Red fox & Sunday notes: Chicago outdoors

Led by Wild of the Week, Sunday notes from the Sun-Times outdoors page.

FIELD NOTES

WILD OF THE WEEK

On his cell phone, Rick Rieman photographed my favorite mammal in Norwood Park last month.

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

WILD TIMES

DUCKS UNLIMITED

Wednesday: Northeast Illinois dinner, Midlane Country Club, Wadsworth. Contact Jack Fields, (847) 274-3958; Don Kellum, (847) 308-6651; Bert Metz, (847) 732-3825

PHEASANTS FOREVER

Saturday: Lake County chapter’s youth hunt, Richmond Hunt Club, free, register with Matt Mercereau at (847) 561-2061 or pflakecounty.wix.com/pflakecounty#!special-events/c1evl.

FISH GATHERING

Tuesday: April Vokey, DuPage Rivers Fly Tyers, Room 1234, Health Science Center, College of DuPage, 7 p.m., driftorg.com

SHOWTIME

Sunday: The Early Show, presented by the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance and DuPage Rivers Fly Tyers, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Mayslake Peabody Estate, Oak Brook, driftorg.com/calendar.php

ILLINOIS SEASONS

Saturday:Pheasant, quail and rabbit seasons open

DALE’S MAILBAG

E: “Are the salmon running anywhere in Chicago this fall? It really has been slim pickings this year at our North Side harbors, such as Montrose and Belmont. Are there some better areas out South? I understand things are challenging due to the cutbacks in planting salmon, but this is about as lean as I can remember. Blessings.’’ Mark Jones

A: Always good to hear from Jones, the North Side pastor who preaches truth on salmon and life.

Replica of world-record whitetail buck by a bowhunter, arrowed by Mel Johnson on Oct. 29, 1965 in a Peoria County beanfield.

Credit: Dale Bowman

Mel Johnson, who arrowed the world-record typical whitetail buck taken by a bowhunter on Oct. 29, 1965, at a show appearance a couple years ago.

Credit: Dale Bowman

BIG NUMBER

50: Years since Mel Johnson (pictured to the right at an outdoors show) arrowed the archery world record for a typical whitetail buck (204 4/8 inches) on Oct. 29, 1965 in a Peoria County beanfield

The photo above is the replica as seen in a Bass Pro setting above.

LAST WORD

“We know it can only go so long, then they send us home. It is not good for morale. This is uncharted territory.’’

An Illinois site superintendent, on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s inability to work with the General Assembly on the budget