Waterfowl hunting a ritual for October

I hid myself on the edge of a cornfield by a wood-lined stream in Kane County, as usual, for the opener Saturday of  waterfowl hunting in Illinois’ north zone. Rhythm defines the outdoors: ice fishing, early coho, smelt, spring turkey, perch, summer, doves and, by …

Midwest Fishing Report

FISH OF THE WEEK: As first muskies go, Michael Kushnerik caught a beauty this fall. The 13-year-old from Oak Lawn latched into a 40 1/4 -inch muskie while fishing a redtail chub on a jig on Winter Lake near the family cottage in Ojibwa, Wis. …

Teens O’Neil, Elliott beyond their years in terms of outdoors experience

The first time I interviewed Jim O’Neil, I busted out laughing. He had the pro-fishing spiel about catching bass on what lure, what rod and what line down. I’m not surprised to hear he is a first-year marketing student at Moraine Valley after graduating from …

Midwest fishing report

TROUT OPENER: Fall trout opens Saturday in Illinois. Statewide opening time is 5 a.m., but some sites, such as those in Cook County, open at sunrise. Open lakes in the nine-county area include Axehead, Belleau and Horsetail (Cook County); Pickerel, Grove and Silver (DuPage); Bird …

It’s duck, duck, goose season

Say this for the  balminess of the last 10 days: It gave  combines a chance to lumber through the soybean fields and cornfields almost nonstop. That might be the best news for Illinois  waterfowlers as the north zone opens for hunting of ducks and Canada …

Fish of the Week

Andrew Narro had an  incredible week of fishing for northern pike last month on the Des Plaines River. A 36-inch pike earned him Fish of the Week honors.‘‘The size of all these fish just shocked the heck out of me,’’ the Lemont youth e-mailed. ‘‘The …

This week’s field notes

WILD OF THE WEEK Carl Simmons photographed these sandhill cranes near Seventh Street, just outside North Point Marina, in Winthrop Harbor. E-mail WOTW nominations to straycasts@sbcglobal.net. WILD TIMES FISH GATHERINGS Tuesday: Tod Todd on ice-fishing tips and new products, Arlington Anglers Fishing Club, 7 p.m., …

Morning of hunting with naturalist Steve Sullivan offers new perspective

BEAVERVILLE, Ill. — As we walked the overgrown dirt road that divided the private cornfield from the swamp and tree-lined ditches on the edge of Iroquois State Wildlife Area, Steve Sullivan asked, ‘‘How do you feel about squirrel calls?’’ I had expected a different perspective …

This week’s field notes

WILD OF THE WEEK Brian Piorkowski sent a series of photos taken by his wife, Lynn, around their home in Hillside. My question is whether the chicken roaming the neighborhood was any draw to the coyote walking down the street later. ‘‘Regular wildlife kingdom around …

Saric one of all-around greatest

We have to let Al Lindner go. After all, the greatest fisherman to come from Chicago left in the early 1960s when he was done at St. Patrick High School. I was thinking of that when word came that Jim Saric was going into the …

Slice of life: The train ride to Chicago Marathon

The girls from the Marian Catholic cross-country team boarded at Flossmoor with a burst of sound as bright as the yellow of their hoodies. For those who ride Metra’s Electric Line, the 5:50 a.m. train on Sundays from University Park to downtown is usually a …

Buck of the Week (Oct. 5)

A soccer game Saturday morning kept Grant Farmer out of the deer stand on opening day of bowhunting until the afternoon. Then the 15-year-old from Crete made good use of his time and earned Buck of the Week honors.“He was in the stand about 45 …

Fish of the Week (Oct. 5)

Good thing Dave Gonnella “threw a few fishing poles in the minivan’’ Saturday.“My two sons look forward to your fish-of-the- week column every week,’’ he said. “We finally landed a fish we thought would be worthy of sending.’’ His youngest son, Joe, 8, did that. …

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Little reason to believe Illinois trophy numbers won’t keep going down

Of all the questions about Illinois’ deer herd, this isn’t one I expected. ‘‘I don’t know if I’m picking up on something, but the deer this year seem to have larger racks than past seasons: more points, longer tines, wider racks,’’ Dave Olzeski e-mailed. ‘‘Is …

This week’s field notes

HUNTING AND FISHING DAYS The spurts of goose calls had a joyful tone on the opening day of Northern Illinois Hunting and Fishing Days last weekend. The calls sounded unusual enough that I turned to see Ken Ingo giving Alyssa Bolbot an impromptu lesson at …

It’s something to bag about

Casting a blue-and-white glow-in-the-dark Cleo spoon Friday, Teddy “Papo’’ Ruiz latched into a dream fish, a 41-inch chinook salmon while fishing off Casino Pier near the mouth of Jackson Park Harbor. For Ruiz, fishing entwines life and family. After he came back from Desert Storm …