Taken from my front door step. He is stealing my granddaughters' bass.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/gallery/80/medium/159009.jpg)
But he escaped before the cops could show up.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/gallery/80/medium/159010.jpg)
I am pretty sure I heard him say "Fug you Cracker".
![[Linked Image]](https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/gallery/80/medium/159008.jpg)
Filet mignon of the sky. That right there is a GBH, my most hated enemy besides otters.
I think it's a grey heron. We get the sandhills here for the summer.
We have lots of GBH around here. There is a nesting grove down against the river a couple miles away in some big cottonwoods. You never know the nests are there until the leaves fall in autumn.
But I guess I have not been this close before, or had the 300mm lens available. I thought the GBH had a longer beak.
We also have a lot of Sandhills, a few night herons, and occasionally what I guess might be an egret. About half the size of the GBH and snow white.
Filet mignon of the sky. That right there is a GBH, my most hated enemy besides otters.
You don't have eagles bothering you guys up there? I'm hosting a pair at the hatchery most days for the last year. Expensive decorations....
Biggest problem we used to have was squawks (crested night herons). I counted more than 300 on one set of raceways one night, and F&G's official count for the whole valley was 264.
But yes, Great Blue Heron. I've heard tell #4 shot works as expected.
Dutch, I and the pond are inside city limits these days with lots of nosy neighbors and right on the intersection of two busy county roads. Gunfire would get a response..........probably not one I would like.
The pond is eighteen feet deep. We will just have to suffer with the loss of fingerlings to hungry predators. The banks are steep enough that the adults do not even expose themselves much when spawning.
Eagle are occasionally seen down on the Payette River, and sometimes an osprey. But we do not see them much away from the river. Eagles are pretty thick right in downtown Boise on the Boise River.
Good luck with that one. It's probably found a breakfast, lunch, and dinner counter.
Lol, I used to run a hatchery inside the city limits, there are ways.... But that was a long, long, long, LONG time ago.
Believe it or not, a dog can be the best deterrent if you can get it excited about chasing that kind of bird. Just don't ever let him actually catch it, that beak will break skin (or so I've heard tell...
)
Another method that works middling to fair is to run a hot wire, usually takes two or three to make sure they get zapped when they walk in. Motion activated lights work good (actually better than motion activated sound, and easier on the relationships with the neighbor). Hand held laser pointers if you have too much time on your hands.
Had the at my pond, a propane bird canon takes care of that problem
Hot wires work about 3"-4" above the edge of a concrete raceway. Mostly
Not sure how I'd do it around a pond like in the OP's pic though.
We had one at a place I worked, completely enclosed by fence and bird wire over the top. Dang thing would sit on the hill and wait until everyone left the raceways for lunch, break or to get a tool or the feed truck, then fly down and walk in gates which were a pain in the butt to close every time we left for a few minutes.
I heard of some facilities that have dogs that "patrol" all day. Mostly border collie types.
Them birds are deadly accurate with that beak too. Imagine an eye getting taken out by one. They can grab a 1.5" minnow at close to three feet, they can hit an eye if they want.
Someone did a study on kingfishers and hatchery fingerlings. 9 a day average. That adds up in a lot of potential profit lost over the course of a season. Imagine how many a heron can eat.
Keep the window open behind the couch in the trailer, open the curtains about 1-1/2” gap
#6 high brass, full choke 12ga
Was hittin my bud’s koi and comet pond hard, sombitch was hard to get to sneak on till the above set up
I was on the back bedroom in case he needed back up with the 16 ga
I ran a big hatchery that was covered in standard chicken wire that was about 20 years old. The bastards figured out that they could walk on top of the ceiling, and they worked the wire with their feet enough to create holes, some big enough to get their bodies through. I'd come in in the morning and there'd be a dozen squawks and blues in the cage. Took me a while to figure that one out.
The owner used to have a fishing club on the creek by the hatchery. That worked until the pelicans found it. Wiped it out in less than two weeks. Some birds ate some much trout they couldn't fly.
Once herons find a guaranteed meal, they and their five dozen descendants will return until it's fished out. Best to nip it in the bud.
Once herons find a guaranteed meal, they and their five dozen descendants will return until it's fished out. Best to nip it in the bud.
Mennonites will do the same thing to a farm pond.
We see this one a few days/week. He is pretty skittish. I have not put the laser on it, but he usually hangs out about 70 to 80 yards from the house. As soon as I step out the door, he's gone. I got these pics from inside the house.
Like Slummy suggested, a gun poked through a cracked window would be the only way to get him. And at that range, #6s would probably bounce off his feathers.
But a 10-22 would not bounce off. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
I should kick Momma's little terrorist dog over the fence to chase him off. But my daughters has ewes and lambs and miniature goats, and turkeys, and chickens, and ducks out there. I would be in all kinds of trouble over that ruckus.
If they get the bass i kill their ass.
Cormorants are the worst.
22-250 is good GBH medicine, I heard from someone else that was definitely not me for sure....
