I was watching the feeder go off and BG hitting the surface , a GBH actually landed in the water and swam around hoping to score... never seen one do that before,is that common?

I have only seen them wading, never swimming, but they can swim.

Wow, I'll bet that was a sight to see, but I may have been seeing red

Had a water turkey perched on the side of my floating feeder looking up at it. It was 7:30 in the morning. It goes off at 8. Flew off when it saw me. First time I ever saw that. Made me fume!!

They don’t eat enough to even be concerned with..... unlike cormorants.....even seen GBH’s out in open fields after mice and gophers....

I don't mind one or two GBH but at one time they got so tame I could hardly run them off. Being concerned that they would have chicks and all of the sudden I would have a dozen of them around the pond I have been less friendly the last couple years. I run them off every time I see them and shoot a gun around them occasionally just so they will remain afraid of humans. I don't want a dozen of them.

A couple still come every day, but they move on if they see me or I step out on the patio. I want to keep them that way.

My pond is like a fish smorgasbord. They can go get a real job and fish in the creek or a cow pond.

I know you are right Pat. I just don't like them, I have seen a few nice bg dead with what appeared to be heron strikes. Fish way too big for them to eat. I prefer to discourage them.

I ran a large adult GBH off the pond this afternoon, the high here today was 34 degrees. Last week I found a 6" GSH struggling on the surface that had been stabbed in the gill plate.

If you do a youtube search CMM for great blue heron eating fish or swallowing fish you might be surprised how big of fish they can eat. They can eat some pretty big fish.

I also find the occasional fish killed from a heron strike and also catch some that have had strikes but recovered.

I don't think I could get rid of them completely if I wanted other than doing something illegal and today with the civil forfeiture laws, being a federal law being broken, they might end up with my farm. It is my understanding that anything being used in the commission of a federal felony crime is subject to seizure. Guns, 4 wheelers, boats, pickups. Even heard of a house being seized. So I shy away from federal crimes.

GBH eating

Looks like a big sunfish

Eating full grown duck

So, I came home from work today and there was a GBH on the driveway side of my pond. He got spooked and flew to the other side of the pond. I noticed he had something in his mouth, so I got out of the truck and started walking towards him. He dropped what was in his mouth on the bank and flew off. I started to get back in the truck and continue on to the house, but I decided to go see what he dropped. I walked around the pond and found this on the ground.............

So, do the GBH decoys work? Our pond is in the front yard, so I don't think my wife will go for a scary eye balloon and my dog would destroy any GBH "trip wire."

The BG would have been swallowed if the thief had more handling time.

Maybe shooting shotgun blanks would permanently scare them off, not aiming directly at them. You could make some by taking out the shot, and leave in the plastic wad column.

The only thing that works for me and it doesn't work terribly well is constant harassment. I run them off when I see them. I have a dog but he must be short-sighted as when they are still they blend in and he doesn't see them from the house. Use your dogs to your advantage if possible as they are very effective harassment for the GBH. We also use airsoft guns (semi-auto) as a deterrent both due to sound and BBs landing around them. No way we could hurt them with airsoft.

If the GBH are determined like ours are they just roost in a tree and 15 minutes come back at which time we have to start over.

Then if we are too successful then I'll drive in around midnight and they will be there happily harpooning away in the dark.

'happily harpooning away in the dark'

probably could have come up with a phrase that had a little less innuendo...

Our border collie will happily run them off, but the pond isn't inside the fenced yard. She almost always goes with me to the pond, and had some fun the other day running off some determined geese.

Hay Pat, I had a GBH do the same thing yesterday. Landed in the water where it was about 6' deep. Swam around during the time the cnbg were feeding from the TH Feeder. Like u have never seen a GBH land in the water and swim to feed.