Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Blue Heron!!

I know I am not the only person that has to deal with one of these thieves. I have found out they are persistent creatures. I think he sits just out of sight and as soon as I go in the house he comes swooping in to eat my newly stocked fish. His favorite time to come is at night after we all go to bed. How have people handled these things? I scream, throw rocks, etc. He always leaves but not for long. My only solace is that I stocked 18# of minnows so hopefully he is spending his time chasing them and my other fish can escape.

They are susceptible to lead poisoning, from what I hear... :-)

Yeah. My brother-in-law is a state game warden and out of respect for him and the law in general I probably won't be shooting it. He did tell me that I can file for a permit to kill it, but they aren't in the habit of just handing those out.

Anybody ever use one of these?

http://www.thepondguy.com/product/the-pond-guy-blue-heron-decoy

I'll tell you what, they are good fisherman! We were all fishing for crappie the other day and one of those birds caught a bigger fish than any of us.

Some have used alligator/crocodile decoys.
probably the most effective is cheap stakes, snow stakes with bird netting or string as a visible barrier all the way around the pond. For some reason they won't land on the fly in the water, only land on land and walk in... I can't imagine that is a hard and fast rule but it seems to work for many on this forum

Regarding effectiveness of GBH decoys, I have a friend who has placed 3 in strategic locations by his pond and incoming trout stream. Having this many seems to work for him. His pond is very small, less than 1/4 acre; the stream on his property runs for a hundred yards or so.

One live GBH on our 1/4 acre pond doesn't prevent another heron from landing on the opposite side of the BOW. No more than 2 will set down at a time however. Others fly over, circle, then pass on by.

I can't recall how large your BOW is but you could try placing 4 or 5 decoys spread out around the pond, then add to that if necessary. A couple hundred bucks seems like a good investment that would last for years.

Thanks for the info on these decoys. I think that I'll give these GBH decoys a try in my pond. Lead poisoning works, but IMO it is more difficult to accomplish and doesn't solve the problem long term. Those GBH are quite wary and smart, and fly away quick. Then when you're fishing, they seem to fly around the pond and land over the hill - only to come back to the pond once you've left.

Those GBH are smart. They stopped showing up till I leave for work, and will fly off when they see my truck coming home.....

I checked out your link, but ended up buying a couple of floating gator heads. I had no plan of ordering anything when I came in today. You cost me $50

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/pr...CFQEvaQod-_ILVw

The gator decoys have worked great for me on the "water turkeys" the bird that dives under the water to steal your fish, but at my pond the gator decoys don't scare the herons away. I hate both the birds, so I love my gator decoys, but just not for herons. The gator decoys also provide a few laughs when guests arrive and first see what they think is a live gator's head sticking out of the water. Turtles sometimes like to sun on the gator decoy too.

Check ebay, there are several gator decoys on ebay, some are 3 part floating that look really scary, some are just the head.

I see cheaper GBH decoys on ebay as well.

NTHA,
Last spring I thought I had an otter problem, so I baited some body grip traps with medium size BG up against the banks. I noticed the bait was always gone but the trap was not sprung, so I staked down the bait. As it turned out, a body grip trap will cleanly break a hawk or a Great Blue Heron in 3 distinct pieces....Brutal!!! I'm sure there may be other effective ways to get rid of these thieves, but I found this process out by accident.

Turns out my culprit was a beaver....and I ended up catching her a week or so later.
Charlie