I was told by a friend that (knowing I just started trapping) he knew a person that was having beaver prob. After talking to the guy he said I could knock myself out with as many beavers as I want.
Got me thinking..... There might be $$$$ to be made in this.
So my question is... How much do you charge per beaver? I know there use to be a bounty in this area but I checked Local and the county has a contract with a co. for the next 3 years so there is no bounty.
I have Sold cars for many years But with the market bad I have decided to venture out on a limb.
Is it Possible to make a living doing somthing like this? And if So any advice out there.
Where I live the Beavers are all over the place and with Snares I have landed some monsters.
Thanks
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08/09
27-coon
6-grinners
2-gray fox
1-beaver

In my world there is NO per Beaver price. I charge by the hour as well as I charge milage.

$150 set up and $100 per animal working locally.
bob evans

I charge a service fee plus a per capture price. You must remember that ADC is totally different than fur trapping. So... do you want to get paid to do a job (catch them all) or are you happy with making a few bucks and moving on. Another question is what does the customer expect or want. I have had some beaver jobs that the beaver holed up for two weeks. that is a lot of time and gas wasted. the first week on one job i caught 14 beavers and then spent 4 months catching the last one. i guess as long as the customer and you have clear expectations and have communicated effectivly there shouldn't be anything left to do but go have fun. Good Luck, Tim

In my neck of the woods I charge 250.00 to 375.00 for set-up and then 89.00 per beaver. Price is higher if a boat or canoe is needed. I use mostly footholds on a drowner cable or 330's. Make sure you have all the necessary insurance first. Good luck.

There are MANY variables that will come into play when pricing a beaver job (or any other wildlife control job for that matter). Your cost of doing business. Mileage to site. Size of body of water or length of waterway where the problem exists. Scouting time. Set-up time. Daily trap checks (time and mileage). Duration of trapping program. Possible interference from locals who oppose your activity. Time of day (or night) that you must retrieve catches.

The number of beavers has ZERO to do with the cost if you are operating as a WCO. You are there to solve a problem, not fur trap. In most cases, clients have no idea fur trapping even exists, so they certainly are not in the same mindset as a fur trapper who gets paid by how many animals he catches. I see many WCO's that use per animal pricing.... as if the customer is comparing it to fur trapping. The only one comparing it to fur trapping is the trapper, and that is THE biggest mistake you can make.

Step one - forget everything you know about the "money" end as compared to fur trapping. The only thing you will ever use from fur trapping experience is the methods to capture certain species. End of similarity.

Wow! Thanks
Ya as I have started to notice trapping for fur is not going to pay the bills... LOL.
But The input on WCO's is great. The more I hear the more informed I am on making the decision to try it.
I have sold cars for a long time and the guys got a kick out of us working a 11 hour day and then hunting season opened up and I would be rushin into work changing from Camo to Tie and Slacks. As everyone knows the Car market is not good so If I can stay in my Camo's all day I would Freakin Love It!
I even have the WIFE pushing the issue. Sold my Motorcycle to have a few dollars to play with while i was learning.

When I first started WCO work, I had a real problem making money doing beaver work. Bearver are allot of work! Make sure you price these job to be allot of work and time! Or you will loose your butt!

And make sure you talk with the customer up front and find out what they expect on the job.

Beavers can be tought hard work at times! Its not trapping fur for a farmer and one educated beaver can make life suck! Just make sure you lay out everything to the customer up front and cover your bases. Also take a real good look at the job and know what is needed before you start or give a price. I give no prices over the phone other than the first sevice call and insp fee's.

Brent

KEE KEE good point.Most of the jobs I've had were for young of the year,2-2yr, olds.
Had a job were a fur trapper missed one! That was a long job.
bob

$150. set-up and $100. per beaver is what we charge.

Thanks LT, We get $159 and $95.

Educated beaver who stopped learning!

Here are the first two beaver I took from a location where another ADC guy had been. Both adults had injuries from the other ADC person. One was missing a toe the ather an entire front leg. So far I have taken 7 from this spot.

I had a similar experience, where a nincompoop ADC guy took the front leg off a beaver, and I was lucky enough to catch it by a rear leg. I was also lucky enough to give that incompetent WCO a good talking to. I see him every time I look in a mirror!

