Flood waters wreak havoc on southern Illinois duck hunting

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. (AP) - Recent flood waters have wreaked havoc on duck hunting in parts of southern Illinois.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner issued disaster declarations for more than 20 counties, largely in central and southern Illinois, after flooding in the last month. Waters have started to subside.

Flood waters from the Mississippi River led to a decision to suspend the rest of the controlled duck hunt at Horseshoe Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area, The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan (http://bit.ly/1J7rEoL ) reported. Duck season in Illinois' South Zone for waterfowl hunting ends Jan. 24.

"It's just been a pretty disastrous year," Horseshoe lake site superintendent Joey Thurston said. "When you sit here and see water on everything you manage, it's disheartening, but we're getting kind of used to it."

High water also affected hunting at the Union County Refuge. It also created issues at Mermet Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area, but didn't interrupt hunting.

Thurston said two months ago he was concerned about a lack of water in Horseshoe Lake's hunting areas. Forage crops were also sparse.

After flooding, officials with the Department of Natural Resources had no way of knowing how the topography was affected. Thurston said there's "a lot of current" and that he's worried the spillway will be washed out in places.

A large influx of ducks followed the flooding. About 96,000 ducks were counted at or near Horseshoe Lake by an Illinois Department of Natural Resource aerial census in early January.

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Information from: Southern Illinoisan, http://www.southernillinoisan.com