A young bull elk wandered through northern Illinois in December. His ramble of several hundred miles ended Dec. 13 when hit by a vehicle near I-55 and I-80 near Joliet.
He was the first wild elk confirmed in Illinois in nearly 200 years and leads the list of year-end stories around Chicago-area outdoors.
1. The 3½-year-old bull came from the Black River Herd in central Wisconsin.
Since 2000 when a wild cougar was killed by a train in Randolph County, Illinois has had occasional sightings of wild cougars (mountain lions), black bears and wolves.
And now an elk.
For perspective, Joel Greenberg wrote in his “A Natural History of the Chicago Region” (page 417): “Wapiti (commonly called elk) roamed into the 1830s, but few writers actually observed any. . . . Writing in 1855, [Robert] Kennicott stated that several were known to have been shot in Cook County. Captain Levinge left Chicago to embark on a hunting excursion to the grasslands along the Fox River in 1838; he avers that ‘wapiti are to be found on these prairies, but the chance of getting at them appeared so uncertain, that we returned to Chicago without making the attempt.’ ’’
Christina Kizewski, wildlife biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said it was born in 2020 and given ear tag 357 as a calf. It was a 5x5 (five tines on main beams), weighing an estimated 600 pounds. The Illinois Department of Transportation used heavy equipment to lift its remains.
“Peak breeding period in Wisconsin is mid to late September,” she said. “Before then, they start staging or vying for a breeding position. If not successful, some stay, but there are transient bulls that move outside of elk-breeding ranges. We do see a handful of transient bulls each fall. . . . This is above and beyond, but we did have one who made it into Missouri a few years ago.”
The first report in Illinois came in a video from near Pecatonica about two weeks before the elk’s demise. Mike Wefer, Illinois DNR wildlife chief, said a photo of a sighting near Newark in Kendall County came just days before its death.
“It was kind of neat, but sad,” Wefer said. “I was hoping he would go home.”
2. Illinois allowed the use of certain centerfire single-shot rifles during firearm deer seasons. Preliminary numbers showed more than 30% used them during the youth season.
Dan Skinner, IDNR forest wildlife program manager, emailed that approximately 19% of harvest during firearm season was with rifles.
Ron Tazelaar gave this explanation, especially for young hunters such as his daughter Alexa, 9, who shot her first deer with a .350 Legend.
“Recoil is a major win with the .350 Legend, and my daughter shot it with ease,” he emailed. “But also the ballistics and accuracy are very appealing, as well as its popularity, making ammo readily available. They are also very affordable.”
The .350 Legend and .450 Bushmaster were most popular.
3. Illinois had a rare year with no hook-and-line record fish. In Indiana, Phillip Duracz caught a key record Jan. 10: an 11.4-pound burbot on Lake Michigan.
4. For decades, anglers caught northern pike on the Chicago lakefront. Now quality improves. Numerous 40-inch class pike were reported. (It almost became passe as Fish of the Week.) Social media fuels some impact, some is from the clearer water of Lake Michigan benefiting aquatic and helping sight feeders such as pike.
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5. Illinois had record low harvests of -rabbits (47,194, 25% decrease from ’21-22) and quail (11,653, 60% decrease from ’21-22) during the 2022-23 season, continuing a decades-long slide as hunters focus on deer and turkey.
6. After nearly 1,000 birds died hitting windows at Lakeside Center in early October during peak migration, public pressure grew and the management of McCormick Place decided to draw the drapes at night during the migration.
7. I chased my first lifer bird. In Champaign two days after Illinois’ first broad-tailed hummingbird was spotted Nov. 7, I, like birders from multiple states, stopped by Deanna and Doug Uphoff’s ranch house northwest of Champaign to see it.
8. Area outdoors media lost two long-time members. Bob Maciulis, 76, who quit teaching in 1972 to start “The Outdoor Notebook,” died Sept. 29. “The Outdoor Notebook” ran for more than 30 years on WJOL-AM. Orrin Brand, 79, known as Mike Jackson, died Nov. 15. He was the outdoors columnist for the Daily Herald for more than 20 years and had decades of outdoors radio shows on various stations.
