Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
WILD OF THE WEEK
Paul Vriend photographed this indigo bunting at Rosehill Cemetery, then emailed, “This is a great time to photograph [them] as they are singing all the time and easy to locate. This one is launching from a dried stalk of a mullein plant.”
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 Sunday. To make submissions, email BowmanOutside@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside), Instagram (@BowmanOutside). or Bluesky (@Bowmanoutside).
FISH OF THE WEEK
Fernando Esquivel has been catching quality northern pike from the Des Plaines River. Last Sunday he caught a surprise muskie near Gurnee, using a 4-inch soft swimbait (his pike bait). He didn’t measure it, noting, “I was so worried about unhooking it and releasing it back into the water that I just took a quick picture and video, then released it.”
FOTW, the celebration of wild stories and photos around Chicago outdoors, now runs most weeks in the two-page outdoors section in the Sun-Times Sports Sunday. To make submissions, email BowmanOutside@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside), Instagram (@BowmanOutside). or Bluesky (@Bowmanoutside).
BIG NUMBER
241: Acres of a purchase, first major land acquisition under the Forest Preserve District of Will County’s 2025–2030 Capital Improvement Program, near Route 53 and Coal City Road. It closes a gap in a corridor of more than 8,200 acres of ecologically significant habitat that includes private hunting and fishing clubs, the Des Plaines River Conservation Area, Goose Lake Prairie Nature Preserve and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.
BUCK OF THE WEEK: UNPLUGGED
Bob France messaged this buck with some velvet Monday in East Dundee off a Fox River creek. Bucks in Illinois typically shed their velvet later in the summer.
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 Sunday. To make submissions, email BowmanOutside@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside), Instagram (@BowmanOutside), or Bluesky (@Bowmanoutside).
LAST WORD
“. . . You can see how people become obsessed.
This afternoon we fan out
among cabbage butterflies in the sticky
wilderness, pulling off the delicate cups with a loose
hand, disengaging them
as if they already barely exist, translucent bliss
of color. . . .”
From “Wild Raspberries” via “Poetry Foundation,” by Freda Brown, former poet laureate of Delaware who retired to live and write in Traverse City, Michigan. Raspberries started ripening, a week or so ago.
WILD TIMES
FISHING DERBY
Through next Sunday, July 6: Kankakee River Fishing Derby
ILLINOIS PERMITS
Monday, June 30: Final day, first lottery, site-specific dove permits
Monday, June 30: Final Day, first lottery, site-specific youth dove permits
Monday, June 30: Final day, second lottery, firearm and muzzleloader deer permits
HUNTER SAFETY
July 17 & 19: Newark, davidpaulinski@gmail.com
Aug. 9-10: Morris, registration opens Tuesday, July 1
Aug 14 & 16: Bonfield, (847) 635-3198
The full state listing is at dnr2.illinois.gov/SafetyEd/SafetyEdClassByCounty