Consider ordering some cheap lawn signs from Vista Print and stick them in each yard that you have traps in. You'll be amazed how many calls that will generate.

Good idea!

Seen a couple pics on here with folks having custom made marking flags, too. Use those to stake my traps anyways. Might as well advertise with them.

Hit a bump in the road. Figured I should post it for others coming after me in Arkansas.

I checked on game and fish regulations, sales tax permits, other tax business stuff, and business licenses for the places I'd be working. Thought I had it covered.

But then a friend who works in the termite business said I should probably check with the Arkansas State Plant Board. Guess what. I'm required to have a license in pest control for turfgrass and ornamentals. This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I spent today printing off the 500+ pages of study info. Of which only about 8 paragraphs is related to mole control. Doesn't even mention gophers!

All this info is about insects, weeds, fungus, and other diseases that can affect grass or plants. I'm going to have to wade through 250 pages on proper application of pesticides.

I'm not happy about this, but see no way around it.

There is a flaw in this particular system. I want to trap moles and gophers, but have to pay $100 to hopefully pass a test comprised entirely about weeds, pest, and diseases in turfgrass and ornamentals? Then it's another $150 for the license each year.

And I'm not crying that this work should be totally unregulated. I understand that big brother is there for a reason.

I just wish the curriculum was relevant to what I want to do.

I will be going through the exact same testing that a professional lawn service would have to go through to apply herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides to customers lawns. I don't want to do any of that.

I just want to trap. This test has nothing to do with trapping period.

Since there appears to be no way around it, you might want to take advantage of your problem. Applying pesticides, insecticides and fungicides may not sound very glamorous but it pays a heck of a lot better than catching moles and you could probably combine the two.

That's one of the main reasons I'm going to press on and take the test, Paul.

I love lawn care. I do all the stuff that I'm studying about on my own lawn already. Had the longest azalea blooms in the area thanks to fungicides holding back petal blight. And my lawn is 1/2" tall reel mowed tifway that gets monthly helpings of plant growth regulators and fertilization. This is why I learned to trap in the first place.

I've got all the equipment. Commercial grade sprayers and spreader...... Always had the idea that should the current family owned day job tank, lawn care would be something I'd like to do.

I'll make lemonade, but right now I'm just being sour.

Thanks for reminding me of the positive spin. That's a better way to live.

Terrier - Unless something has changed no "Ornamental Lawn and Pest" license or depredation permit is needed in Arkansas. I consulted with Blake Sasse with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission before trapping in Arkansas and he verified that no permit or license is required for nuisance wildlife control. In Missouri, if you were going to use poison for mole and vole control in lawn and garden areas then you would need the Cat 3 Ornamental Lawn and Pest license. However, in Arkansas "Rodenticides may be used to control mice and rats, but poisons or chemicals may not be used to kill any other animal." - Arkansas Game & Fish Commission Code Section 18.07 Since you won't be using poison or pesticides then you shouldn't need the license. Feel free to verify this and send me a PM if you find out anything different. Also, make sure you have ID tags on your traps. I've included a few links below that may help you.

http://www.agfc.com/species/Pages/SpeciesNuisanceWildlife.aspx#1

http://www.agfc.com/enforcement/Documents/agfc_code_of_regulations.pdf

Blake Sasse
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
213A Highway 89 South
Mayflower, AR 72106
Telephone: 501-470-3650 ext. 235

This is how the plant board fella explained it to me.

http://plantboard.arkansas.gov/PlantIndustry/Documents/circular6PestControlLaw.pdf

Go to the definitions on page 2. Definition 13.

""Pest control service" means any person who, for compensation, gives advice or engages in work to prevent, control, or repel arthropods, mammals, birds, reptiles, or wood-damaging or wood-destroying organisms that may invade or infest homes, other buildings, or similar structures and shall include arthropods, mammals, birds, reptiles, weeds, and plant diseases that may invade, infest, or infect shade trees, shrubs, lawns, turf, and pecan groves. This term shall also include any person who issues letters of clearance, or who shall solicit such work in any manner, but the term shall not be construed to include agricultural crops from planting to harvest other than those mentioned above;"

Then on the bottom of page 3 and top of page 4:

"No person shall, for compensation, engage in pest control service work in any manner as defined in this chapter without first having qualified, including the passing of the board's written
examination, and having in force a valid license issued by the board for that purpose."

I'd appreciate your input on the above.

Trust me, if I can save $250 and a few brain cells of studying, I'd love to. But I want to do whatever I have to do to stay on the right side of the law.

May give that AGFC number a call tomorrow and dig a little deeper.

