Doe/fawn, nut jobs, bluegill, rare turtle: Notes, Chicago outdoors

By Dale Bowman

Notes from around Chicago outdoors.

FIELD NOTES

WILD OF THE WEEK

Bill Peak photographed this fawn-and-doe moment as he drove past St. Anthony’s Hospital in Crown Point, Indiana.

Wild of the Week, a celebration of wild scenes around Chicago outdoors, runs as warranted on Sundays on the Sun-Times outdoors page.

Send nominations by Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or email (straycasts@sbcglobal.net).

DALE’S MAILBAG

The turtle seemed rather bland in color, ‘‘just a turtle’’ to me, creeping up behind a couple of ducklings. But some Facebook folks exclaimed in amazement that I’d found a rare-to-Illinois, endangered Blanding’s turtle.

— Elizabeth Pector, on her photograph July 9 at Goose Lake Prairie near Morris

A: Pector sends wonderful photos, but this one touches on the rare side, not merely for the Blanding’s turtle but for the scene itself.

BIG NUMBER

62.8

Percentage of anglers who fished for bluegills, the most of any species targeted, according to the 2016 Indiana Licensed Angler Survey. The next-most targeted species were largemouth bass (50.9 percent) and smallmouth bass (21.1).

LAST WORD

‘‘We were suddenly ambushed and harassed by these nut jobs. They literally pushed my mother’s leg and stole the fish and threw it into the water.’’

Bob Hope, on fishing with his family in St. Petersburg, Florida, when a tilapia they caught was stolen by a group of animal-rights protesters (via the Huffington Post)

WILD TIMES

FISH GATHERING

Wednesday: Social night, Walleyes Unlimited, 7 p.m., Fox Lake American Legion (one-time location change), walleyesunlimitedusa.org.

SHOWTIME

Friday-July 30: Illinois Deer & Turkey Expo, Peoria Civic Center, deerinfo.com/illinoishome.asp.

ILLINOIS PERMITS/SEASONS

Aug. 1: Squirrel hunting opens

HUNTER SAFETY

(Click here for full package of northeast Illinois hunter safety classes)

Aug. 3 and 5: Harvard, mchenryilhs@gmail.com.

Aug. 12-13: Essex, (815) 458-3568

WINGSHOOTING CLINIC