White opossum, trail cam buck, Pike County trophies?: Notes on Chicago outdoors

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Notes from around Chicago outdoors.

FIELD NOTES

WILD OF THE WEEK

Dennis Kunka of Plainfield emailed: ‘‘Can’t sit all day at a window, yet trail cam shows outdoor life.’’ Such as this buck in snow.

Wild of the Week, the celebration of wild scenes around Chicago outdoors, runs when warranted on Sundays on the Sun-Times outdoors page. Send nominations by Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or email

BIG NUMBER

56,648

Deer harvested (through last Monday) in Illinois’ archery season. Harvest was 52,263 in the same period last year. Click here for a breakdown of the archery harvest numbers through last Monday. Archery season ended on Sunday. Final harvest numbers should come this week.

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DALE’S MAILBAG

Email: ‘‘Found this odd-colored possum at our back door tonight. Thought you would like to see his odd color.’’ — William Bell in Oswego

A: Bell thinks it is a leucistic, not an albino, because of the dark eyes. Odd, indeed. But in the Daily Journal, Trevor Edmonson wrote about encountering a white opossum while patrolling in December at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

LAST WORD

‘‘Outfitters ruined the very thing they rely on. I said that would happen 20 years ago. The best year for your chance to kill a B&C buck in Pike County was 1991! If you weren’t hunting then there, YOU MISSED IT!’’

— Tim Walmsley, Illinois’ noted deer-hunting gadfly, commenting on the ‘‘5 Most Overrated Whitetail Hotspots’’ on petersenshunting.com, which noted Illinois’ fabled Pike County did not have a Boone and Crockett record entered from 2013-16. Click here for the article.

WILD TIMES

FISH GATHERING

Thursday: Tony Boshold on ice fishing, Fish Tales Fishing Club, 7 p.m., Oak Forest Community Center, fishtalesfishingclub.com.

SHOWTIME

(Click here for the complete list of shows)

Friday-Sunday: Greater Chicago RV Show, Schaumburg Convention Center, greaterchicagorvshow.com.

HUNTER SAFETY

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

Jan. 19-20: Wheeling, huntersafety@sbcglobal.net.

Feb. 6, 8, 13, 15: Downers Grove, (630) 963-1300, Class No. 171012-01.

ILLINOIS SEASONS/PERMITS

Thursday: North zone Canada goose hunting ends

DUCKS UNLIMITED

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

PHEASANTS FOREVER

(Click here for general list of Illinois PF events)

NATIONAL WILD TURKEY FEDERATION

(Click here for general list of banquets and events)


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