Posted: 11/24/2014 10:27:48 AM EDT
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and other aquatic birds of prey
I have both a crane and a cormorant that have decided my stocked catfish pond is there personal buffet... it is illegal to shoot the sons of bitches and I've probably last 200 cats in the last 2 years..some of which were over a foot long and I was planning on beginning harvesting this past spring I bought the dummy aligators and they just mock them I have dumped 20 rds of .22 into the pond as they've been spotted on the banks a dozen times I have not tried the "reflective ball" thing as yet..but after the gator head failure, reluctant to spend more money on something useless. I would rather not SSS nor will I admit if I do, being a conservationist at heart it is difficult for me to destroy these beautiful yet aggravating and expensive to me anyways birds of prey...  Chef
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Maybe install a large net over the pond? I've seen it done at airports to keep birds away.
ETA: a quick web search turned this up. |
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Quoted:
They can't hang out and "fish" if they can't stand in the water. 8 ft chicken wire in the shallow places, staked out a ft or so above the water. Feet cant and head cant get thru it. another vote for this. Also I'm a conservationist but Cormorants are on my hate list and when I see one bite the dust (legally with a permit, that is, of course), I lose no sleep. Ask the guys around the Great Lakes how they like 'em eating all the salmon fingerlings or the lakes in N MN that they have stripped of all the walleye or in NY of the devastation they have on yellow perch, etc. I believe an adult Cormorant can eat up to ~2lbs of fish a day. I HATE 'EM!!! |
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Sure it's a cormorant? I don't think you normally see just one of those. If it is one, though, I wouldn't feel the slightest guilt about its disappearance. Damned nuisance invasive species that needs to be eradicated.
I like cranes, though. Even when they scare the ever-lving shit out of you when you're walking along the bank and scare one up. They aren't so numerous, and pretty solitary, so I wouldn't mind providing fish dinners for one. |