Mating season is on, and Pete Dring has been on the lookout for the white-tailed doe with the broken leg. She’s been limping around for months, ever since she was struck by a car while crossing Willow Springs Road. If she can’t, as Dring puts it, “support a hot buck on only one leg,” then she probably won’t be strong enough to survive the winter. So far she’s been able to find some food, probably left by the children who spot her in the woods.
The schoolhouse itself is located in the middle of a 14,000-acre preserve. Carved out of that, the nature center consists of 500 acres of woods, sloughs, and trails, which are open to visitors year-round.
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The house was built in 1886 to replace a one-room log cabin that served as the first school building in the Palos Hills area. Classes were held there until 1948. Eventually, the tiny house and its 1.6-acre site were sold for $600 to the Forest Preserve District, which moved the building in 1952 to its current location in a fruit orchard, where pear, apple, and plum trees still stand.
A red fox jumps at the blond boy crouched and peering into its cage. The friendliest animal is a fat raccoon, playfully trying to bite through its wire mesh.
The air is musky, damp. Crickets chirp incessantly and cawing sounds surround you. The wind always seems to blow out here, rustling the trees just enough so you hear their leaves flapping. The tall prairie grasses give you an idea of what Illinois must have looked like to the Indians.
Down by Long John Slough, No Fishing signs are posted. We stop to toss corn to the ducks, but there aren’t any in sight. Instead, enormous gold and brown carp literally jump out of the water to feed on the grain.
