About to break the law...

[Bigprairie1]

Re: About to break the law...

Bubba, I used about twenty runs of clear filament fishing line run across my parents pond and it worked wonderfully they hang about 10 feet above the surface of the water and about 5 feet between runs, they have a 2 or 3 foot droop in them so they are not tight by any means and you really have to look for them to see them, mind you their pond is only a couple hundred square feet and I imagine you have a typical Bubba style acre pond so not sure it will work for you, my dad saw the idea on a pond show on tv, apparently the fishing line screws with the birds eye sight and they avoid it so we never had a dead bird to deal with.

That sounds like a really great idea Lipp....I'm going to see if I can find some more info on this myself. My wife runs a garden centre and often gets questions regarding these kinds of bird problems so I'm going to forward this to her as well.
BP

 

[dubs283]

Re: About to break the law...

so.....maybe stop feeding the fish??

in time they will return to a "normal" feeding pattern and the agitation on the surface won't have such negative effects for the heron and the fish

this kinda reminds me of the king of the hill episode titled "jumpin' crack bass, its a gas gas gas" where hank unknowingly buys crack cocaine thinking it is fish bait, which the fish find irresistable, until hank is arrested and to prove it he takes the judge fishing- pretty funny episode

 

[sasto]

Re: About to break the law...

Bottle rockets....if lawful in your area. We had a big problem with Pelicans carping on boats here. Bottle rockets finally relocated them with no harm. As a matter of fact, in FL I can buy fireworks only after signing a form stating I am only using them for animal control. Common practice among the farmers here fighting crows and other invasive birds.

Good Luck!

 

[FlaCowboy]

Re: About to break the law...

How Big are those Heron? They would have to be Huge to swallow a fish that size. Maybe once they catch them they realize it can not be swallowed and toss them out on the bank and go back for something smaller.
I would try the bottle rockets.

Good Luck

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: About to break the law...

Dummy loads in a shotgun would work as well, they are just loaded with the paper wad and gun powder, I use them around here to get deer out of the garden, no real chance of hurting them, but man they run like crazy.

 

[tswiczko]

Re: About to break the law...

Could teach that dog of yours to go after birds instead of bunnies

 

[NewfieDan]

Re: About to break the law...

Where i used to work they had tailings ponds that had to be protected from birds. They set up propane cannons. Make a loud noise to scare birds away. They work by igniting a small charge of propane and makes aloud pop. May also scar off any other unwanted animals. As one poster said, it may be otters or a similar type of animal.

At most you may need a battery to spark the propane. Set it up on a sled that can be moved with a quad or small tractor.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: About to break the law...

I still like the idea of wild-life cameras or other means to verify it is the birds. determine the culprit, then determine the solution.

the only things that are certain: your pond is over an acre, you feed the fish, you find dead fish. the rest is speculation until verified.

 

[sasto]

Re: About to break the law...

Here is my Bottle Rocket Pelican Gun. Does the job.....and is fun doing it.

 

[JRJ]

Re: About to break the law...

Well now, don't I feel stupid, having always used bottles..........good one sasto

 

[FlaCowboy]

Re: About to break the law...

I can see it now....rocket off...going...going right past the birds across top of water...fish leaps out of water catches rocket thinking it is dinner time and POP another dead fish :facepalm:

 

[foodfisher]

Re: About to break the law...

No evidence-no crime?

 

[BlkY2k]

Re: About to break the law...

We make bottle rocket guns out of 1/2" pvc and couple fittings, similar to the bigger water gun ones. Have fun.

 

[jdlough]

Re: About to break the law...

Ospreys try to build nests on my boat on a lift every year.

I tie a bunch of balloons on strings to my boat. The wind blows the balloons around.
This keeps the Ospreys away.

 

[timdan94]

Re: About to break the law...

buy some bird bombs that are shot out of a 12 gauge shotgun. they are loud and have a bright flash.... better than bottle rockets and much louder.

 

[jdlough]

Re: About to break the law...

A golf course near me has a life-sized plastic fierce-looking wolf next to the pond.

It's supposed to scare away the geese.


It worked for a while. The geese have figured it out, and now carp on the wolf.

 

[BlkY2k]

Re: About to break the law...

SUCCESS! Well maybe and I FEEL better. Got up early this AM and set up my two "launchers" made from 3/4" copper pipe. They really do increase accuracy compared to hand launched.

Sure enough, about a half hour after dawn the two herons show up for breakfast. I fired both launchers and could not have asked for a better shot, they both exploded (report) over their heads and you never seen birds get in the air so fast. I'm thinking another episode or two and they'll figure out there are more friendly places to get a meal.


Thanks for the great idea Sasto. I'm beginning to think this has potential as a real sport.

French frys and sea gulls? Here birdy birdy

 

[sasto]

Re: About to break the law...

SUCCESS!

I'm beginning to think this has potential as a real sport.

Good for you, Bubba! Once the Herons are gone you may want to take BlkY2k's idea of french fries for contunued enjoyment of bottle rockets......like we did as kids.

French frys and sea gulls? Here birdy birdy

Now that's funny!

 

[aspeck]

Re: About to break the law...

Their now eating at night!