Ron has a great point that i never thought of. The number of animals has nothing to do with solving the problem to the customer. Here in Iowa it is tough to get a farmer to pay for having animals removed so i have to try and find a happy medium. I usually have an idea how long it will take me to clear an area. lets say if the job is close, i need 300 a week for 2 weeks. so i set the service fee at 600, this is going to pay my costs and some of my time at least. plus 100 per beaver and 40 for incidentals is my incentive and what i really end up making for profit.Look into what it costs to hire heavy equiptment for a day and we are way underpaid. if i am worth my salt i'll get r done and move on. if i screw up then i have a little wiggle room to fall back on. I like Paul have a beaver in my living room that i caught 3 times, he has a missing back toe and a missing front leg. This is the beaver i was after for 4 months. I talked to Clint Locklear about this beaver while in pursuit of him and he said i will learn more from this 1 beaver than catching 500 easy ones. He was right and i am reminded to "do it right the first time" every time i look at that [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] beaver in my livingroom.

..................

...does that mean it was him?

Yeah it does, but I gotta tell you, when I look in the mirror nowadays, I expect to see Brad Pitt but what I see is Walter Brennan.

I charge $25/hr and .50 cents a mile since gas is back down now. Includes drive time, inspection, setting and trap check time as well as trap removal at the end. If I check empty traps I still get paid for my time. I offer the option for the client to check the traps and call me to remove catches if they want to reduce cost. Most don't want to do this, so I get paid to ride and look. I always explain that the catch will vary with the animals habits and may take extra time. So far no complaints.

Right now My wife and I are working a small pond that the lady says the beavers keep blocking the drain pipe. i got to looking and the only thing that was in the pipe was MUD no sticks. Anyway I found what looked to be Nutria Scat. Will they dam up pipes like a beaver????? And if so do you Charge the same?

LOL! I actually have my "City Slick" wife interested in Tracking and researching scat to tell what kind of Critter it is. Of course after she gets her make-up on. I told her the beavers like the "natural" look. But I am excited that she is getting over the being scared of the woods thing. I may have a partner....

10th, Good luck on that partner thing; my City Slick wife now runs the company, which includes me!

Guess we are some of the Lucky Few.

If you are with (married or other wise) a woman it's not long until you find out WHO is running the outfit!
bob

by the beaver with no set up fee.....

I think like any business you can only charge what people are willing to pay in your area. You provide a service and therefore should be paid accordingly but I'll tell you now if you lived in my area and charged these prices you wouldn't be in business. Now drive 3 hours south and you could make a living on ADC at those prices. Not that you don't earn it but people aren't going to pay it. They'll shoot every beaver in the county first. Now if it was a service you provided on top of lawn care or plowing you could afford to price that high and live with the 1 or 2 jobs a year you got because of your other income. Maine licenses Animal Damage Control Operators. The majority are trappers who want to trap and price more according to that then making a living at ADC. For my town (Roads) I charge just 35$ a beaver. No set up, mileage or check fee. I like helping the town out. Do I make money? No! For private custormers I charge 35 per beaver, 35$ set up fee, and either a weekly check fee or mileage, usually around .37 mile. I could not make a living doing it but I suplement my full time income a little. Another guy I work with does ADC and usually just charges per beaver, 35-40$ and thinks I'm a crook for charging a set up fee and weekly fee. Course he's a good friend. That's the community I live in and what is the norm. There is a few that charge as high as 50 and get their fair share of jobs too. Just my experiences.
Good luck

15 years ago I thought the same thing..... however, you would be much better off working a part-time job compared to catching $35 beavers. About a year ago there was a great post regarding actual costs to operate a commercial wildlife control business. The AVERAGE cost just to break even ranges from 60 to 75 bucks per hour. That takes into consideration all expenses. If property owners will not pay the price YOU REQUIRE to operate and make a profit, it makes much more sense to focus on something else (other type of animal control). It's important to keep in mind those beavers are not YOUR responsibilty. If they view it as a serious problem, they will pay accordingly. If they want nuisance trapping services for practically free, they obviously don't have a problem.... yet.

