Chicago outdoors: Cemetery buck, Wis. deer harvest, Park Bait season-ender, Al Lindner on brother Ron

Maryhill Cememtery buck. | Provided by Dan Filipek

Notes come from all around Chicago outdoors.

BUCK OF THE WEEK: UNPLUGGED

Dan Filipek emailed, “Check out this beauty, who resides and roams the grounds of Maryhill Cemetery in Niles.”

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. Submit nominations by message on Facebook (Dale Bowman), on Twitter (@BowmanOutside) and Instagram (@BowmanOutside) or email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com).

WILD TIMES

ILLINOIS SEASONS

Sunday, Dec. 6: Final day, second firearm deer season

Monday, Dec. 7: Final day, first scaup/bluebill season, central zone

Tuesday, Dec. 8: Second scaup/bluebill season, central zone, opens, daily bag drops to one

Friday, Dec. 11, to Dec. 13: Muzzleloader deer season

ILLUMINATION

Through Jan. 3: Drive-through light show outdoors, Morton Arboretum, Lisle, check ticket availability at noon Mondays at mortonarb.org

YOUTH HUNTING

Dec. 30: Deadline to register for Central Illinois Youth Goose Hunt (ages 10-17) on Jan. 18. Must register for the lottery at (217) 785-8060.

DALE’S MAILBAG

“If I told you the **** that I went through this year, part of you would expect it, cuz it’s the city and Park District, but other parts of it, you would shake your head and you’d be like, ‘What!’ “ Stacey Greene on the travails of Park Bait, which closed on Sunday, during 2020

A: I think what summed up the year for Park Bait is that on Nov. 18, Greene weighed her first state record fish (Luc van Brenk’s 9.68-pound burbot) as Montrose car access to the lakefront was again being locked down. Click here for the tale of van Brenk’s burbot.

BIG NUMBER

188,712: Preliminary deer harvest during Wisconsin’s nine-day gun deer season, which ended Sunday, Nov. 29. Click here for a fuller breakdown of the preliminary harvest numbers.

LAST WORD

“I also fished with my older brother, Ron, who is ten years my senior. If I dug the worms, seined the minnows, fixed the tackle, and loaded the boat, he would take me out with him. He told me everyone starts out as a `worm boy’ apprentice, and for years I believed him.”

Al Lindner, in “Reflections at First Light: A Fisherman’s Devotional,” on his older brother Ron, who died Monday.

The late Ron Lindner, from a Facebook photo.