Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help HERON DECOY

Just interested to know if anybody has used heron decoys and if they worked. I read herons are very territorial and will stay away if another one is already there.

Hang on, cellog. A fish guy in Indiana, Cecil Baird, gets lots of GBH. I dont know if he decoys them in, or if he is just a good caller.

Seriously, he has a few tricks he can discuss. Have you searched the archives?

I use heron decoys for duck hunting, but never to keep other herons away...

I've been using one for a couple of years now with mixed results. Seems like the larger the bird, the more interested it is in checking the decoy out. I move the decoy around every couple of days. Overall I think it has helped and was worth the money.

I can tell you for sure they don't work if you leave them in the same spot. Mine is so realistic that visitors frequently point it out, thinking it is real. The real herons eventually ignore it. I've even seen them peck at it.

I guess I COULD GET A BIG DOG.

I hope he never catches it. It will blind him. There is only one way to ensure the GBH don't eat your fish. SSS

I've had pretty good success putting stakes around a pond (cut from cheap furrowing strips ) and then running heavy mono around the pond wrapped around a drywall screw on each stake. You don't need that many stakes but I prefer to have the mono set on too levels. One about 12 inches and one about 24 inches. Low enough they can't go under it and high enough they can't step over it.

As you may know they wade into the water rather then land in the water as a goose or duck does. So the mono is a barrier to them.

But the truth be told I have still had some that landed on my pier or were so persistent I needed to use the final solution on them. I hate to do it but I have taken out a few over the years. I do have a federal permit of that which costs $100.00. Don't get caught without permit though. It's a hefty fine.

Cecil, do you have to renew that permit every so often?

If only bass had arms and legs...

Yes every year. Last year I had new visitors. Green herons. Although the greens are supposed to only eat small fish I suspect they may have put a few holes in about four large brook trout. I found two dead ones with holes in them and two that were harvested later that the holes had healed up.

I've haven't renewed yet. $100.00 seems hard to part with so far this year.

One special problem I have is I'm not far from a High School and they light that area up like daytime. I believe I have some night vistors (Herons) I am not aware of due to that. I can understand some lighting but my God this is ridiculous. I can't even look for constellations in that area of the sky it's so bright as you can't see them. I guess if the tax payer pays your utility bill...