`QUOTA ZONE' GOOS SEASON CLOSES

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- It may not be spring but the Canada Geese are leaving the Southern Illinois area.

Two weeks ago, more than 750,000 Canada geese were wintering in the Southern Illinois area, with almost a quarter-million of the northern honkers at the Horseshoe Lake Wildlife Refuge near here.

During the latest goose census, the totals had dwindled to less than 500,000 geese in the area, with about 95,000 of them in the Horseshoe Lake area.

Meanwhile, the goose season in the four-county Alexander, Union, Williamson and Jackson Quota Zone of Southern Illinois closed this week.

Hunting club operators and hunters were disappointed in the season. During the first 30 days of the season, hunters averaged less than 300 geese a day throughout the zone.

Although hunting activity picked up following the cold and snow days of late December, the final goose harvest will be well under the quota of 72,500 geese.

As of Jan. 13, only 26,054 geese had been harvested, with more than half of these in the Crab Orchard Lake area in Williamson and Jackson counties.

A total of 6,514 geese had been killed in Alexander County around the Horseshoe Lake Refuge area, and 6,230 geese had been harvested in the Union County Wildlife Refuge area in Union County.

Harvest totals for the entire area will be released in the near future.

The latest goose count was taken Tuesday of this week. The count, by areas:

95,000 geese in the Horseshoe Lake area of Alexander County.

65,000 in the Crab Orchard Lake areas of Jackson and Williamson counties.

40,000 in the Union County Wildlife Refuge area.

112,000 in the Rend Lake Area.

72,000 in other Southern Illinois areas.

82,000 in Ballard County.