Dutch, I and the pond are inside city limits these days with lots of nosy neighbors and right on the intersection of two busy county roads. Gunfire would get a response..........probably not one I would like.
The pond is eighteen feet deep. We will just have to suffer with the loss of fingerlings to hungry predators. The banks are steep enough that the adults do not even expose themselves much when spawning.
Eagle are occasionally seen down on the Payette River, and sometimes an osprey. But we do not see them much away from the river. Eagles are pretty thick right in downtown Boise on the Boise River.
Cb longs are your friend. I know my 243 is within minute of Heron out to 485
The eagles don't hammer our fish like the other a-holes.
I ran a big hatchery that was covered in standard chicken wire that was about 20 years old. The bastards figured out that they could walk on top of the ceiling, and they worked the wire with their feet enough to create holes, some big enough to get their bodies through. I'd come in in the morning and there'd be a dozen squawks and blues in the cage. Took me a while to figure that one out.
The owner used to have a fishing club on the creek by the hatchery. That worked until the pelicans found it. Wiped it out in less than two weeks. Some birds ate some much trout they couldn't fly.
Once herons find a guaranteed meal, they and their five dozen descendants will return until it's fished out. Best to nip it in the bud.
They do the same thing on our netpens. They figured out that if enough of them sit on top of the birdnet it will sink it and they can hammer the fish. Up until one gets popped and then they stay away for a bit
Braised with orange sauce.
The hatchery owner on our gun club here shoots them. It got so bad he had to erect dog fence over the raceways to keep them out. The coons were just as bad!
243 from about a hundred yards works, those birds are real leary and will fly off as soon as they see you unless they've been conditioned to be around people.
We have lots of blue herons here in North Carolina. They are beautiful birds. They are master predators.
You can't out Birdie the Birdie!
“Charley” winters in Sarasota and hangs out on the dock at our condo.
Or LR, if you can afford them, body hit and fly away. No funeral
Somebody mentioned commodores. Federal protection for that buzzard is ......well you know already. I went on a catfishing trip down to Santee Cooper with a friend and our sons probly 12 years ago. You would have needed to be there to believe the number of those things. They went across the open water in a rolling wave. Thousands of them, never seen anything like it. Most have been 200 yards across. Sounded like a hailstorm coming. Protection? Crazy.
Edit: Cormorants. Auto complete sometimes doesn’t understand.
If they get the bass i kill their ass.
Cormorants are the worst.
Pelicans have cormorants beat by a bit. In the above mentioned event, my landlord came into possession of one, and it had eaten a 24" trout. Plus, if you're a farmer you can shoot depredating cormorants, but pelicans are a no-no bird. Not to mention they are so big, it's hard to hide the bodies.....
I caught a 14” crappie last year with what I assume was a wound from a heron. I had a 3/8” hole all the way through right above the ribs. Both filets had a perfect triangle hole through them.
yup, that's a heron peck. Amazing what a fish will live through, sometimes. Heron's may be "master predators", but they maim a LOT of fish.
Leave the carcass out where they can see them.
Glp
If they get the bass i kill their ass.
Cormorants are the worst.
Pelicans have cormorants beat by a bit. In the above mentioned event, my landlord came into possession of one, and it had eaten a 24" trout. Plus, if you're a farmer you can shoot depredating cormorants, but pelicans are a no-no bird. Not to mention they are so big, it's hard to hide the bodies.....
Ditto for osprey and iggles.
Leave the carcass out where they can see them.
Research "open field" and F&G, and get back with me on that one...... with your one phone call.
22-250 is good GBH medicine, I heard from someone else that was definitely not me for sure....
Yep, for sure.
Long ago I knew a guy who raised channel cats as a side gig. He also owned a gun shop at one time and had a weird Winchester 1200 he’d got as a trade in. It was a prototype or very limited run trap gun with a telescoping buttstock with springs or shocks to reduce felt recoil.
Being a gunsmith and hating the Winchester 1200/1300 operating system he decided it would make a dandy cormorant gun for leaving standing out in the barn next to the catfish ponds. The full choked barrel was certainly effective and many a water turkey went to the big pond in the sky. Until the cows got in the barn and knocked the Winchester over, and proceeded to stomp the fancy stock into a pile of small pieces. I’m sure some collector would shed a tear somewhere if they knew that story.
Just another useless varmint trying to survive. A #3 or #4 Duke will catch a lot of things. Placing a #3 or #4 on top of corner posts works good as a hawk repellent also.
I've heard tell the leg hold traps can be rather effective especially when tied to a brick that falls off and pulls the bird under water when it tries to fly off - but I don't seem to recall where
.
Little blues don't have the whit head I don't think..
OK, who is going to post the video of the GBH eating the mammal or the the pigeon?
For you guys that can shoot, a 17 RFM is your friend, for those of you that can't , rubber weedless frogs are used everywhere to bass fish, are effective, just toss them in the shallows where they feed, that frog will be the last thing the bastard eats !