Yellow-tailed squirrel, great Asian carp chase: Chicago outdoors notes

By Dale Bowman

Notes from around Chicago outdoors.

FIELD NOTES

WILD OF THE WEEK

Jim McGowan read last Sunday about seeing a yellow-tailed squirrel and sent this photo he took last year in Alsip. It was the first one he had seen with a yellow tail. He said the tail had turned gray by the end of the year.

Again, time to remember the citizen-scientist effort Project Squirrel (projectsquirrel.org). There is an app now, too.

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

Catch of the week: Size 10½ steel toe caught on a 7¾” 3D Shine Glide.

— Jim Petrella III, on a surprise from a pond in Homer Glen

A: I have the sharpest readers. Cast softly and catch a big shoe.

BIG NUMBER

First modern mountain lion in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. It was confirmed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in late June in Bath Township, Clinton County.

LAST WORD

‘‘Intense electrofishing and netting near T.J. O’Brien Lock and Dam last week by IDNR, contracted fishers and the USFWS looking for additional Asian carp. Nothing new. Nice finding: Good largemouth bass in Lake Calumet and the Little Calumet River.’’

— Dan Stephenson, chief of fisheries, Illinois Department of Natural Resources

WILD TIMES

FISH GATHERINGS

Monday: Mark O’Neill on sonar, Oswegoland Fishin’ Fools, 7 p.m., Bolingbrook Bass Pro, fishinfools.org.

Tuesday: Eric Trempe of Slide Diver, Elk Grove Village VFW,, 7 p.m., salmonunlimitedinc.com.

Wednesday: Ken Kuhnle on ‘‘Drop-Shotting Geneva for Bass and Panfish,’’ Lake Geneva Fishing Club, 5:30 p.m., Cabela’s, Hoffman

Estates, lakegenevafishingclub.com.

Thursday: Robert Kruml on bass swimbaits, Riverside Fishing Club, 6:30 p.m., La Grange American Legion, RiversideFishingClub.com.

SHOWTIME

July 28-30: Illinois Deer & Turkey Expo, Peoria Civic Center, deerinfo.com/illinoishome.asp.

ILLINOIS PERMITS

Through July 21: Applications, second lottery, free online dove permits, dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/dove/Pages/OnlinePermitApplication.aspx.

HUNTER SAFETY

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

July 11, 13, 18, 20: Downers Grove, (630) 963-1300 class 171009-01

July 13-15: Newark, (815) 210-4995

July 15-16: Bolingbrook, willcohunt@aol.com.

Aug. 12-13: Essex, (815) 458-3568

DUCKS UNLIMITED

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

NATIONAL WILD TURKEY FEDERATION

(Click here for general list of banquets and events)

PHEASANTS FOREVER

(Click here for general list of Illinois PF events)