Outdoors

An Indiana record yellow perch, green herons at Rosehill cemetery and finding morel mushrooms set against a Christopher Morel home run, noted in the Sun-Times used as a time stamp, are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
The hugely popular Chicago event brought thousands of swimmers to Lake Michigan — but as the viral event grew, so did safety concerns.
Opening day of fishing on Wednesday was a delight and a chance to savor the bounty and wonders of Hennepin & Hopper Lakes at Sue and Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge.
For decades, the department and many local law enforcement agencies have erroneously sided with landowners who want to keep the public far from their private lands.
Clyde Swan catching a big northern pike drives home a reminder that May is big-fish month in Illinois.
Experts at the Morton Arboretum say it’s important to protect any trees planted in the past three years with fine mesh netting.
Leading this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report are spring signs on Lake Michigan and inland waters plus the perch closure beginning May 1 on Illinois’ Lake Michigan waters and Wisconsin’s general inland opener coming Saturday.
Tony Farinella Jr. had a good morning on opening day of Illinois’ second season for spring turkey in Jo Daviess County.
Dave Strobel caught and released his personal-best walleye Thursday at Heidecke Lake.
Photos of pileated woodpeckers in the Palos area and an eastern milksnake found at Lemont Quarries are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
The appearance of the 17-year cicadas this year will mark the fourth emergence of the red-eyed, orange-veined creatures in my lifetime — thus, my fourth cicada birthday, Scott Fornek, an editor at the Sun-Times, writes.
The crane was captured and relocated by the International Crane Foundation and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Two bison were born Friday at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia. The facility’s 30-acre pasture has long been home to the grazing mammals.
Matt Mullady is known as a Kankakee River expert and former guide, but he has a very important artistic side, too.
Riverside Fishing Club’s Fishing Tackle & Outdoors Swap Meet on Saturday and the continuing North American Vintage Decoy & Sporting Collectibles Show are Go & Show this week.
Stacey Greene-Fenlon became the first woman and first person not connected to Chicago government to chair the Chicago fishing advisory committee on Thursday.
People have spotted nymphs of the 17-year cicadas on the ground. That’s a sign the periodical cicadas are preparing to emerge. They should appear once the soil reaches 64 degrees, which is expected by late May.
Spurts of lakefront salmon and trout along with inland fishing heating up lead this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.
Ryan Leonard continues a tradition of finding early morel mushrooms in Cook County.
Matt Kopec made sure to collect his turkey, even swimming out to retrieve it.