Chicago outdoors: Seeing whoopers on regular Nebraska trip for sandhills leads notes
Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
WILD OF THE WEEK
Jeff Getz made his regular trip to see the sandhill crane migration on the Platte River in central Nebraska on the second try (the first was canceled by a blizzard) and had a bonus of seeing his first whooping cranes. "I had read that whoopers sometimes stop at the USF&W Rainwater Basin about 40 minutes from Kearney where I was staying," he emailed. His attempt to find them seemed headed to naught before another watcher helped him. "He said, `see that tree?, now go to 10:00 and then back toward that grain silo and then right again,' " Getz emailed. "There they were, 10 white dots in a sea of grass about a 1/2 mile away." He sent wonderful photos, including the one at the top and below, making me resolve again that is one of my next big journeys.
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
FISHERIES WORKSHOP
Thursday, April 10: Illinois Indiana Sea Grant’s Lake Michigan Fisheries Workshop, Wilmette Harbor Club, 6-8:30 p.m. (virtual meeting, April 17)
FISH GATHERINGS
Tuesday, April 8: Chris Riebe from Shawnee Expeditions, Chicagoland Muskie Hunters chapter of Muskies, Inc., North Branch Pizza & Burger Co., Glenview, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 8: Annual pizza party and awards night for top captains, Salmon Unlimited, (one-time site change), Elk Grove Village VFW, free, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 9: Bailey Bleser, "Smallmouth Bass and the Spring Transition," Lake Geneva Fishing Club, Poplar Creek Bowl, Hoffman Estates, 6 p.m.
Thursday, April 10: Jim "The Crappie Professor" Kopjo, "Spring Tactics on Shabbona, Heidecke and Evergreen Lakes" and "Best Local Shoreline Locations and Tactical Approaches in Early Spring," Riverside Fishing Club, Berwyn Moose Lodge 424, 6:45 p.m.
SCI BANQUET
Saturday, April 12: SCI Illinois & Chicago chapter’s banquet, Medinah Banquets, Addison
DUCKS UNLIMITED
Thursday, April 10: McHenry Fox Flyway Dinner, Holiday Inn, Crystal Lake
ILLINOIS SEASONS
Through Sunday, April 6: Second youth spring turkey season
Monday-Friday, April 7-11: First spring turkey season, south zone
Next Saturday, April 12: Second spring turkey season, south, begins
LAUNCH PARTY
April 29: Chicago No Limits Fishing, St. Gregory Auditorium at St. Andrew's Greek Orthodox Church, Chicago, 5:30-8:30 p.m., suggested donation $60
U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY
Tuesday, April 8: Boat America, Chicago, Safe Boat Team, jmltek@att.net
Next Sunday, April 13: Boat America, Chicago, Deborah Leja, d.leja.uscgaux@gmail.com
HUNTER SAFETY
April 25 & 27: Peotone, 708-258-3343 or peotoneparkdistrict.comThe full state listing is at dnr2.illinois.gov/SafetyEd/SafetyEdClassByCounty