Chicago outdoors: Coho year, bush-trimming buck and golf-course sandhill cranes

Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

WILD OF THE WEEK

Roy Wick messaged the photo above from Tinley Park, cracking, "I hired a new bush trimmer." He shows more restraint that a lot of suburban home owners.

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), Instagram (@BowmanOutside). or Bluesky (@Bowmanoutside).

DALE'S MAILBAG

"This pair [of sandhill cranes] was spotted at Geneva National's Gary Player course. They had a pair of babies (about 2 foot tall) hiding in the brush, too." Ron Mohr

A: Being me, I wonder if they were craning to critique the golf shots.

LAST WORD

"In my 49 years of fishing Lake Michigan since I was 5 with my Dad, this is the best June fishing I have ever seen. Old timers used to talk about the June swoon where Lake Michigan was bad between Father’s Day and July 4. No more. Limit catches of big fish are common. We limited out every trip in the last 12 days [out of Waukegan]. Almost every coho is 5 to 10 pounds with 6-9 most common. We had several kings, and steelhead are showing up with most trips having at least one."

Capt. Scott Wolfe earlier this week on the outstanding coho fishing this spring

WILD TIMES

DERBY

Through next Sunday, July 7: Kankakee River Fishing Derby, http://www.kankakeefishingderby.com/

ILLINOIS PERMITS

Through Sunday, June 30: First lottery, site-specific dove permits

Through Sunday, June 30: Second lottery, deer firearm & muzzleloader

Through Monday, July 1: First lottery, fall shotgun turkey season

Saturday, July 6: Second lottery, site-specific dove permits

HALL OF FAME

July 15: Deadline, nominations for 2024 class of Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame, details at ilconservation.org/Who-We-Are/Outdoor-Hall-of-Fame

PHEASANTS FOREVER

July 13: Tallgrass Introduction to Shotgun Shooting, Palos Sportsman's Club, Frankfort, https://pfqf.myeventscenter.com/event/Tallgrass-Introduction-To-Shotgun-Shooting-92038

WINGSHOOTING

Aug. 17 or 18: Introductory days, Shabbona Lake SRA, rakcarlson@comcast.net or (815) 757-2949