By Jerry Pabst

To quote Yogi Berra, the former New York Yankees catcher famous for malapropos statements, "It ain't over 'til it's over."

Yogi's firm grasp of the obvious extends beyond the baseball diamond to nearly every other area of human endeavor, and that surely includes late-season goose hunting in Illinois. Yogi's point was, keep playing the game until it officially ends, and if your game is chasing the Canada goose, you would do well to follow that advice.

Winter weather throughout our state has moderated some over the past 15 years. That, combined with changing agricultural practices and ever-expanding populations of resident giant Canada geese, ensures plenty of honkers will be scattered throughout the Land of Lincoln. Additionally, during late January and much of February, flocks of snow geese and blue geese, winging their way north, will be stopping to munch abundant waste grain in the fields across the southern third of the state.

Believe me when I tell you goose hunting in Illinois "ain't over" at Christmas. Unless the hunters in the Northeastern Quota Zone fill their annual allocation early, the game will still be going on in the entire Northern Zone at least through the first week of January. Since this is long after freeze-up, huge flocks of birds will be bunched up in any available water, usually the larger rivers. But it does not include the largest rivers, such as the Mississippi and Illinois. In most years, the backwaters of these major waterways will have long turned to ice, and geese will not want to waste their energy fighting strong currents in the main channels.

You will find plenty of hunting action near secondary rivers such as the Rock, Pecatonica, Des Plaines, Du Page, Kankakee and especially the Fox. These are streams that maintain open-water areas, and abundant islands that break the current and afford gravel bars for the birds to roost on overnight. Some geese will find refuge from winter in large, aerated ponds adjacent to housing developments, golf courses, parks and cemeteries. The easiest way to locate the winter roosting areas is to follow the flocks back to the water late in the afternoon after they have fed in near-by fields.

To be successful hunting late-season geese in the Northern Zone you must adapt to their changing patterns. Short days and long, cold nights will challenge the big birds' ability to maintain proper body temperature. Although nature has provided geese with a thick coat of warm down and a special circulatory system that allows them to stand on ice indefinitely without harm, they still need a large amount of nourishment to survive.

Instinctively, the goose will restrict its movements to conserve energy in cold weather. Don't expect the flocks to stir in the early light as they did during warmer times. It will not be uncommon for the birds to remain in their roosts until 8:30 a.m. or later, sometimes as late as 10 a.m. If the temperatures drop near the zero mark, the geese may not fly at all, preferring to hunker down and wait out the frigid temperatures.

I'll be honest with you, when the thermometer pushes near the zero mark, I emulate the goose, and hunker down inside, too. But if you are lucky enough to have access to a warm pit or blind, don't give up, because there is hope. While I once shivered through three straight days of zero-degree temperatures and never saw a goose, that is a rarity.

Photo by Cathy & Gordon Illg

Even on the roughest of winter days some birds eventually take to the air, if only for a short hop. This flight probably will consist of a family group of four to 10 geese eager to find a snack in the frozen fields. Since all of their live brethren are in the roost, a decoy spread is going to represent the only game in town, and your chances of scoring on such a hungry crew are good.

Since this is a time of little goose movement, scale back your efforts accordingly. A large decoy spread won't appear natural. Excessive flagging could alarm rather than attract the geese. Loud, insistent calling should be avoided.

A good setup would be 15 to 20 decoys. A few flaps of the flags while the geese are distant will be enough to get their attention, and a muted cluck now and then should convince them to taker a close look. You will want to let the birds work in as close as possible before shooting because this may be your only opportunity of the day. Make the most of it.

On the other hand, if the winter is mild, the habits of the birds will not change much from late fall, and more birds will be in the air. Then larger decoy spreads and more aggressive flagging and calling will work.

The only thing that will spoil January hunting in the Northern Zone is deep, long-lasting snow. A storm that dumps 6 or more inches of new snow on the fields and a cold snap that keeps it there for five or more days will drive most of the northern birds south to greener pastures. However, if such an event should occur in December, be aware that most of those birds will return to their northern hangouts as soon as the temperatures moderate.

One thing to be aware of is that when geese concentrate in the open waterways, they often abandon feeding areas they relied heavily upon earlier in the season. To score, you must target their new fields, and that could present a problem. However, it may well be you will have better luck knocking on farmer's door in January than you would have in October. For one thing, it is likely no one has bothered him for a couple of months. Also, all of their crops will have been harvested and their equipment put away. There is nothing out there to be damaged.

All the commercial clubs in the Northern Zone will be open for business as long as hunting goes on. Although most of the clubs have access to multiple fields and are able to put their clients into active areas, it is important to your success that you are assigned to a pit that is currently producing geese. If you see flocks of geese flying in the distance and not coming anywhere near your field, it probably means they have changed their patterns and you are in for a long day. If, however, you see no geese flying, that simply means the birds are not active, but you are still in for a long day.

Central Zone goose hunting goes on until the end of January, barring filling the quota early. In fact, hunting in this zone just gets better as the month progresses, mainly due to new birds constantly filtering in from northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. As in the north, freeze-up here channels most of the geese into available open water, and the Kankakee River is the prime factor south of Interstate 80.

You will find the preponderance of Central Zone geese in the area around Wilmington, which is right on the Kankakee and just south of the I-80 border with the Northern Zone. Clustered in this area are three major power-plant cooling lakes that never freeze - Dresden, La Salle, and Braidwood. Also of importance is the Mazonia Wildlife Area, featuring a multitude of ponds and strip-mine pits. Scattered around the public land are many privately owned properties with large strip-mine pits. Some may be frozen over, but others will have a bit of open water and hold goodly flocks of geese.

Although the big cooling lakes do not hold large concentrations of geese - which avoid such unprotected waters - the entire area is a major wintering site and offers excellent goose hunting late in the season.

As you go south in the Central Zone, check out the public goose hunting at Snakeden Hollow near the small town of Victoria. This property encompasses dozens of strip pits, and if it does not freeze up, it can attract a lot of honkers. This place does not kill a lot of geese each year, but under the right circumstances, your chances are fair. The hunting is regulated by daily permits, but standby hunters stand a good chance of drawing a blind, especially during the week. If you want to try Snakeden, call first (309-879-2607) to be sure there is open water and that geese are present.