Jeff Dummer of Momence , above, took this 10 point buck during the archery hunt at Willow Slough in Indiana.
Theotis James took this 12 point buck on Nov. 17 while hunting private land near the Iroquois County Conservation Area.
Dick Blythe and Buddy
Dick Blythe whose decades of behind-the-scenes work on restoring Indiana’s Grand Kankakee Marsh, is among Outdoor Life magazine’s first annual “Top 25” award winners.
Blythe, chairman of the marsh restoration project and owner of Blythe’s Sport Shops in Griffith and Valparaiso, joins Gary Loomis, Dick and Jim Cabala, Ray Scott, Ted Nugent and others “who have had the greatest impact on hunting and fishing” according to editors J.R. Absher and Brian McCombie.
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Duck hunters along the Illinois River may be ready to swap their blinds for a good tree stand in deer country.
Birds have been scare, well belong the 10 year average weekly aerial surveys from the Illinois Natural History Survey.
A brief push of mallards came through in the “Thanksgiving migration” on the Mississippi River last week but vanished as quickly as they arrived.
Hunters on the Illinois and its Kankakee River tributary are hoping windy conditions mid week will help push more birds south.
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Illinois hunters harvested 85,490 deer according to preliminary figures from the first firearm deer season.
The top five counties first season firearm harvest were Pike (2,610), Adams (2,140), JoDaviess (2,055), Fulton (2,003), and Jefferson (1,997)
County-by-county totals comparing the 2006 and 2007 first seasons are listed below.
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Hunters have taken a total of 85,490 deer during the first firearm deer season according to preliminary numbers from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Last year a total of 85,452 deer were taken during first firearm season.
Illinois has issued more than 378,000 firearm deer hunting permits for the 2007 season.
“Hunting conditions were excellent, with temperatures ranging from lows in the 20s and 30s to highs in the 40s in northern Illinois to 50s and 60s in southern Illinois,” according to Paul Shelton who manages the state’s forest wildlife program.
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A total of 18 Indiana state parks and one nature preserve will close for a special hunt on Nov. 26- 27 and Dec. 10-11 to reduce excess deer at those locations.
The closure will affect Indiana Dunes, Tippecanoe River and Turkey Run state parks all within a short drive from Kankakee.
Other properties affected include: Chain O’Lakes, Charlestown, Clifty Falls, Fort Harrison, Harmonie, Lincoln, McCormick’s Creek, Ouabache, Pokagon, Potato Creek, Shades, Shakamak, Spring Mill, Versailles and Whitewater Memorial state parks, plus Twin Swamps Nature Preserve.
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Results of a new nationwide opinion poll shows that while most believe global warming needs to be addressed globally, an overwhelming majority those responding also want to see the United States take the lead in controlling greenhouse gases and pollution.
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Hunters in Grundy and LaSalle counties are being asked to voluntarily register and allow deer tissue samples to be collected as part of monitoring for chronic wasting disease.
A Seneca check station for CWD was added for both counties after signs of the disease were discovered this summer in LaSalle County near the Grundy County line.
Deer taken from a 15 mile radius of Seneca are particularly wanted for sampling.
The check station is located at the DNR office at 124 W. Williams St. in Seneca. The office is a half block west of Illinois Route 170, across from the lumber yard near the Hogan Elevator.
Sampling is not mandatory for LaSalle and Grundy but hunters are being asked to help in the monitoring effort.
Hunting using the check stateion will not need to register on the state’s automated reporting system.
Other check stations for CWD sampling will be located at:
• The Boone County Fairgrounds in Belvidere,
• Shabbona Lake State Park, 4201 Shabbona Grove Road, for DeKalb and Kane counties,
• Sportsman’s Choice, Rts. 14 and 47 in Woodstock for McHenry County,
• Castle Rock State Park, Rt. 2 three miles south of Oregon for Ogle County,
• The Rockford Speedway on Highway 173 for Winnebago County.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of deer hunting which resumed in 33 counties during the 1957season in Illinois.
A total of 1,735 deer were taken in that first hunt according to state records.
A parasite is being blamed for the death of an estimated 3,000 scaup and several hundred coot that were found on north central Minnesota’s Lake Winnibigoshish.
Waterfowl hunters and officials from the state’s Natural Resources agency spotted the dead and dying birds on Oct. 28 along the west shore of the lake.
Initial reports indicate the birds died of a trematode, or small intestinal parasite. The parasite is not a threat to humans but experts recommend that hunters do not consume sick waterfowl.
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Two photos of Comet 17/P Holmes taken by Steve Bell of Bradley. The top view shows the comet as it would appear in binoculars or a telescope. It was taken in Bell’s yard using a 8-inch telescope. The lower photo show some detail of the inner coma.
by Bill Byrns
All the buzz among amateur astronomers these days is the antics of Comet 17/P Holmes which literally exploded into naked eye brilliance earlier this week.
The comet, now moving away from the sun, still appears as a visible “star” between the constellations Perseus and Cassiopeia in the northeastern sky.
“It seemed fairly bright,” said Brock Schroeder, planetarium director at Olivet Nazarene University who went comet hunting Monday night.
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