GOOSE SEASON BEGINS IN ILLINOIS

The weather was right -- near-freezing temperatures and overcast skies. The geese were present -- more than 25,000 in the four-county quota zone of Southern Illinois.

All-in-all, Saturday was a great opening day for operators of goose-hunting clubs throughout the quota zone -- Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson counties.

"But that was Saturday," said Jack Collins, who operates Miller Hunting Club in the Horseshoe Lake area of Alexander County. "Actually, the first two days were good. We had cloudy mornings and the geese were flying Saturday and Sunday.

"But following a clear, moonlit night and early sun Monday morning, the geese were staying on the ground."

The Miller Club is located on the Miller City blacktop between Olive Branch and Miller City.

The goose season for 1993-94 opened in the quota zone Saturday.

Hunters may have 51 days of hunting through Jan. 16 unless the quota of 30,600 geese is reached first.

"We could have the best shooting season we've had in five years," said Irwin Fuchs, of Lyerla Lake Hunting Club, located on the Reynoldsville Road south of Union County Refuge. "I understand we have about a five-to-one ratio of young birds this year, which should result in some good hunting. The older birds are wary of hunters and are really tough to hunt."

Fuchs said his club had a good opening day Saturday. "We probably won't hit the really good hunting until Dec. 10-15," he said. "But I think overall we'll have a good season."

The latest goose census, conducted Monday by the Illinois Department of Conservation, found more than 25,000 geese in the quota zone area, with more than 9,000 of them in the Horseshoe Lake area. Another 9,000 were counted in Crab Orchard Refuge area in Williamson and Jackson counties, and about 7,000 were found in Union County.

A total of 40,000 geese were observed in the entire Southern Illinois area.

"I saw a new group of about 50 coming in Monday morning," said Fuchs.

Jack Thomas of Miller City said he watched what appeared to be a new flock coming in near the Horseshoe Lake area Monday.

Thomas and his wife, Gen, operate Miller City Processing Co., which cleans and wraps geese for traveling or shipping.

We weren't sure we'd be ready to open following the flooding in the Miller City area," said Mrs. Thomas. "But we got our equipment set up and had pretty good business Saturday and Sunday."

Greg Patton, whose club is located along the Miller City blacktop between the Horseshoe Lake spillway and Miller City, said the hunting Monday was meager, but that "we have bagged a few geese."

Patton agreed that Saturday and Sunday were better hunting days.

"It's not like gang-busters," he said. "But the geese were moving the first two days of the season, and a few were flying early Monday."

"We had a good Saturday," said Collin Cain of Grassy Lake Hunting Club, located in Union County, along Route 146 about a mile east of Ware. "We killed 30 birds Saturday morning. "Monday's hunters bagged a lot of ducks, but following a moonlit night and early sun, the geese weren't flying Monday."

Meanwhile, further north, hunters had overcast skies at the Reeder Goose Club near Murphysboro. "We saw a lot of geese Monday morning," said Bill Reed, "We killed a few."

The Great Flood of 1993 may have only a minimal impact on goose hunting in Southern Illinois, even around the Horseshoe Lake area, where several thousand acres of land were flooded from a breech in the Mississippi River levee.

"Many farmers lost all of their grain crops, which provide valuable feed for the geese that winter in extreme Southern Illinois," said Dennis Thornburg, waterfowl biologist with the Illinois Department of Conservation. "This is a concern of many hunting clubs in Alexander County"

Thornburg added, however, that conservation officials feel that all the backwater, seep water and new sandbars will make Alexander County and the Horseshoe Lake area attractive to the geese. "This makes good roosting habitat," he said. "If they can find food anywhere nearby, they'll stay in the area."

Flood damage around the Horseshoe Lake State Conservation Area have been estimated at $200,000, but the water has returned to its normal level, site superintendent Russell Garrison said. "The lake is at its normal level for this time of year. The roads are not in great condition, but they can be traveled."

In a recent report, Garrison said flood damages would amount to $192,000.

"That includes damages to roads and boat docks," he said.

Garrison said feed is no problem for geese at the lake.

"Although we lost about 100 acres of grain crops, we had more than 250 acres of grain on the refuge that was not flooded. We feel we have plenty of grain."

Some of the state-owned hunting pits still have a few inches of water, so hunters are warned to wear boots, noted a spokesman. There are a total of 35 pits on state-operated hunting grounds in the four-county zone -- at Union County Refuge, Horseshoe Lake Refuge and Crab Orchard Refuge.