GOOSE SEASON GETS OFF TO SLOW START

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Geese in Alexander and Union counties have taken wing or so it seems.

Two weeks into the 1992 goose season, hunting club operators agree that the wily Canada geese are few and far between.

"They tell us we have about 14,000 geese in the Horseshoe Lake area," says Marvin Dowdy, who operates Horseshoe Lake Motel. "I don't know where they are."

Most of them can be found on the Horseshoe Lake Wildlife Refuge, says Greg Patton of Patton Hunting Club near Miller City, who adds, "They're certainly not flying."

The 1992 goose season may open "for real" in Alexander and Union counties next week.

The season began officially two weeks ago, said Patton. "But, many clubs opted not to open. The weather was too warm and there were too few geese here."

Patton's club was one of a handful of clubs in the two counties that opened.

"We have several `lease' hunters," said Patton. "And, along with a few locals, we opened Nov. 14 and have remained open. However, we're not killing many geese."

Very few hunters in the two counties have been successful. During the first seven days of the season, through Nov. 20, only 37 geese were reported killed in Alexander County. Less than that, nine, were killed in Union County.

"Most of the commercial clubs in the area will be opening Monday," said a spokesman from the Union County Refuge, where goose census and kill totals are compiled.

The big action took place in the Williamson County area, where hunters were taking more than 100 geese a day from Nov. 14 through Nov. 20, totaling 979 geese.

"Most of the Williamson County clubs opened Nov. 14," said a spokesman from the Burns Goose Club near Grassy Lake Road, Carbondale. "We've had a number of hunters, and we've killed some geese."

Hunters throughout the four-county, "Quota Zone" Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson expect a fall flight that might be equal to last year's million-plus geese, but it may be a while before they get here.

Wildlife officials say, however, that with the unusually warm weather to the north, and plenty of feed along the way, big populations of geese in Southern Illinois have not materialized.

The latest goose count in the quota-zone area, taken this week, revealed about 47,000 geese, with 14,000 each in the Horseshoe Lake and Crab Orchard Lake areas. The count showed about 10,000 in the Rend Lake area near Ina, and 5,000 in the Union County Wildlife Refuge.

"We're planning to open the season Monday," said a spokesman of Davis Farms Hunting Club, two miles south of Ware, across Route 3 from the Union County Refuge. "However, we don't have many geese and they haven't been flying."

One of the complaints of hunters in the Horseshoe Lake area is that the state is too generous in feeding the geese on the state refuge.

"Officials are expecting large flights, and there's enough food there for a large amount of geese," said one disgruntled hunter. "The geese won't leave the refuge as long as they have plenty of food."

The same hunter said that the Crab Orchard Wildlife Area is a federal refuge and that food is more scarce there, forcing the geese to leave the refuge in search of food.

Another drawback for hunters is the fact that more older birds are making up the flights due to a bad hatch in the Canada during the winter.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is predicting that older birds will make up 80 percent of the geese that make the long flight from Canada to their winter nesting grounds here.

"These veteran birds are hunter-wary," said Chesley Willis, of the Willis Hunting Club near Olive Branch. "They're familiar with shooting hours, and they're going to stay put on the refuge during the day.

"We need more geese," says Willis. "The latest count here shows only 14,000 geese in the Horseshoe Lake area, down by several thousand from this same time last year."

Many hunting club operators who have remained closed the first two weeks of the season "may" open Monday.

"We'll check the weather conditions, and if we don't feel the geese will be flying, we'll call our hunters and tell them not to come," said one operator.

"We know the hunting is slow," said Dowdy. "Most years we're full for the Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend. And from about Dec. 4 on we usually hang out the `no vacancy' sign. That's not the case this year. We have vacancies throughout the season."

The slow start is also having its effect on other businesses in the hunting areas.

"We picked 17 geese on opening day this year," said Gen Thomas, of Miller City Processing Co., owned and operated by Jack and Gen Thomas. "Since then, we've had little activity. The geese just aren't here. I can remember when we had 30,000 to 35,000 geese at this time of year."

The quota-zone season will run through Jan. 31, or until 39,500 geese have been harvested.

It could be a long season.

"I don't think the quota will be reached," said Todd Goodman, of Timberline Hunting Club, located in Williamson County near Marion. Goodman, however, opened his club on opening day and said he was booking hunters through the season."