Notes from around Chicago outdoors.
FIELD NOTES
WILD OF THE WEEK
Once again, Emil Baumbach comes through with both an outstanding photo (above) and some useful comments, emailing this:
Hi Dale, Some birds just brighten up a day and the Eastern Bluebird does it for me. Colored in distinguished brilliant royal blue with rufous and white accents this bird will get your attention. It’s? fun to watch them feed their young because of the variety of insects they capture. This one appears to have a giant Daddy Longlegs in his mouth. Photographed in Lake Forest, Illinois. Thanks, Emil
Bluebirds do it for me, too. And I believe that might be the first mention of Daddy Longlegs in 20 years of doing the outdoors for the Sun-Times.
Wild of the Week, the celebration of wild scenes around Chicago outdoors, runs Sundays on the outdoors page as warranted. Send nominations by Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or email (straycasts@sbcglobal.net).
WILD TIMES
HUNTER SAFETY
Oct. 1-2: Elburn, phil-joanne@juno.com
Sept. 10-11: Momence, (815) 388-3853 . . . Kankakee, (815) 935-2700
Sept. 17-18: Peotone, (708) 258-3343 . . . Joliet (815) 727-4811
FISH GATHERINGS
Monday: Danny Cossich, Oswegoland Fishin’ Fools, Allied First Bank, Oswego, 7 p.m. fishinfools.org
Wednesday: Eric Haataja on the Menominee River, Walleyes Unlimited, Gurnee American Legion, 7 p.m., walleyesunlimitedusa.org
ILLINOIS PERMITS/SEASONS
Tuesday: Deadline, archery deer sites for IRAP, click here
Wednesday, Aug. 31: Final day, application may be made online for the free upland Gram permit program, click here
Thursday: Dove/early Canada goose seasons open
DALE’S MAILBAG
Q: “Don’t you find it disgusting that grown men send their dogs, I assume they’re pets, to their deaths like some Roman battle. . . . You could call it for what it is, but you chose to treat this barbaric practice as sport. Far from it, I say. It is as inhumane as any practice could be.’’ Cindy Watts (edited for space)
A: I was with three generations, including a mother and daughter. It is not just for men. It is a blood sport, I will grant, but I did not find it barbaric, rather very much a primordial challenge.
BIG NUMBER
24: Counties open for Illinois’ late-winter antlerless-only deer season: Brown, Carroll, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Edgar, Fulton, Hamilton, Henderson, Knox, Lee, Madison, Marion, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Monroe, Perry, Putnam, Rock Island, Schuyler, Shelby, Vermilion, White. Click here for details.
LAST WORD
“We had several cases of doe fawns (born in 2015) carrying fawns. Although this is more common in southern Wisconsin, it is more significant for northern Wisconsin.’’
2016 Wisconsin Hunting & Trapping Forecast, for the northern division, making note of the impact of the mild winter