FRIGID WEATHER BRINGS A QUARTER MILLION GEESE INTO SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

WARE, Ill. -- With almost a quarter million Canada geese flocking over the weekend to the Southern Illinois quota zone, and weather conditions more to the liking of the big honkers, hunters can expect good hunting this week.

"A lot of geese are here, and they'll be moving the rest of this week," said Rich Whitten, waterfowl biologist for the Illinois Department of Conservation.

The latest census, conducted Monday, revealed 293,000 geese in the area -- 84,000 at Horseshoe Lake, 47,000 at Union County and 105,000 at Crab Orchard Lake.

"These birds haven't had a chance to move around much since they arrived during snow and near-zero temperatures," Whitten said. "Geese don't move much in single-digit temperatures."

With temperatures warming, the geese will be moving from refuge fields in search of food and water along riverbottoms.

Harvest totals already have improved. During the first 24 days of the season, only 300 geese were bagged in Alexander County. That figure has risen to more than 1,000. In the Crab Orchard area, where 1,610 birds were harvested the first 24 days, the count has soared past 4,100.

A total harvest of 5,446 birds was reported as of Sunday in the quota zone of Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson counties. The season there opened the first week of November, with an 89-day season or harvest quota of 62,691 birds.

Many hunting clubs in Union and Alexander counties remained closed the first three weeks of the season.

As late as a week ago, only 57,000 geese were counted in Southern Illinois.

"Now, with more birds in the area, more clubs open and better hunting conditions, I think we'll see an increase in the harvest totals," said Whitten. "We'd like to see the flock reach 600,000."

Many of the geese that winter in extreme Southern Illinois come in from northern Illinois and Wisconsin. Weather conditions in those areas -- snow, sleet, temperatures under 10 -- could drive more geese into Southern Illinois.