Deer in water & staying for dinner: Notes on Chicago outdoors

Notes from around Chicago outdoors.

FIELD NOTES

DOE OF THE WEEK: UNPLUGGED

Peter Ponzio photographed this doe chilling from the heat on June 25 in Indian Creek at Heron Creek Forest Preserve near Long Grove.

Usually this is Buck of the Week: Unplugged, the celebration of live big bucks around Chicago outdoors, and it runs Sundays on the outdoors page as warranted. Send nominations by Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or email (straycasts@sbcglobal.net).

WILD TIMES

BIKES & BEYOND

Saturday: New Belgium’s Tour de Fat, Palmer Square, Chicago, truly eclectic entertainment and biking lifestyle. Click here

HUNTER SAFETY

July 12, 14, 19, 21: Downers Grove, (630) 963-1300

July 14 and 16: Newark, (815) 210-4995 . . . Hebron, mchenryilhs@gmail.com

July 16-17:Bolingbrook, willcohunt@aol.com

DALE’S MAILBAG

E: “While grilling burgers, I was amazed to see these guys standing in my yard.’’ Johnny Green, Glen Ellyn

A: I wonder what the response from the deer would have been if Green was grilling backstraps.

BIG NUMBER

$51,141: Money raised by Tour de Fat in Chicago 2015; the 2016 fundraising this year on Saturday will go to West Town Bikes and CHIRP Radio.

LAST WORD

“Paddlers should understand all nautical rules of the road. A glow stick tied around the neck does not substitute for approved navigation lights and is dangerous. Practice defensive paddling and assume no one can see you. Try to avoid crowded anchorages or congested ramp areas, and it’s safest to pass astern of other vessels and let them cross in front of you.’’

BoatUS, tip No. 5, aimed at paddlers, for the busiest boating weekend of the year around the Fourth of July