I know you guys probably get questions like this all the time, so i apologize in advance. How did you guys get started with ADC? Can you do part time ADC work and still make a profit?

Yes, I did it, but I don't know how. I worked 40 hours as a spray painter in a factory and another nearly forty hours for myself. I

went full time when I had more work than the factory had. I figured out how much money I would need in a year to pay my own health

insurance, holiday pay, vacations, vehicle expense, advertising, and equipment. I made it, with money to spare. It's amazing how hard

and how efficient you can work when it's for yourself and your family.

what kind of jobs did you start out with?? I feel like i could do things like beaver and coyote jobs as a side thing to help out landowners and get my feet wet

I'm close to Milwaukee so we do an amazing amount of raccoons and squirrels. We also do enough woodchucks, skunks, opossums, and

various other goofy stuff. This week we got paid to haul a dead cocker spaniel out of a customer's backyard. Don't worry; it had a

collar and we called the owner to let her know. She thanked us and said that the dog was 14 years old and had been missing since

November and she thanked us for the closure. Do dogs get Alzheimer's too?

oooh yikes....that is the sobering part of ADC i can imagine. I bet the tough jobs make it seem like work at times.

Of course. Wildlife control is a very good part time business. I'd bet there are more part timers in the business than full timers.

I've been doing it part time for five years now and have made money every year.

what kind of jobs do you do sgs? do you specialize in anything? or just do a little bit of everything?

I imagine it all depends on what other kind of work you do besides ADC work....myself I was a full time Stone Mason and did this part time..until my back made up my mind for me.....Now it's this full time !

Part-time is the way I started. Full time job was from 7:00pm till 3:00am. Went home for a few hours and then did the ADC thing for most of the day.

do you think you could get paid to do beaver and coyote jobs?? i feel like theres a need, but do people really pay bounties for coyotes and beaver??

You just have to figure out what services are in demand in your area. I wouldn't go into it thinking 'fur trapping'. Most ADC work is non-furbearer related, yet some overlap, i.e. squirrels, bats, birds, skunks, woodchucks, coons.
In my area, I get no canine and almost no beaver work. Yet, Don LaFountain has perfected his business nothing but beaver. Each area is different.

Dave Salys of Montana (who I haven't heard from in quite some time) was doing it on the side last I heard.
Wink is a wellspring of information...a surprising amount of it is good!
BTW, Wisconsin isn't very close to 'Bama: are you cloned?

Cloned...stationed...whatever. lol.

Most of my jobs are 'squirrel, skunk, raccoon, etc.' but beavers are a bigger percentage every year.

where did you guys learn how to trap ADC? or did you just kinda...figure it out as you went?

Bow Bender, this isn't directed at you in particular, just guys in general; If you're a fur trapper, most of the animals you've

already caught. And if you can't figure out how to catch stuff like squirrels, you're too dumb to be an ADC guy anyway and you should

look for something simple, like being the President.

Bow Bender

Please do not be offend by this, but if you have to ask this question I would suggest reading the following manuals. Best Practices for Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators. National Wildlife Control Training Program core Principles and Information. The Wildlife Damage Inspection Handbook. ADC work is much different that fur trapping. A lot of your time is spent selling your services and knowing how to take care of much different situation. ADC operators are problem solvers. When dealing with the public you have to really show compassion and respect for all the animal you have to deal with. You also have to always remember, they call you because this animal etc. is a real problem for them.
A lot of the State governing agency's want to have all ADC operators be tested and have some formal training. I am sure all of the book will shed a great deal of light on the subject.

Bahahaha Paul thats funny! I guess i should have typed this question out a little better. What i meant was did you do an apprenticeship with someone that was ADC already to learn the best methods? Thats how i learned to trap furbearers, i mean, i can only assume ADC would be similar. If someone wanted me to get rid of a bat in the house, my method would probably involve a tennis racket! i'd look like the Turtle Man out there.
I guess i want to know where you learned HOW to do what you do? Obviously you all must be talented at what you do because theres a reason people pay you big bucks rather than drop 30 bucks on a live trap and get rid of the problem themselves.

--Bender

Bow Bender, actually you asked a pretty good question. I caught all the native furbearers in foothold and Conibears and when I

decided to become an ADC trapper, I made up my mind to catch them all in cages. I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that I was

able to catch furbearers like fox, mink, and weasels in cages without going through many extra preparations. Everything for me was

reading and attending seminars. I'm not big on trial and error. ( Heck, I've been married to the same bride for 47 years )

Thanks Paul that helps. I hear you on the trial and error thing! seems silly to reinvent the wheel when it comes to trapping anything nowadays! I've never been to a trapping convention before. Are there specific ADC conventions or are they all part of other trapping conventions.