I was at Scout Camp this weekend. Friday night a bunch of us grown ups were standing around talking about, of all things, wildlife problems. What got away with me so bad was not only the fact that I didn't bring up the subject but EVERYONE standing there knows me! AND what I do!

But still, I heard story after story of coyotes killing calves, coons destroying crops, snakes wintering in the basement, squirrels chewing up the attic, bobcat attacking yard dogs, fox problems, bat problems, even more coyote problems, on and on and on!

How can that be?! They are having so many problems, yet not one of them even thought to call me?!

HEY!!! ... Complainers!! ... This is what I do!! If you ain't gonna call me to come solve these problems then quit complaining to me about it!

One guy even said that his neighbor told him of his coyote problem, "Bullets is cheaper than traps."

So I had to ask, "And how many calves has he lost this year alone?"

"Three."

"And how many coyotes has he shot and killed?"

"Ah.... None."

Well, there ya go then! Tell him to keep at it. Maybe his cattle will last longer than his bullets!

We all hear that all the time. "I'll just shoot it" and I say how many nights are you going to sit up all night long? My traps are on duty 24 hours a day.
And besides it's illegal to shoot in city limits. Pay me now or pay me later.

Maybe he doesnt realize he could pay for your services with how many cows he lost

I'd say you summarized the issue with 85% of the public. You must have them not only see the problem
but see the amount paid for the solution as a positive trade off.

I have an exclusion job next week for pigeons and I wanted to net the whole roof with a canopy. After some
debate he was too worried about the shadow from the 2" netting (1/16" threads) diminishing his solar intake.

So he said, come by and measure my AC unit and I'll do that at least to keep them out of the nesting area.
While this is the typical nest spot, when I stepped on his roof and 20 pigeons flew out, they were under the solar
installation not under the AC which had a cheap old rickety HC job done under it, but was effective.

So I take pics of all of his panels white washed and included them plus what was under each panel and emailed
my proposal with two suggestions.

1) net or screen under each array $$$$

2) net canopy over entire roof $$$

He emailed yesterday and said net the roof!

I would have gladly taken his business either way, but the point is that until he saw the droppings blocking sunlight
and degrading his solar array, he sure wasn't going to have me diminishing his solar cash by even a slight bit.

Everyone has their mental hang up and we have to find it and figure out quickly if it can be overcome and if they
really want help or if they just want to ask if this is a problem, or in this case for this thread, complain.

Justin

Oh. Here's my other gripe.

I've got friends who want me to come to their house when I start my trap line.

Since I'm gonna trap some coons anyway, my buddy wants me to get the ones in his back yard that's been eating his cat food. I told him flat out, "Dude! If I come and trap them from your yard then your neighbors can't pay me to come get them from their house!"

Just 5 houses down the street from him another friend of mine wants me to come set for bobcat, coyote, coons and possum. Not that he's gonna pay me to get them. He just figures since I'm gonna be trapping somewhere anyway.

Both of these guys live in a neighborhood with at least 35 other homes. Pull out of their street and go across the road is another development with 20 or more homes. Down the road not a half mile is yet another suburb type development. And so on and so on.

These boys could have been a great asset to me as they know about ALL of these people in these places. They've each told me stories of this neighbor or that neighbor who have had problems with critters but neither have told these folks to call me! But neither one of them took me seriously until THEY had a problem.

Everyone wants a friend price, which is ok, the real problem is when someone wants a "friend of a friend" price.

This is one of the reasons to separate yourself entirely from fur trapping. It's not easy to do after a couple of decades, but once you decide that this is what's going to put your kids through college and a high definition cable TV in your bedroom, you CAN do it!

Nah, I don't think I'll be doing that. The ADC business doesn't pay enough around here for a life change.