Leave the poor bird alone!!

[Scalem]

Last Saturday when I was at mud island, I was sickened by what I saw. Nearly a week later I am still thinking about it, which is why I am writing this post. These guys were casting unweighted pillies out while at anchor, and because of the prevailing current, the baits were staying afloat. So guess what happened? Terns and seagulls were diving at the baits, and picking them up. I too get frustrated at the persistance these birds have, but one fisho, when realising that the bird had lodged the hook in its neck, kept striking his rod hard in the attempt to dislodge the hook. After about six attempts, his striking only became harder and more vigorous. I thought the line was going to snap for sure, it must be at least 20KG, anything lighter would have broken by now. Either that, or the birds neck was going to land at his feet, minus the rest of the poor thing's body!! >:( I could not watch any longer as the bird was obviously losing energy, struggling to regain flight after every strike, and because I was by myself and there were a total of 3 BIG guys in their boat, I would have started something I may not have been able to handle had I have tried to help the poor bird. Where were your brains fellas? Leave them at home? Carefully reel the bird in and try release it with minimal harm. A wildlife officer would have slapped a hefty fine on the culprit for sure!! I hope we all can learn a lesson, and even if you have no respect for wildlife, one day you will be sorry when an authority spots you. :o Again, the minority spoils the reputation of the majority. Generally most fishos would know better.... Isn't that right!!!!

Scalem

[littlejim]

scalem,

I agree with your recommended course of action of slowly reeling the bird in and unhooking it. During the mutton bird season down here you need 1/2 pound leads because they (the MBs) can catch up to a 1/4 pound take the bait and tangle 14 of their mates in the line between them and the boat. Takes about 1/2 an hour to sort out the debacle.

But I think you are being a bit hard on the bloke you saw. maybe he didn't have a clue what to do, rather than being a natural born torturer. An injured seagull is not in the same league as a dead whale for scientific purposes.

Maybe he had had a seagull pinch his expensive lunch at the Sydney fish markets and has a thing about them.

I get more upset by the blokes who leave yards of old line around the rocks, so we have to spend the first 15 minutes cutting birds out of the tangles instead of rigging up. When we aren't there the birds obviously starve to death or drown at high tide.

it has just dawned me that it might be the same bloke. Stopped fishing the rocks and now has a boat. Same IQ.

[Scalem]

Hi Littlejim,

Fair comments.... Maybe he didn't know what to do, but neither did the other two blokes in the boat who seemed oblivious to what was going on. Surely someone knew what to do? I can't discount the fact this is a warm blooded animal being caused a huge amount of distress when a little thought could minimise injury. Try the same type of behaviour on Fraser Island and see how long you last before a massive fine from one of the guys on patrol.

And.... If I saw a bird tangled in line, it would not be the slightest inconvenience to me to take the time cutting it free instead of rigging up, but the point you are making I agree with, the line should not have been carelessly disguarded in the first place.

Scalem

[Hagar]

Here's a lighter side to bird stories .
Last mackeral season a mate of mine who can be prone to being a little different at times was getting very peed off with some black seabirds taking his pillies and getting tangled in his floatlines . The same ones were hanging around his boat so enough was enough and he began imprisioning them in the rope locker as they were caught to ...well save them from themselves . He intended to release them at the ramp but was inspected by fisheries on pulling up . No problem with the mackeral bag number until the officer opened the hatch to check for hidden fish and several angry birds came squawking out . He got a lecture but everyone else cracked up bigtime . ;D ;D

Chris

[bidkev]

Fecking cracker Chris ;D ;D I can just see the officer's faces.......and your mates :-)

I was going for garfish once on Sandgate pier...........4lb line and I had a gull get tangled as it came after the bread burley. I had a troup of Japanes tourists behind me squeeling with delight as i tried to play it "in flight" for about 10 minutes. They must have thought it was some lifelike kite or something ;D My line eventually snapped and pulled through the gulls feathers so alls well that ends well.

Scalem, I know where you're coming from mate. I can't believe that anyone wouldn't know to wind in slowly. I'm guessing that they knew that if they did that then *they* would have to sort out the mess on board and that the fishing time would be curtailed and they wou;ld risk getting a peck on the knuckles.. Perhaps they thought that the most effective option was to yank and w*nk (IMO) in the hope that it would sort itself out at the expense of the bird and not them. Sad reflection of (luckily) a minority on the water nowadays.

kev

[cuzzamundi]

bloody upsets me too seeing that. i got seagulls near my house, and i got into a blue with these three blokes for throwing crap at em. just no need. here's hoping they are a minority.

cheers,

cuzza

[Billo]

Pretty sad state of affairs ....i would think everyone would know that yanking the crap out of it isn't going toi help !

