THEY'RE BACK: GEESE FLOCKING TO SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

Suddenly there are Canadian geese in Southern Illinois.

Tens of thousands of the wild honkers have flocked the past few days into wet areas of the Southern Illinois quota zone of Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson counties.

A census Tuesday revealed more than 190,000 geese.

The count was the first official census of 1999 in Southern Illinois and Ballard County, Ky.

The final count of 1998, conducted in late December, showed only 9,700 geese throughout the area. Tuesday's count revealed 192,050, topped by almost 63,000 in Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge in Jackson and Williamson counties.

Almost 50,000 geese were counted in the Horseshoe Lake Refuge in Alexander County, with more than 30,000 in the Union County Refuge.

About 28,000 geese were found in the Ballard County area.

The birds never made it to the southern areas in December, stopping along the way in central and northern Illinois.

Goose hunting has been slow in Southern Illinois since it opened on Thanksgiving weekend, with a kill of about 3,900 throughout the quota zone, fewer than 100 geese a day.

Meanwhile, hunting has already been closed in the central quota zone of Illinois, which reached its 1998-1999 quota last week.

Those zones would have remained open until Jan. 31 if the quota had not been reached. However, the quota of 11,800 in the two zones was reached, and the zones closed Monday.

The early closing does not effect the snow and blue goose and white-fronted goose season in those zones. The white-fronted season will close Jan. 31, and the snow and blue goose season, which closed Sunday, will reopen for a Feb. 6-to-March 9 season.

Hunters in the Southern Illinois quota zone will continue hunting Canada geese. With a 13,100-goose limit, hunters could get through the season without reaching the quota.

"But hunting should improve," said Ken Hill, a Southern Illinois hunter from the Olive Branch-Miller City area.

Once the cold and snow started freezing conditions in the central and northern areas, the geese started coming into Southern Illinois, said Hill.

"They came in by the droves last weekend," said Hill.

The new arrivals already have created some hunter interest. Tourism bureaus at Marion, Ill., and Ullin, Ill., are receiving more goose-hunting information this week. Hunting club information is included in tourism publications. Information is available by calling 1-800-248-4373.