GOOSE HUNTERS BOLSTER AREA ECONOMY

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- A Canada goose weighs about 12 to 14 pounds, feathers and all.

To four downstate counties in Southern Illinois, the big honkers are worth their weight in gold.

"Every goose you see flying in the four-county (Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson) `quota zone' area is worth $10 to the economy," said Larry Bowman, director of the Williamson County Tourism Bureau.

A large fall flight, an increase in the number of young geese and a more liberal goose-hunting season may result in better economics for the area this year.

The economics of goose hunting are not taken lightly. Bowman conducted a goose-hunting survey following the 1990-91 season in the quota zone.

"Goose hunters bring more money into an area than any other type of hunter," said Bowman. "We worked on a `hunter-day' system, and last year more than 80,800 hunters sought out the Canada geese, giving us 80,800 hunter days."

He added that 75 percent of the hunters are "visitor" hunters. According to the survey, each of the "visitor" hunters spent $115.16 per hunter day.

"This tallies out to $9.4 million," said Bowman. "Add in the expenses of the 25 percent of local hunters, and you have better than a $10 million industry."

Bowman said that more than a million geese were in the four-county area at its peak last year.

"The official high count was 820,000 at the peak," he said. "But, the official count doesn't include all the geese that crowd into farm ponds, and other small water impoundments. That could shove the count up to the million mark, which we used to come up with $10 per goose economic average."

Another survey, conducted in the mid-1980s, revealed that hunters averaged just over $350 per goose harvested in the quota. About 30,000 geese were harvested in the quota zone last season, which tallies up to more than $10.5 million into the local economy of the four-county area.

The Horseshoe Lake Wildlife Refuge, located near Olive Branch, has long been noted as "Goose Hunting Capital of The World," and attracts its fair share of hunters each year.

"We always look forward to goose season," said Marvin Dowdy, who operates the Horseshoe Lake Motel with his wife, Jane. "Some reservations here are made from one year to the next."

A plus for hunters and hunter-oriented businesses is this year's early season opening, on Nov. 9.

Jack Thomas and his wife, Gen, are busy these days preparing for the goose-hunting season, with their Miller City Processing Co., which prepares and ships out geese for hunters.

"Things may be a bit slow the first week or so," said Thomas, a retired mail carrier. "But, there will be some geese killed. We'll be ready."

Marion and Joan Williams are also making preparations for the goose season.

Williams is a farmer in the Olive Branch and Dog Tooth Bend area, but he is also a partner in a truck stop and restaurant just north of Cairo.

"We'll be opening a new restaurant at Olive Branch early next month," said Mrs. Williams. "We're in the process of remodeling a former grocery store at the intersection of Highway 3 and Miller City Road and are looking to a Nov. 1 opening."

The new restaurant will be open 24 hours a day and will employ from 15 to 20 persons.

Another Olive Branch restaurant, the Cozy Corner, will open at 3 a.m. during the season.

Restaurants, motel operations, grocery markets, service stations and other businesses from Olive Branch to Cape Girardeau, Anna to Carbondale and Marion, all share in the annual economic boom created by the annual goose season.

"We're hoping for another good season," said Gene Pecord of Pecord Hunting Club, located across Route 3 from the Horseshoe Lake Wildlife Refuge. "We're supposed to have a lot of geese here."

The geese are flying now.

During the latest aerial count, taken this week, a total of 12,000 geese were counted in the Horseshoe Lake area.

A total of 47,500 geese were counted Monday throughout the four-county quota zone and Ballard Wildlife Refuge in West Kentucky.

"That figure is up about 4,000 at this time a year ago," said a spokesman from Union County Wildlife Refuge near Ware, which keeps records of geese.

""We're expecting a fall flight of about 1.4 million this year," said Dennis Thornburg, Department of Conservation chief waterfowl biologist. "There has been good production of geese in northern Ontario. A larger proportion of the flight this year will be young birds.

"The younger geese are easier to decoy and harvest than older geese, which become wary in their ways of avoiding hunters guns," he noted.

Hunters could have 84 days of hunting in Southern Illinois this season the longest goose-hunting season in the modern era.

The goose-hunting season will run through Jan. 31, 1992, or until a harvest of 72,400 birds is reached. Hunters will be allowed a three-bird limit instead of the usual two.

Club owners a year ago were allowed a 70-day season or a 71,200 quota in the four-county area. The season ended with a harvest of just over 30,000 birds.

Celebrating the flight of geese into Southern Illinois will be the 10th annual Goose Fest, to be held Nov. 10 at Horseshoe Lake spillway. The annual event features live entertainment, goose and duck calling contests, arts and crafts and many other events throughout the day.