If you DON"T want the responsibility of removing ALL the beavers and NEED TO LEARN, I would ask the landowner for permission to trap other critters, as well.
This would help offset SOME expenses and releive the pressure for total eradication
I charge $40/beaver and $100 set up, normally, BUT, I am not earning a living at it either.
Hope this helps
John

"Ron has a great point that i never thought of. The number of animals has nothing to do with solving the problem to the customer."

The number of animals has allot to do with solving the problem dont get me wrong problem solving is the name of the game but the number of animals is what is going to set the price so to speak as to what it is going to cost them. If you price by the animal or by the day for trap checks(figuring how many traps checks you will have to get the job done depends on how long you been trapping beaver and how well you read the sign)and what traps you can use in the area, along with what other things and people are in the area, like a small pond on a populated area with kids around.

But in the end it will all boil down to what the cost is out of there pocket (most of the time). And thats what they are looking at for the bottom line.

But it depends, If they are doing major damage and costing a farmer, city or who ever a bunch of money per day or week. It maybe an easy sell. If not they are going to drop back to the bottom line figure and see whats best for there income. Just depends on what kind of job you looking at and who you are dealing with.

By doing the Insp before I give a price it gives me time to get my facts, figures and such in line before I give a price. And in the end may give me a better idea of how to sell the job and show them the figures they are looking for to show them how they will come out ahead in the end.

Thats why I never give a price other than a sevice call and Insp fee before I look at a beaver job. And I tell them why I wont give a price over the phone. Allot of our work falls way out in the country, long drives to make trap checks. The time of year makes a differance on time as well. Winter or sping or summer. How big is the area, what feeds the area or were are the beaver comming from. There are allot of things that can effect the price of a beaver job.

Look at it this way....If you get a call and know up front another trapper has been in there. And there is one beaver they just cant get. Now they are calling you! Are you going to expect to go right in and take out that beaver? Not knowing all the details? Or looking things over? Not me!

For a 150.00 set up and a 100.00 a beaver, you might get the beaver the first night then maybe not? If you dont and it drags out, you loose money.

My point is thats why I just dont give a price other than the Service call and Insp over the phone on beaver jobs. I can give them some idea of the cost but not a exact price with out looking things over first and setting down and going over everything from the start of the job.

Brent

Somehow my first response was mis-quoted. I stated the number of animals has nothing to do with the COST. The example above about a single beaver that may be difficult to remove makes that point very clear. That's about as goofy as per mole pricing on a job 40 miles from home with a single mole in the lawn. Very poor idea from a business perspective. Beaver and muskrat jobs almost always require a site inspection, just like bat work. As stated in the post from Kee Kee, it is the many variables that must be considered that will determine a cost for the program. The number of animals is only a small consideration when working out a price for the program. Customers want a bottom line price in most cases, and will seldom approve a job with an open-ended amount possible on the final invoicing.

The going rate here is $450 for total eradication.

Sadly, the eradication may not last 6 months, if the "supply" is not cut off.

When, I charge a set up and per beaver AND it is not too far (20 mi, one gallon of gas).......it MAY spread out the cost over a couple weeks for the customer.

10th Mountain Man

I have several podcasts on my site that David Vinke, Mike Flick,Ron Jones, Brent Saxton,Reginald Murray, Maynard Stanley, Kevin Dahn, Mike McMillian and many others have donedid that will address all of your questions in detail with their own experiences.

There are over 77 different podcasts with over 12,000 minutes of audio on the site.

I recommend Beavers, Beavers *& More Beavers and a few others.

ron is right, with ALL the costs associated with running a business i figured one time i need around 70 an hour, of course i dont get it all the time but i do keep this figure in mind when i do any adc work. Hey if they want to sit out there and shoot beaver on their time i encourage them to go for it but if they want me to solve the problem this is what i have to charge. otherwise I'll go on to the next job and make money no sweat!

traprjohn,
How big an area are you doing total eradication in for $450.00,
a five acre fish pond or a thousand acres of paper wood. I know I am a little dense, but your answer does not make sense to me.
Thanks,
45/70,
RKBA!