FEWER FLIGHTS: SOUTHERN ILLINOIS GOOSE COUNT DECLINES

Southern Illinois hunters go on a wild goose chase every year, but the hunt may be more intense this year.

Waterfowl flight numbers, from shallow potholes on the plains of Canada to the Mississippi Flyway, are expected to be down this winter.

As always, the weather is playing a critical role in determining habitat and flight conditions of Canada geese and other migratory waterfowl.

The flights could be down as much as 40 percent, say officials of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. That creates concern in Southern Illinois.

Before the 1998-99 winter is over, many of the geese in the Canadian northlands will make their way into Southern Illinois and the four-county quota zone of Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson counties, where goose hunting is big business. Thousands of hunters flock to the area each year.

Although northern Illinois goose hunters had a good year during the 1997-98 season, Southern Illinois hunters suffered miserably, bagging 22,010 geese, slightly more than 80 percent of their quota.

"It wasn't much of a goose season here last year," said one Alexander hunting club operator. "The geese weren't here."

Statistics verify the low numbers.

"The peak count for Southern Illinois came in January 1998," said Kathy Thornburg, office assistant at Union County Wildlife Refuge near Ware.

The peak count was 176,550, a sizable number of geese until it is compared with peak counts of previous years: 431,900 in 1996 and 603,600 in 1994.

The Southern Illinois area has always been a mecca for Canada geese and hunters. During the mid-1980s to the late 1980s, a peak count of 850,000 to 1 million geese was not uncommon.

If the 1998-99 count is down 40 percent from a year ago, about 100,000 geese could be the peak count this winter.

About 80 percent of Southern Illinois goose hunters are visiting hunters, which translates into more than a $9 million windfall for the area.

The 20-year average of the Southern Illinois goose season is 56,000 hunters and 27,000 geese harvested.

It could fall far short of that this year.

Tentative federal dates and quotas have been established for 1998-99 in the quota zone.

-- The season, unless a last-minute change is made, will consist of 67 days -- Nov. 26 until Jan. 31 -- unless the quota is reached earlier.

-- The harvest quota has been set at 13,100, less than half of the 26,400 quota of last year.

-- The daily bag limit will be one Canada goose, half of the daily limit a year ago, through Jan. 17. The bag limit will be two a day the final 14 days of the season.

The lower bag limit may result in fewer visiting hunters.

All flights to the United States are expected to be down this year. Officials say as few as 650,000 geese may be in the entire Mississippi Flyway flight pattern, down 400,000 from the 1 million geese in the flyway last year.

Concern was first expressed last spring. A mild fall, a mild winter and lack of precipitation left many portions of Canada's primary waterfowl breeding grounds dry.

Some of the northlands received snow in March, providing a small boost for breeding waterfowl, but even with the snowfall, habitat conditions were less than ideal.

El Nino, a weather phenomenon that has caused some unpredictable fluctuations, has had an impact on the North American waterfowl resources and on the breeding grounds, according to Ducks Unlimited, a wildlife group that works to improve waterfowl population numbers and habitat.