That is structural pest control which does require a pesticide license in every state. Any use of pesticide or repellent would generally require this. In some states using poison for rat and mouse control in a structural setting is regulated by the Department of Public Health and Safety because of disease. I will contact Blake Sasse today to clarify things and post what I find out.

BTW - I think this is from your area > http://arkansasmatters.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=572742

"A Depredation Permit is required to trap nuisance game animals other than beaver, coyote, muskrat, nutria, opossum, raccoon, squirrel, and striped skunk outside of the trapping season. A Depredation Permit is required to shoot any nuisance wildlife at night. Landowners or their designees with Depredation Permits may use any trapping method legal for use in the fur-trapping season. Conibear or comparable body-gripping traps with jaw spreads of up to 10 inches may be used inside buildings. Cage-style live traps may be used. Traps set in the outdoors must be marked in accordance with Code 10.07."

Update 8:50 am - I just got off the phone with Blake. Nuisance Wildlife Control is under the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. As I thought, what you are reading is in relation to pesticide use in structures or ornamental lawn and turf. He said that a lot of things are listed under the Plant Board and some things are a bit vague and confusing. Likewise, a depredation permit is not required unless you will be shooting the moles. ;-) As mentioned before, the only licenses you need are those required by the cities you do business in.

Metro, you are more help than you'll ever know sir!

The legwork you just did is very much appreciated.

You couldn't hear it, but there was a big sigh of relief on this end of the keyboard.

Thanks you again for taking time out of your day to look into this. You're a good man.

Hey, it affects me too. I was worried there was new legislation or regulations in place that I was not aware of. So now it is business as usual...

I think most of my confusion on the subject was in "trapping nuisance wildlife for myself" vs. "trapping nuisance wildlife for compensation".

Obtaining that class 4 certification with the plant board to trap moles makes as much sense as someone that JUST wants to mow or plant landscapes having to obtain that license.

I pulled my traps out today with no more catches or fresh activity in the last 3 days. A good solid week of trapping. Tamped down all the old mole tunnels, and raked down the old gopher mounds.

Ended up getting 6 total. 3 gophers, 2 moles, and 1 vole. I really expected more catches. Glad I didn't offer a flat rate based on my "estimate" of how big I thought the job was going to be. I anticipate some new critters to move in from the surrounding area, but for now all is quite.

Also landed a new gopher job this evening, too! It's in my neighborhood, and I drive past the house everyday on my way to work. It will be a very convenient job based on location. Has real potential to get a lot of word of mouth with the surrounding houses who also have a lot of gopher mounds. Now I just have to make sure it is GOOD word of mouth.

Just starting month 2 of my very first gopher job. Getting paid on a monthly contract. I think I'm getting ripped off but i did have a clue what to charge. it is a large HOA and I am hoping to get referrals. I have
Done what the first guy couldn't. I just hope its not costing me money because I am doing a good job for them.

Richard, that is part of the learning curve, good luck.

Good luck, Richard! Pricing is harder for me than catching the moles and gophers.

Still plugging along here. Only gotten a couple more jobs since my last post. Done really good at all the jobs.

I'm running into a lot of skepticism when handing out cards to new people. The gophers have been there for a while, and the homeowners haven't had any luck getting rid of them. As I'm sure you've all run into, they are looking for a one and done fix.

The funny thing to me is that a couple homeowners I've talked to have HAD success in the past with trapping themselves, but weren't satisfied because they had to KEEP trapping. Therefore they had deduced that trapping did not work and had resorted to smoke bombs and .22's.

I'll keep at trying to build up a customer base, and hopefully the skeptics will see results and want to try it for themselves.

I'm having a lot of fun working at this, though. I've enjoyed talking to people, and even the people that didn't hire me have said they really enjoyed talking to me and were glad I'd came by. Did something right, but just couldn't seal the deal.

Yeah... Pricing is hard!
I have lost a job or 2, to lawn mowing guys. They use poison and just drop it in the tunnels when they are already there to mow so they quote a much lower price than I can for trapping.... But thats part of the game I guess.

Good luck to you guys as well.

It is still way more fun than my main job!!!

I let the people know trapping is a proven method to get rid of mole, I give the owner the option that I will leave every mole I catch in a plastic bag every time I check the traps.
I alway leave a note on every visit.

I let the owner know trapping is a proven method to get rid of mole, I give the owner the option that I will leave every mole I catch in a plastic bag every time I check the traps.
I alway leave a note on every visit.

Are the mower guys licensed to use pesticides? I'm just sayin'...
Experience and the lack of hard science to back up manufacturer's claims lead me to believe that mole poisons are marginally effective, at best.