x2 don

i am moving to mass with LT a putting don out of business....

WILL WORK FOR FOOD!

Being a tradesman myself seems to me a lot of you sell yourself short. I am just starting to get into this myself, but look around there are literally hundreds of company's doing tradesman work, carpentry etc that's thousands of guys working for them. I just counted there are 237 nwco certified people in Ct. My numbers may be off a bit used a government web site for my info http://www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/wildlife/pdf_files/nwco/nwcodir.pdf but you get my point. Maybe I am totally off thinking this I am on the outside looking in. The only variable that I can think of that is missing is the number of problems salved by nwcos in the state. I have been trying to find numbers of calls and jobs done animal amounts reported to the state but cannot seem to locate them.

daveh, you only charge 125.00 for 5 days of daily trap checks? (I'm assuming you have a daily trap check law). Seems very low to me.

Daveh...Very Very Low...I'd have a hard time paying for my fuel..

Don, Thanks for the info. I'll bet the ban on trapping in Mass has you pretty busy dealing with the nuissance beavers. Are the customers residential, commercial or a mix?

Trapper Don and swampdonkey, are homeowners themselves allowed to trap problem animals in MA?

A homeowner can do just about anything in MA when it comes to problem animals.(except for relocation, which is illegal for everyone)
This includes the use of leg holds and body grippers which are banned for use by trappers. The only exception on conibears for trappers is they can be used for beaver/muskrat on a 10-day permit issued by the local board-of-health. There are other provisions and exceptions but as you can imagine, it would take up considerable space and time to put it all on here. Plus everyone would fall asleep before they got to the end of it.

Thats so true

There is a sign on every road leading into Massachusetts and it says:

NO OUT OF STATE TRAPPERS ALLOWED

*and those with painted toenails DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!

Okay
I’m going to try to make sure I respond to each one properly.
VINKE
You’ll have a hard time finding me as I don’t advertise. All my jobs are now under long term contracts. If you guys come let me know so I can have someone to send all the price shoppers to lol.

Woofman
The prices I just posted were for general work. Beaver prices are different and higher. My work is now all commercial, Government, Rail Roads, Power Companies, Water Sheds/Supplies.
I will raise some hairs with this next statement for sure.
The trap ban had little effect on us either more work or harder to do. Do to the lack of a good fur market; we are at a population now that we would have been at anyway. It made it come quicker. I saw the increase in beaver population before the ban and I was getting paid to solve beaver problems then also. My clients don’t want part timers because they want all the beaver gone where necessary. The trapping method of sustainable harvest is not what they want or need. I am not saying it’s wrong, it just don’t work in most situations. The last beaver has to go and if it takes a month, DO IT. We don’t invoice until that one is gone and we do charge for our time. A per animal price will not cover the cost.

SGS
Pointerman is correct. The home owner can trap on their own land and need no permits or license or training for that matter. Most will not do it.
He is also right about the permits from the BOH. The can be hard to get unless you know how to word things. We are the one’s who trained the Health agents for DEP years ago and we also designed the form and gave it to the state. No one there knew how to or what to put on it. That is the short side and again Pointerman is right it would put you to sleep hearing it all or reading it.

Paul
Out of state trappers are welcome but they’re smart enough to stay the [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] away. LOL
Don LaFountain

WELL WORDED ...DON

not-to low for me as most of the time i wrap up the complaint with in a day or so im on any job less then 5 or 10 min for trap checks and removals a do on an average of between 10 -15 call's a day all with in a 25 30 mile radius of my office and my normal hr are 7am -4pm mf and off sat and sun except for emergency calls which the rates are more

How did I do????

http://wildlifeoperators.com/wildlifeoperators_web_site_028.htm

http://integratedwildlifecontrol.com/

Donald A Lafountain

8x Xxiss St
, MA 01062-2606
(413) 58x-9x7x
???????

Not bad but thats my home address and my home phone number and the other is just contact info. Now find were I work, me on the road, my real office, and how to get my work. If your going to give me a run for my money. My contracts don't come up for bid for another 5 years, so tread water till then. But you did good pilgrim. Looking forward to seeing you here. give me a call and the first pint is on me. Oh yeah here is my other web site to help you. See you soon. lol

www.mistyriverballooning.com
Take care
Don

All in good fun Don....... All in good fun.....

(telling me it can't be done is a major motivator for me)

I don't know how you Massachusetts guys do it. If I charged $300+ to catch a skunk I doubt I'd get any work at all. As it is, charging $75 setup and $50 per animal, I get turned down on half the jobs I get calls for.

Very few contractors get $100/hr in my area. You can get a plumber or electrician in to do work for $65/hr. pretty much any day. Carpenters, painters, flooring, auto mechanics, landscapers, etc. are all charging less.

At my current pricing, I'm averaging about $40/hr (after expenses) on skunks and most of that time is just driving.

sqs, after a while of reading what other guys charge, you realise that the country is made up of many different life styles. I would certainly expect guys on the east and west coasts to charge more than me in the midwest.

The cost of living is probably cheapest in the Dakotas and most expensive in parts of New York And California. ( I read an article that said a $150,000 home in North Dakota would cost just about a million bucks in parts of California )

What I like to do is see how my prices compare to what everyone else is charging. If I end up in the upper middle half, I'm satisfied.

This is what I get for skunk in Ma. Inspection & Set-up fee $ 130.00 ..$65.00/$75.00 per head depending on location & situation..This is if i do the job on a per head ..This per head price still sticks on jobs if skunk is caught as non target..or they can keep it & not many folks want a skunk

In SW Missouri I charge a $95 setup fee and $65 per skunk, groundhog or armadillo within a 30 mile radius. Just about every inspection turns into a sale, especially with skunks. I've been told that my prices are too low but for now I'm sticking to them. With skunks I set at least two and sometimes three traps and usually catch something in all of them. So three skunks @ $65 is well worth the daily trip - especially if you're running moles as well. Moles plans are $195/$50 and $295/$50 with full service descriptions on the website. When I get a call from a prospect they are pretty much ready to sign.