Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
WILD OF THE WEEK
Ron Wozny messaged last week from the North Side, “Grape season has begun. Robins and cardinals eating store grapes. They sit in front of my window and wait to get fed. They go thru over a pound a day.”
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 Saturday. To make submissions, email BowmanOutside@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).
DALE’S MAILBAG
“Saw a tom with a double beard out [. . . last week] looking for morels. It was a huge bird. No morels though.” Chad
A: All in all, I would call that a win.
LAST WORD
“Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:
We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot’s in the door.”
Sylvia Plath, final two stanzas of “Mushrooms”
WILD TIMES
FISH GATHERINGS
Tuesday, May 9: Mark Anderson of Dave’s Reel Service, plus Don Baker of Battery Service Corporation, Chicagoland Muskie Hunters chapter of Muskies, Inc., North Branch Pizza & Burger Co., Glenview, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 10: Austin Wiggerman on figure 8s, Fox River Valley chapter of Muskies, Inc., Schaumburg Golf Club, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 10: Ben Garvens, “Jerkbaiting for Crappies . . . and Other Species,” Lake Geneva Fishing Club, Poplar Creek Bowl, Hoffman Estates, 6 p.m.
Thursday, May 11: Capt. Guy Lopez, “Rigs and Rigging” and “Fishing Festivus (for the Rest of Us),” Riverside Fishing Club, Berwyn Moose Lodge 424, 6:30 p.m.
ILLINOIS PERMITS/SEASONS
Through Thursday, May 11: Fifth spring turkey season, north zone, ends
Thursday, May 11: Second lottery, fiream or muzzleloader deer permits
U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY
Saturday, May 13: Boat America, Chicago, Dan O’Connell, cgaux.doc@gmail.com . . . Weekend Navigator, Waukegan, David Colen, dave.colen@gmail.com
YOUTH FISHING
May 20: 10th annual Illinois Scholastic Muskie Tournament, Wheel Lake, Banner Marsh SFWA, no entry fee, loaner nets and bump boards, shawneemuskiehunters.org.
WINGSHOOTING CLINICS
June 3-4: Des Plaines SFWA, Wilmington, (815) 423-5326, click here for details