I Love This Time Of Year

I'm supposed to be taking life easy in my retirement years but I started the morning by chasing a red squirrel around a bedroom,

then a coon under a bird feeder, than one of nine skunks ( all caught in daylight hours ) than a snake in a window well, followed

by the fifth feral cat at another job. In between I checked out a muskrat job, showed our new techs which traps they needed for

woodchucks, rats, and foxes. Yesterday was chipmunks, a snapping turtle, mosquito spray, a dead deer retrieval. and a starling in a

fireplace. Everyone's getting a wide variety of target animals and keeping as busy as most of you are. Like John Denver said, "Some

Days Are Diamonds."

Sounds exciting. Having variation helps keep interest.

Today I caught a squirrel.

Upping my game

Interesting that you post this, I too am dealing with a little of everything and then a little more. My biggest complication is staying prepared,there is a very fine line between being prepared and staying organized. Especially when the call comes in for groundhogs, and you have a family of skunks. Or call for moles and they have voles , I could go on with various scenarios . So my question/ request for you all , can you post some pictures of your truck set ups maybe some pics of the workshop and some organizational ideas. Any ideas are greatly appreciated . I try to scan my calls and use my best judgement but I'm sure you've heard it all as fat as customers descriptions.

Some day I will learn how to post pictures but until then I can tell you what works for me. First of all, I drive a 2014 Transit

Connect and with six doors, it's the best vehicle I have used so far for ADC work. It should always contain 2 plastic buckets with

lids, a plastic container for waders, boots, and gloves. A plastic tool box for drills and any other tools you find necessary. The

three shelves in the back hold 5 large cages, 7 medium cages and who knows how many squirrel cages. A plastic box or bucket for

Conibears. A diagonal tube for stakes. An area on the top shelf for baits and lures. Big net, small net, graspers, & catch pole.

I know I've missed things so give me a question and I'll tell you what I would do.

Today was my 1st day out of the office. I was put on the injured list after I tried to argue with gravity and lost. I just ran mole jobs mostly.

Eaten, glad you're recovering. If you need any tips on the proper way to hit the ground, a lot of the guys on here will tell you; I'm

somewhat of an expert on the subject.

Sold a small residential bird netting job...vole and mole calls coming in...young moles are in dispersal right now...so it is fun to be a mole trapper...customers concerned i am catching too many moles but explaining the dispersal and what would happen if they let it go...they are more understanding

Caught 15 squirrels at a softball field. On more day to work. Someone smashed my trap out there.

Going to get a mole at a field. Start round two of my city gopher job today, training someone who's gonna run it for the most part

Paul- I just don't think I could handle a Transit, I do a lot of lethal removal, and rely heavily on customers to check traps. Unfotunately the customers are no where near as reliable as a coni. So the dead animal odor as well as customers who let live animals sit in a cage for a full24 before calling , I just couldn't handle all that odor. I have thought about once I expand possibly getting one for myself to do all service calls, set ups, and repairs, and another guy doing pickups and mole work. But that's a long ways away. The transit has great storage capacity, but Im in a 2012 F150 with camper shell/carpenter doors. I like some of your ideas. It just seems no matter how hard I try , by the end of the day it's a total mess. And the shop itself oh boy, love to see some of your guys "trap sheds" . It's crazy all the things you accumulate and then never use again!

Okay Pez, I will be the first to admit that having practically no sense of smell is a big plus in this business. But I also take a

little extra care with the stinkers. Yesterday afternoon I had to pick up a decomposed cat. I have a tight sealing plastic bucket for

all those fragrant little corpses. And if some odor should escape, there is a bottle of Odo-ban or something like it in door

compartment. I also have a habit of cleaning out the cages and leaving as much of the customers top soil at his house rather than

bringing it home to mine.