FINS, FEATHERS, FUR

BRANSON, Mo. The St. Jude's Bass Tournament will be held at Table Rock Lake here March 21-22.

Proceeds of the tournament go to St. Judge's Children's Research Hospital of Memphis, Tenn.

Entry fee for the buddy tournament is $100 per angler, with top prize of $10,000 for the winning team. Fees should be sent to St. Jude's Bass Tournament, P.O. Box 634, Branson, Mo., 65616.

The tourney will be conducted out of Kimberling Inn Resort & Marina.

Additional information is available by calling (417)-335-2610.

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JEFFERSON CITY If you want to know where the biggest or most fish are likely to be caught this year, the 1992 Fishing Prospects report from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will help.

This year's guide includes prospects for 24 lakes and 13 streams. In addition to tips on where to find fish, the guide provides helpful hints on how to catch them, the best time of year to fish for certain species and changes in fishing regulations. These tips are particularly helpful when fishing unfamiliar waters.

The annual guide is assembled from data provided by MDC fisheries biologists. Fishing success may vary according to the experience and luck of the angler. The information in the report is based on samplings of fish populations, creel surveys and other scientific data.

Copies of the report are available from: Fishing Prospects, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, Mo., 65102-0180, or by calling (314) 751-4115, ext. 175.

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WARE, Ill. The Southern Illinois Quota Zone goose hunting season ends at 3 p.m. today.

Hunters have bagged about 24,000 geese in the four-county Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson quota zone since the start of the 1991-92 Canada goose season started Nov. 9.

The majority of birds were harvested in Williamson and Jackson counties, where an aggregate total of 11,976 birds have been harvested. The Alexander County harvest total is 6,364 and 5,035 geese have been killed in Union County.

Many of the Southern Illinois geese have moved on. As many as 800,000 geese have been counted in the area this year, but this week's census showed only 435,000 and more than 60,000 of those were in the immediate West Kentucky area.

The largest concentration of geese are at the Horseshoe Lake area in Alexander county, at 125,000. About 70,000 are at Union County Wildlife Refuge, and about 61,000 are located in the Crab Orchard Lake area.

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CARBONDALE, Ill. Boats, hunting, fishing and other outdoor equipment will be on exhibit at the 8th annual Spring Sports & Recreation Show, to be held at Southern Illinois University Arena Feb. 7-9.

Show hours are 5 to 9 p.m. Feb. 7; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 8 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 9.

Door prizes will be awarded each hour throughout the weekend.

Admission is $3.

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Coming up:

Jan. 31 Conservation Commission, 9 a.m. Jan. 31, Mariott's Tan-Tar-A Resort, Osage Beach.

Feb. 7-9 Spring Sports & Recreation Show, SIU Arena, Carbondale, Ill.

March 13-15 Conservation Federation of Missouri, Lodge of the Four Seasons.

March 27-28 Forest conference, Cape Girardeau.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Illinois hunters took an unofficial 81,571 white-tailed deer during the 1991 firearms season.

Hunters took 32,5451 deer during the last four days of the firearms hunt.

"Hunters took a record harvest despite rain and high winds that hampered hunting the final two days," said Department of Conservation director Brent Manning.

While the 1991 firearms season surpassed the 1990 hunt by more than 15,000 deer, the hunter success percentage dropped slight, due to the number of additional permits issued. Hunters had hunter success ratio of about 44 percent for 1991, compared to 46.2 success rate in 1990, when 66,267 deer were taken.

Pike County led the state with a harvest of 3,477 deer. Jackson County hunters took 2,718 deer; Pope County hunters bagged 2,162 deer; Union County hunters bagged 1,917 deer; Alexander County, 401 and Pulaski County, 593.