Had the same problem at the cottage but managed to get a handle on it through "various" methods. (thank you daisy) My dock has once again become a favorite roost for not only ducks but also seagulls. Both of these birds will leave evidence of what they have been eating all over the dock. Legally, I can not do what I would like to do to eliminate the problem. I have used pop bottle rockets but it seems that their memory is short and they return. It is a bit too far from the house for the daisy to help out as the dock was closer at the old place. I have placed a couple of Owl decoys hoping that they will see them and move elswhere with no apparent luck. Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks
We had a service that would come in and "harass" the geese at work (legally) they had various techniques, but the one that seemed to work the best over time was these scarecrow type things he made and mounted in 5 gallon buckets...they had different ones and they got moved around every few days as needed. Thought about this too, but never bit the bullet. Goose Dogs For Sale: Trained Border Collie for Sale for Goose Control
Some of the fish houses play a tape of a recording of a seagull being strangled /mutilated/pained. As awful as it sounds it seeems to be much more effective than the owls the seagulls use for perches.
I wonder if some streamers would work. For example, we've hung reflective streamers in fruit trees. For strawberries and raspberries I drove in some 6' t-posts, then strung a wire across the top and hung the streamers so they would dangle close to the ground. There are many types available. This is what we used:
Couple non-peta approved methods... Leave a jug of tannerite with crumbled crackers around it and when the feeding frenzy is on let the party get really loud and let it go out with a bang, or leave bread wrapped chunks of alkaseltzer out there and them gulls will pop. Nice, no but work, yes.
I see some great posts and ideas. A few of them would not be appreciated by the neighbors as they are a little more "citified" . Backwoods Savage . I have to confess that I had f0orgotten about using streamers, thanks!
The fish and game have tried to use the propane cannons on the elk heards for years with little success. I remember watching a heard trying to break into a hay yard with those things surrounding it. After a couple days, the elk would just barely flinch when they went off. This isn't legal so it is not an option, but the only thing that truly works is alka-seltzer tablets that are chunked up a bit. Birds can't burp, but they can explode I guess. I wish you luck with some city method.
[QUOTE="Camber, post: 1373857, member: 4934" This isn't legal Birds can't burp, but they can explode I guess. I wish you luck with some city method.[/QUOTE] It’s been done.. can I suggest putting French fries on neighbors dock you don’t like.. JK
I "motivated" a pair of mallards to vacate the grounds earlier this morning. (Thanks for the help daisy) Last evening after sunset, there were getting ready to congregate on the dock. Too bad for them I found out about it! Short range deterrent device. For longer range I use these. So far so good. But I have to be around when they are.
There are still quite a few mallards paired up. I haven't seen that this late in the season but then the ice went off the lake very late this year.
