BIRDS OF FEATHER FLOCKING TO SOUTHERN ILLINOIS; 250,000 GEESE ARRIVE IN WEEK

Suddenly there are Canada geese in Southern Illinois.

Tens of thousands of the wild honkers have flocked into wet areas of the Southern Illinois quota zone of Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson counties over the past few days.

A census this week revealed more than 300,000 geese in Southern Illinois and Ballard County in Kentucky.

Tuesday's aerial count revealed 303,400 geese, up more than a quarter-million geese from last week's count.

More than a third of the geese -- 105,000 -- were in the in the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge areas in Jackson and Williamson counties.

Almost 60,000 geese were counted in the Horseshoe Lake Refuge in Alexander County, and more than 45,000 were counted at the Union County Refuge.

About 65,000 geese were found in the Ballard County Wildlife Refuge area.

Great goose hunting

The wintry weather and a plentiful supply of geese have resulted in great goose hunting throughout the quota zone area.

"The average harvest per day has increased from 400 a day to more than 600 a day," said Cathy Thornburg, who keeps taps on the Canada Geese count and harvest totals.

The harvest was slow early in the season, but it has picked up over the past week when 4,431 geese were harvested, with more than 1,700 of them the past few days.

Most of the geese were bagged in the Crab Orchard area, some 3,465. The harvest was 621 at Horseshoe Lake and 345 at the Union County Refuge.

A Dec. 12 census revealed only 38,000 geese, but that count was big compared to the 2,000 geese in the area at the season's start more than a month ago.

Many hunting clubs and hunters passed on a brief four-day, Nov. 9-12 hunt in the quota zone.

The season reopened Nov. 24 and will run through Jan. 31, or until a harvest quota of 32,900 geese has been reached.

Some 60 hunting clubs in the zone area offer goose-hunting facilities that range from primitive, with just a bench, to the plush, with heated pits, telephones and guides.

The latest census marks an early arrival for geese in Southern Illinois.

Last year at this time, only 18,000 geese were in the area.

In addition to the Canada geese, spotters found more than 50,000 snow geese in the area. Spotters didn't count ducks but observed large numbers of them in the Crab Orchard Lake area.

"With the recent snowstorms to the north, and more expected, the geese are expected to travel to Southern Illinois in big numbers now," said Thornburg. "Another 100,000 are expected here very soon."