Outdoors notes

I promised myself I would do away with the traditional turkey for today's feast and substitute quail, grouse, pheasant and mallard duck. Guess again.

So in light of all of you turkey lovers out there, with many deciding to deep-fry the big bird, I offer you these facts:

The preliminary estimate of turkeys raised in the United States in 2007 is 272 million. That's up 4 percent from 2006. The turkeys produced in 2005 together weighed 7.2 billion pounds and were valued at $3.2 billion.

Ovens will be a-cookin' today, but so will the deep fryers. An acquaintance working in the insurance industry told me that over the past five years, there have been more "mishaps and accidents" in garages around the country as the result of deep-frying these birds in specially made cookers.

Fires have burst forth from the big pots because of a variety of reasons, including water being added to the hot oil and using far too much oil in the first place.

Please use extra caution and cook the turkey on the back patio or driveway, not in the garage.

• If turkey isn't on the menu, perhaps venison will be the main focus. Hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 85,490 deer during the opening weekend of the state's 2007 firearm deer season.

Fishing report: There's still plenty of excellent open-water angling going on.

Fox Chain: Pan fish and muskie action is very good on Channel Lake and Lake Catherine.

Fox River: Improved crappie angling at creek mouths using minnows and small jigs. Smallies chasing minnows near the Batavia Dam.

Lake Michigan: Perching is slow in Chicago, but a few steelhead active in Waukegan.