The waterfowl hunting at Table Rock Reservoir is only fair at best. The big reservoir does host a fair number of resident Canadas, as well as mallards, and they do pull in some migrants.

I've lived at Table Rock for 15 years, and was excited about hunting the big Canadas when I first moved into a lakeside home midway up the lake. The excitement faded after two or three hunts not far from the house.

The first time I set about a dozen Canada field decoys on a sandbar and tossed in three floaters. After watching a few grebes and buffleheads skittering up and down the lake, I heard some honkers coming in over the timber behind me. I gave them a few toots on the goose whistle, and they broke towards the decoys; I hunkered down in the blind. The next thing I heard was a rush of wings as they splashed down about 20 yards out in front of me.

Thinking of myself as one pretty salty goose caller, I peeked out and saw about a dozen birds on the water; it was take-'em time. I popped out of the blind looking for a rising target down the barrel of my 870 Remington.

I was flabbergasted when, instead of flushing, they gabbled a little and started swimming towards me. I later learned that they'd grown quite adept at conning lakeside people into feeding them with popcorn and chunks of bread. After a couple of repeat performances on that front, I decided to stick to areas in which the geese make a living on their own.

Dave Graber, goose and swan biologist for MDC suggests that hunters in the southern part of Missouri should look to the southeast and southwest for the best goose hunting opportunities.

"Giant Canada geese are present year around on southern Missouri reservoirs such as Table Rock, Stockton, Taneycomo and Bull Shoals," he said. "Table Rock has growing numbers of geese, but few hunters to take advantage of the hunting. There are also a number of urban areas that have resident flocks including Springfield, Joplin, Carthage and Cape Girardeau.

"Hunters should check with local officials to find out where they can or cannot hunt and where public and private boundaries are. Scouting and gaining permission to hunt on private land around the refuges, reservoirs and urban areas can provide some potentially excellent opportunities.

"Opportunities for migrant geese are dependent on the weather to the north when ice and snow force them to move south," the biologist continued. "When this occurs, southeastern Missouri counties such as Stoddard, Mississippi and New Madrid can serve up some good action -- particularly on Canadas."

In the Southeast Region the duck hunting was good to excellent at Otter Slough, Ten Mile Pond and Duck Creek last year, says Harriet Weger, regional wildlife supervisor.

"Ten Mile Pond, located near East Prairie, Otter Slough near Dexter and Duck Creek near Puxico all have managed waterfowl hunting, and last year, they were the top three producers in this district," she offered. "Hunting on these areas is allocated through a reservation-draw system.