Chicago outdoors: Velvet bucks, Rep. Jackson visits Midewin, Downstate clay targets champ
Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
BUCK OF THE WEEK: UNPLUGGED
Bill Peak photographed these bucks earlier this month in a feeding area. "The two bucks looked as though they were warming up for the rut."
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 Saturday. To make submissions, email BowmanOutside@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside), Instagram (@BowmanOutside), or Bluesky (@Bowmanoutside).
BIG NUMBER
1: Rank of Madelyn Coats of Downstate Franklin-Waverly Co-op as female clay target shooter in the nation after the 2024 USA High School Clay Target League National Championship in Mason, Mich.
LAST WORD
Rep. Jonathan L. Jackson (D-IL-1) visited Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington for the first time July 18, led by Midewin supervisor Christina Henderson. They toured restoration areas, the bison areas (and saw some, not always guaranteed), the stark statue dedicated to Joliet Arsenal workers lost in the 1942 explosion and one of the remaining munitions bunkers. His visit matters in expanding support for work in nearby wild areas.
WILD TIMES
ILLINOIS PERMITS/SEASONS
Thursday, Aug. 1: Squirrel season opens
Thursday, Aug. 1: Applications open for free upland game permits
Through Aug. 16: Third lottery, deer firearm & muzzleloader
HUNTER SAFETY
Aug. 8 & 10: Mundelein, arodkey@countrysidefire.com
Aug. 24-25: Morris, (815) 941-1366
Sept. 7: Chicago, https://forms.gle/yUxRfKkHaC5MEh5f9
Full state listing is at dnr2.illinois.gov/SafetyEd/SafetyEdClassByCounty
WINGSHOOTING
Aug. 17 or 18: Introductory days, Shabbona Lake SRA, rakcarlson@comcast.net or (815) 757-2949