Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
BUCK OF THE WEEK: UNPLUGGED
Paul Vriend photographed this spike buck jumping through the goldenrod in Rosehill Cemetery on the North Side.
BOTW Unplugged, the celebration of live big bucks around Chicago outdoors, runs as apt 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).
DALE’S MAILBAG
“Story about timberdoodles down at Iroquois?” Henry Brummel message
A: I do a column most springs on the sky dance of male woodcocks, also known as timberdoodles. But I have never done a story on hunting for them, which is done regularly at Iroquois State Fish and Wildlife Area.
BIG NUMBER
63: Fish habitat structures completed, with help from members of Perch America, last Saturday at Willow Slough’s J.C. Murphey Lake, which is in a multi-year rehab.
LAST WORD
“Babe was an avid outdoorsman, chasing everything from trout to pheasant to moose. In November 1940, Babe was hunting around Fredericton, New Brunswick, when he killed a `typical head [whitetail buck], heavy with long tines. Main beams meet in front,’ according to Boone and Crockett [Club] records from 1948. . . . Babe died in 1948, the same year that taxidermist John Hansen of Jersey City, New Jersey, entered the antlers into the Boone and Crockett records.”
Article (boone-crockett.org/babe-ruths-record-book-buck) on Babe Ruth’s record-book buck
WILD TIMES
HUNTER SAFETY
Nov. 16-17: Chicago, carryinillinois.com/hunter-safety.html
U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY
Wednesday, Oct. 26: Boat America, Des Plaines, Virginia Haase, vandmhaase@gmail.com
BIRDING FILM
Thursday, October 27: Showing of the Magic Stump, Chicago Ornithological Society, turnstoneimpact.com/the-magic-stump.html
FISH GATHERING
Wednesday, Oct. 26: Violetta Talley, “Bass Fishing Tactics for Pressured Waters or When The Bite Gets Tough ,” Walleyes Unlimited, Gurnee American Legion, 7 p.m.
ILLINOIS PERMITS/SEASONS
Today, Oct. 22: Duck and Canada goose seasons, north zone, opens
Today, Oct. 22, and tomorrow, Oct. 23: Youth waterfowl season, central zone
Friday, Oct. 28: Crow season opens
