern Illinois’ Kaskaskia River Delta Waterfowl Chapter to celebrate 20 years of showing up

Featured, Hunting, Illinois, National Hunting /

Some anniversaries arrive with fireworks and fanfare. Others arrive wearing mud on their boots.
This summer, the Kaskaskia River Delta Waterfowl Chapter in southern Illinois reaches its 20th year, and I find myself thinking less about banquets and more about mornings, less about the dollars raised and more about the people who raised them.

Gretchen Steele: Southern Illinois’ Kaskaskia River Delta Waterfowl Chapter to celebrate 20 years of showing up Read More »

Gretchen Steele: Natalie Phelps Finnie, a southern Illinois girl, heads home

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Hunting, Illinois, Nature Page & Night Sky, Opinion /

On July 1, Natalie Phelps Finnie stepped down as director of DNR. After more than four years inside the agency – first as deputy director beginning in August 2021, then as director since January 2023 – the woman from Eldorado is closing one chapter and opening another.
Let me back up, because not everyone reading this knows the whole of it.

Gretchen Steele: Natalie Phelps Finnie, a southern Illinois girl, heads home Read More »

A greater appreciation for gar — Illinois’ misunderstood ‘dinosaur fish’

Featured, Features, Fishing, Illinois, National Fishing /

On quiet summer mornings along southern Illinois backwaters, a slow roll near the surface of the water often appears before the fish does. A long shadow gliding between lotus stems. Then a quick gulp of air, and the ripple disappears into reflections of cottonwoods leaning toward the river.

A greater appreciation for gar — Illinois’ misunderstood ‘dinosaur fish’ Read More »

Gretchen Steele: The best of both sides of the river at Missouri’s Montauk State Park

Featured, Features, Fishing, Hunting, Illinois, Nature Page & Night Sky /

The first thing I noticed at Montauk State Park was the water. Cold, impossibly clear, and flowing straight from the spring that gives birth to the famed Current River, it is the kind of water that stops you in your tracks.
Trout hovered in the current while visitors lined the banks, hoping to hook the fish that’s made Montauk a destination for generations of anglers.

Gretchen Steele: The best of both sides of the river at Missouri’s Montauk State Park Read More »

GET THE OUTDOOR NEWS DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

Sign up for the Outdoor News Weekly Newsletter and get 2 months of FREE access to OutdoorNews.com – packed with hunting, fishing, and conservation news. No Catch.

This offer includes digital access only (not the printed edition)

Email Address(Required)
Password(Required)
Name
What outdoor activities interest you?(Required)

PLEASE READ

Accessing Your Full Subscription Just Got Easier. Introducing Single Sign On.

 We’ve simplified things. Now you only need one password to access all your Outdoor News digital content.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Click Continue below.
  2. You’ll be taken to the OutdoorNews.com sign-in screen.
  3. Don’t have an account yet? Create one—it’s quick!
  4. After signing in, click the E-Edition Login button again. When the pop-up appears, just click Continue.
  5. You’ll either:
    1. Land on the e-edition selection screen (you’re in!)
    2. Be sent to a help page if we didn’t detect a subscription.

If you hit the help page, follow the directions so you don’t miss out on any of our great content.

One login. Every edition. Easy.

Let’s get you reading!

Continue...

PLEASE READ

 We’ve simplified things. Now you only need one password to access all your Outdoor News digital content.

Here’s how it works:

• Click Continue below.

• You’ll be taken to the OutdoorNews.com sign-in screen.

• Don’t have an account yet? Create one—it’s quick!

• After signing in, click the E-Edition Login button again. When the pop-up appears, just click Continue. You’ll either:

  1. Land on the e-edition selection screen (you’re in!)
  2. Be sent to a help page if we didn’t detect a subscription.

If you hit the help page, follow the directions so you don’t miss out on any of our great content.

Continue...

Help Shape the Future of OutdoorNews.com!

We know you love the outdoors—now we want to make OutdoorNews.com the ultimate destination for all things hunting, fishing, and conservation.

Take our brief 3 minute survey to share your thoughts, and help us build the best outdoor website on the planet. As a thank you, we’ll send you a special offer!

Together, we can make OutdoorNews.com even better.

Take the Survey

Introducing The Outdoor News Foundation

Donate Today

For a limited time, you can get full access to breaking news, all original Outdoor News stories and updates from the entire Great Lakes Region and beyond, the most up-to-date fishing & hunting reports, lake maps, photo & video galleries, the latest gear, wild game cooking tips and recipes, fishing & hunting tips from pros and experts, bonus web content and much, much more, all on your smartphone, tablet or desktop For just a buck per month!

Sign Up Now

Some restrictions apply. Not valid with other promotions. $1 per month for 6 months (you will be billed $6) and then your subscription will renew at standard subscription rates. For more information see Terms and Conditions. This offer only applies to OutdoorNews.com and not for any Outdoor News print subscriptions. Offer valid thru 3/31/23.

Already a subscriber to OutdoorNews.com? Click here to login.