Rabbit, solitude, trout, pike, Nature: Notes around Chicago outdoors

Notes from around Chicago outdoors.

FIELD NOTES

WILD OF THE WEEK

Dr. Elizabeth Pector caught a backlit rabbit in mid-September at Springbrook Prairie.

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

Q: ‘‘Do you know when the trout opener will be at Horsetail Lake this fall?’’

— Louis Cook

A:Oct. 21 is the opener. Horsetail is one of seven sites in Cook County. The others are Axehead, Belleau, Busse North, Green, Sag Quarry East and Wolf. The early catch-and-release fly-fishing season opens Saturday at nine sites. The closest three are Rock Creek (Kankakee River State Park), Pine Creek (White Pines Forest SP) and Apple River (Apple River SP).

BIG NUMBER

26-15

Pounds-ounces of the Illinois-record northern pike, caught Nov. 9, 1989, by Walter Klenzak from Monster Lake (now part of Mazonia South).

LAST WORD

‘‘Give me solitude, give me Nature, give me again O Nature your primal sanities!’’

— Katherine O’Reilly, a Ph.D. student at Notre Dame studying coastal wetlands, tweeting in a nonsensical week from U.S. poet Walt Whitman’s ‘‘Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun.’’

WILD TIMES

HUNTER SAFETY

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

Oct. 18, 21, 22: Elburn, phil-joanne@juno.com

Oct. 20-21: Arlington Heights, www.huntsafely.webs.com

Oct. 28-29: Tinley Park, (708) 532-8698.

ILLINOIS SEASONS

Saturday-Monday, Oct. 9: Youth firearm deer season

BUSSE BLITZ

Saturday: Busse Lake cleanup, 9 a.m.-noon, register near boathouse.

WOLF LAKE FEST

Saturday: Fishing clinics, canoeing, grilling, archery, insect petting zoo, live animals, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., William W. Powers State Recreation Area, Chicago.

DUCKS UNLIMITED

(Click here for the general list of Illinois DU events)

Saturday: Lily-Cache Flyway Dinner, White Fence Farm, Romeoville. Contact Jim Reszke at (630) 452-5991 or R.J. Stachnik at (708) 207-4418 or go to http://www.ducks.org/illinois/events/47080/lily-cache-flyway-dinner-romeoville.

PHEASANTS FOREVER

(Click here for general list of Illinois PF events)

Thursday: DuPage County banquet, Abbington Banquets, Glen Ellyn. Contact Gary DeCata at (630) 544-9015 or go to https://pheasantsforeverevents.org/event/2982.

WINGSHOOTING

Oct. 13-14: Elburn, (847) 309-1093 joemigalla5@gmail.com

NATIONAL WILD TURKEY FEDERATION

(Click here for general list of banquets and events)