Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
WILD OF THE WEEK
The sandhill crane migration is going full bore. John Cuculich made the trek from Naperville last weekend to see the sandhills gathering around Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area in Indiana. "There are many sandhill cranes there now," he noted. "You can see them swooping in or dancing around on the ground."
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).
WILD TIMES
ILLINOIS PERMITS/SEASONS
Sunday, Dec. 1: First lottery for spring wild turkey ends
Tuesday, Dec. 3: Woodcock season ends
Thursday-next Sunday, Dec. 5-8: Second part of firearm deer season
SHOWTIME
Friday-next Sunday, Dec. 6-8: St. Paul Ice Fishing and Winter Sports Show, St. Paul RiverCentre, Minn., stpaulicefishingshow.com
The master list of outdoors shows, classes, swap meets and major ice fishing events is at chicago.suntimes.com/outdoors/2024/11/28/outdoors-shows-master-list-for-2025-around-chicago-and-beyond
U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY
Tuesday, Dec. 3: Boat America, Des Plaines, Jerry Miarecki, finance@coastguardchicago.com
Next Saturday, Dec. 7: Boat America, Des Plaines, Jerry Miarecki, finance@coastguardchicago.com
HUNTER SAFETY
Jan. 8-9: Morris, Earl at (815) 693-8344 or Efatlan@icloud.com
DALE'S MAILBAG
Q: Back in the mid-80s, I lived and hunted in Montana. When you talked about the ammunition allowed [for rifles now in Illinois deer hunting], I wondered if I could use my 30-30 or my 270 to hunt Illinois OR would they not function with the ammunition allowed." Jan Pasek, Rogers Park
A: I don't think so from what I understand, because I checked with a similar question. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has extensive explanations to similar questions at dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/law-change-that-affects-hunting-season.html#. Two main issues are the cartridge and the need to be only single-shot (which you can modify to a single shot in some ways). Bottom line is that I would get a definitive answer from the IDNR.
BIG NUMBER5
4,661: Preliminary deer harvest during the first weekend of Illinois' firearm deer season, up from 53,348 in 2023.
