If you can show y raise fish on a commercial basis (size of business
does not mean anyhting so yu can have 1/2 acre or 100 acres of say,
Catfish or tilapia you raise and "SELL" its not overly hard to get a
permit to shoot them. Arbitrarily shooting just to scare them even
with no intention on killing them or hitting them can get you in
trouble just the same as killing without a permit. Its called
harrassment, (just like what Carol does harrasses without killing) and
the migratory bird law states its illegal to harrass or disturb these
birds......So in all reality propane canons, sicking fido the dog on
them, physically chasing them off whle shouting obscenities at them,
or even use of a scarecrow sprinkler can be conceived as harrassment
and disturbing them. Odds are however no enforcement officer is gonna
do anything if you physically run them off or put your dog on them or
use a sprinkler, but I certainly would not get caught shooting to
scare them with a firearm or a bow and arrow or even a primitive spear
as in most places thats gonna get you in trouble. Fortunately just
talking to lots of wildlife enforcement offiers will tell you really
quick like enforcing certain laws is not on their list of priorities
or they will guide you to a legal way to do it.

For example what is illegal here is shooting coyotes form a elevated
tree stand etc and usuing an electronic predator call. Coyotes are a
big problem in this region, and law enforcement could care less if
you shoot from a tree stand and have a electronic caller.....Same
thing applies to herons in this region as well.They turn a blind eye.



On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 19:23:03 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:


Ok...this whole question of dealing with herons got me thinking - of
course in a "back yard" pond using nets and water spray is an option
(and I don't think shooting the things would be an option in a
residential area - in fact I can pretty much imagine what would happen)
but I wondered what would happen if the pond was much larger or even a
lake/loch...and if there was a commercial side to it. Obviously if fish
are being raised on a commercial basis having a heron or any other
predator taking fish becomes an issue if too frequent. Now, I know
nothing of the legality in the US but thought I'd find out what happens
on the trout farm where my Dad lives up in Scotland (herons are as much
of an issue over here as in the US)....apparently the herons are
tolerated as there is little that can be done about them - get rid of
one and another one turns up (bit like bad pennies I guess)....but they
do shoot at the cormorants - mainly to scare rather than kill....

Gill