Chicago outdoors: Foxes and rabbits, and more rabbits, black bears

Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

WILD OF THE WEEK

Aaron Weinstein emailed photos of two small red foxes with caught rabbits in Park Ridge. That leads multiple notes coming off the column last Saturday about rabbit populations.

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).

WILD TIMES

FISHING DERBY

Through Sunday, July 18: Kankakee River Fishing Derby, kankakeefishingderby.com

FISH GATHERING

Tuesday, July 20: Biologist Frank Jakubicek, Arlington Anglers, Poplar Creek Banquets, Hoffman Estates, 6:30 p.m., arlingtonanglers.com

HUNTER SAFETY

Aug. 19 and 21: Mundelein, (847) 918-6145

Aug. 20-21: Ingleside, shawnfrey33@gmail.com

ILLINOIS BLIND DRAWS

Next Saturday, July 24, and July 25: Public waterfowl blind draws, most northern Illinois sites are next Saturday, July 24, Illinois River/Downstate sites on July 25

U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY

Monday, July 19: Boat America, Skokie, Dan O’Connell, cgaux.doc@gmail.com

Tuesday, July 20: SSS—Your Boat’s Radio, Waukegan, Curt Schumacher, curts402@aol.com

Next Saturday, July 24: Boat America, Waukegan, Curt Schumacher, curts402@aol.com

ILLINOIS PERMITS/SEASONS

Aug. 1: Squirrel hunting opens

Aug. 1: Applications begin for free upland game permits

DALE’S MAILBAG

Dale Bowman

Readers had many thoughts on rabbits. Donald Ayres emailed, “Best choice: get a kingsnake, bullsnake, or rat snake. Short-term solution, but we can always use more of the scaly guys, and they’ll give the rodents something to think about.” . . . Edward Marshall reported an explosion of rabbits in Wilmette/Northbrook.”Bigger question? Where are the coyotes?,” he wondered. “Two years ago and last year they were common here in all neighborhoods. This year I haven’t seen even one.” . . . Dean Campione emailed, “There is only one thing that works- Capsaicin. One Million Scoville Unit Capsaicin is marketed to growers in fact; it is non toxic, completely safe around humans and pets, can be used on anything considered non-edible. One tiny taste and they will never touch it again, guaranteed.” You can also make a similar home brew. . . . Edna Heatherington recalled a garden columnist “recommending purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrata) as a plant that rabbits in her yard loved to eat but didn’t eat to the ground. She said she planted it in a part of her garden and it attracted them away from her vegetables and other plants. “

BIG NUMBER

2: Species of rabbits in Illinois: Eastern cottontail and the swamp rabbit.

LAST WORD

“Solitary animals, black bears roam large territories, though they do not protect them from other bears. Males might wander a 15- to 80-square-mile home range.”

National Geographic on black bears, which have been reported roaming this spring and summer in both southern Illinois and Indiana, click here for more