Hey Chris , what IS the leagal size and bag limit on mutton birds ? ;D

[rocket]

Love the mutton bird story chris ;D ;D ;D

I can now adopt a different approach when they are on their migratory run and leave the house bricks with ten foot of line and a hook at home. :D

Only problem is I don't have a hatch on my boat, how about a big esky with the lid ajar???

[littlejim]

You're right scalem, you'd think anyone with a modicum of common sense would do what you do. But I have seen bods in action who don't know what to do especially if they are beginners. I hope that was the case rather than him being an obnoxious t**d. Maybe he has Asperger's syndrome.

I found it it interesting with my two fishing mates when we first saw the Steamers Beach seals near the boat. Comments were 'isn't that cute, aren't we lucky' etc. etc.

After a few fish had been pinched (how do they avoid the hooks?) it was more along the lines of "f@#$%ing B&^#$s" etc etc.

The mutton bird story above must have restored your faith in our fellow fishos (except that bloke you saw). I'm not smart enough to think up stunts like that. I usually just pull up stumps and go elsewhere.

I did once have to untangle 14 of the buggers. Takes up a lot of fishing time. I am very grateful they have such a limpwristed bite. After the distances they have to fly I guess they are pretty hungry.

My son once caught a gannet during a tailor session. Nobody else volunteered to help him including all the macho mates. they (gannets) look as though they could take a finger off. The old rabbit trappers way of getting tiger cats out worked, wrapped him up in the sugar bag while we removed the hook. Still have ten pinkies.

[Scalem]

Thanks Guys for the humour, I can certainly see the lighter side, and I am over the bird story I told, I hope I don't see it again which I admit, was the only time in 25Years of fishin'.

At Fraser all the ol' salties were standing around waiting for the tide to bring more water into the main area the Tailor are known to be, but you could see sharks cruising the shallows, and nobody was fishing, until one of our crew, David decides he wants to catch one of the sharks on the surf rod with a slab of Tailor we caught earlier. Yep, you guessed it, the mutton bird struck again and picked up David's bait, and would not let go. It provided a bit of entertainment for the ol guys sipping their beers while waiting for the afternoon schools to come in. Who is this guy one of them asked?.... Nobody I know was my reply...
;D

[bidkev]

You're right scalem, you'd think anyone with a modicum of common sense would do what you do. But I have seen bods in action who don't know what to do especially if they are beginners. I hope that was the case rather than him being an obnoxious t**d. Maybe he has Asperger's syndrome.

<snip>
.

Mate, obnxious as they may be at times, AS kids have a lot more morality than to hurt dumb animals. They are also a lot better at problem solving than many "experts" would have us believe. Trouble with "experts" is that they stereotype kids with disabilities and can't see the individual.

kev

[littlejim]

Kev,

I was referring to the social skills. I guess anyone who knows what the term means has personal experience of it rather having read about it. I can tell that's the case with you , same here.

however we arecurrently trying to get the 4.5yr old AS grandson to enjoy watching the rainbow lorikeets at the feeder, but he gets more of a kick out of chasing them away. He can read (I couldn't at 4.5), play a few things on the piano, tell you which is the old Rwandan flag and which is the new one, pretty adept on the computer too. But interacting with other kids and rainbow lorikeets is a different story.

[bidkev]

Kev,

I<snip>
But interacting with other kids and rainbow lorikeets is a different story.

;D It's early days mate. You'll be surprised what some of them can pull out of their hat as they get older. My lad prefers his own company but I'm lucky in that he isn't a "spoiler". Some of them try to interact and play, but just seem to get in the way and mess it up for the other kids ;D :'( Don't know whether to laugh or cry at times, but hey, as long as the kid is enjoying himself hey?

That said, he's me best mate and there's nothing he doesn't know about Dracula and Vampires.......Just wish he wouldn't have to try clueing me up all the time as to who gets staked and when ;D..Maybe he'll have a photographic memory for vermin location one day ;D

cheers

kev

[once_bitten]

Im no greeny I dont have any comments that can even in the slightest of ways excuse the behavior of those that think trapping, injuring, torturing or killing the locals. (birds or other ) there is no excuse.

Just like u and i who can go to the supermarket to buy our food items, this is the way the wildlife have a break from having to hunt.

What would u do if u had to hunt for every scap of food u needed to support you and your family

we get a variety of foods to eat they dont

dont agree with me tough

[speckly]

settle down mate ;)

[Burley_Boy]

Mate I can't see why you didn't pull alongside and advice on how to handle the situation. At worst they tell you to take a hike and you move off, at best they realize they are out of line. In the end if noone reacts they don't think twice. You don't have to get into a knife fight to tell them that you feel their approach is unacceptable. I might not be happy being told I'm a twat but I'll think twice the next time.