Notes come from all around Chicago outdoors, and beyond.
WILD OF THE WEEK
Brian DeKoatz found this scene of his backyard trail cam in Lake Barrington, “Look who showed up for corn on the cob. . . . That’s a coyote giving the raccoon hell.”
WOTW, the celebration of wild stories and photos around Chicago outdoors, runs most weeks in the special two-page outdoors section in the Sun-Times Sports Saturday. To make submissions, email BowmanOutside@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).
HUNTER SAFETY
Oct. 30-31:Elgin, hsmagno48@gmail.com. . . Morris, click scoutingevent.com/702-51491
FISH GATHERINGS
Tuesday, Oct. 19: Fishing Tales Guide Service’s Ken Kuhnle, Arlington Anglers, Poplar Creek Banquets, Hoffman Estates, 6:30 p.m., arlingtonanglers.com
Thursday, Oct. 21: Forest Preserves of Cook County fisheries biologist on Southwest Palos and Tinley fishing ponds, Fish Tales Fishing Club, Worth Township offices, Alsip, 7 p.m., fishtalesfishingclub.com
ILLINOIS PERMITS/SEASONS
Today, Oct. 16: Fall trout season opens statewide. Click here for more.
Today, Oct. 16: Woodcock hunting opens
Through Sunday, Oct. 17: North zone youth waterfowl
Tuesday, Oct. 19: Over-the-counter sales of remaining deer permits go on sale
Saturday, Oct. 23: North zone, duck and Canada goose season opens
Next Saturday, Oct. 23, to Oct. 24: Central zone youth waterfowl hunt
DALE’S MAILBAG
“We have seen at least one red and one gray [fox], prancing down the street midday. Could they be a breeding pair? Joe Dillmann, Libertyville.
A: I double checked with wildlife biologist Stefanie Fitzsimons, who messaged. “It was probably a red in a different color phase. And they definitely don’t pair up. I haven’t heard of a grey fox running around up here for a while. It’s possible they saw a gray but they definitely don’t mate with reds.”
BIG NUMBER
More than 80,000: Rainbow trout stocked by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for the fall season, which opens today.
LAST WORD
“Then he saw the bear. It did not emerge, appear; it was just there, immobile, solid, fixed in the hot dappling of the green, not as big as he had dreamed it, but as big as he had expected, bigger, dimensionless, against the dappled obscurity, looking at him where he sat quietly on the log and looked back at it. “
William Faulkner, “The Bear” novella (my pick for “The Great American Novel”) in “Go Down, Moses.”