I live in a small town. The only somewhat local ADC professional when out of business several years ago after going to prison. The state keeps a list of fur trappers that do nuisance trapping. I got ate up with calls pretty quickly. A lot of things can be done with a fur license...but a lot of things can't, like cage trapping and removing to different location to dispatch. Which is what is required unless you're using bodygrippers in the city. I went ahead and got my ADC license. Not that difficult but cost a few hundred dollars to take the course, etc. To my knowledge I am the only licensed ADC trapper within an hour.

It is just a very part time thing for me as I work very long hours in my day job. So I refuse most jobs. But they are not going to the licensed ADC trappers further away, they are mostly getting local guys that aren't properly licensed.

Just yesterday afternoon I turned down a job in town that I drive by every day for work. But this morning when I went by there were cage traps all around the house....I could see from the street. That particular neighborhood has very old homes with deteriorating foundations and there lots of critter problems.

It does annoy me that guys do this work without the proper licensing. Thoughts?

I will throw this in for a different view, Where I live the sheriff's department and the county has cage traps. If you have raccoons or other animals pestering you the traps are available to borrow. Could those traps be on loan from such a department?

They don't do that here. Partially because it's illegal to do anything but dispatch or release on site. I get referrals from the game warden and sheriff's deputies. The guy told me who he's going to call. And it would be completely legal if the trapper was using 110's or 150's.

How do you consider that competition if you were called and refused the job?

I wonder what the consequences would be for the unlicensed guy if he got caught

Can the animals not be cage trapped and euthanized on site? I don't understand why cage traps would be illegal? Seems there would be multiple legal dispatch options available, even in town.

They're not being euthanized on site. Shooting is illegal in the city and injection is against the state ADC guidelines, violation of which an lead to revocation of the permit...which they don't have anyway. Regardless, they are not euthanized on site.

Happens all the time, especially on social media. People will ask about an animal and removing it and folks come out of the woodwork trying to help to remove it, they could care less about the law and a license. Many do it because they know the odds are in their favor in not getting jammed up. Lots of hush hush deals between homeowners and those who remove illegally. Ended up getting called to finish a few that were unsuccessful, they tend to be the lucky ones who get the double whammy with pricing. The adc business is war, there are competitors, winners, losers and those who dga*. I don't turn down $ often unless there's a hitch to the job, then it's referred out, no time for playing games with these people or to run around and check to see if whether or not someone is licensed to remove an animal, got plenty of other adc jobs to worry about.

Everyone in our state can do it themselves without a license or permit on their own property. Everyone in our state with a trapping license can do it and get paid. Since you either can't or won't do it, what do you suggest is the cure for the problem in your state?

Same in NC.

More rules and regulations are not the answer IMO. Maybe the existing rules and regulations are the real root of the problem already. More rules and regulations drive up costs and stifle competition which is not a good thing IMO.

I trapped for 12 years for the counties here without a nuisance permit, the law allowed because I only trapped beavers. Then the USDA tried to get the counties I was trapping, in their program. They were telling some of the towns and counties I wasn,t a professional because I had no nuisance license. They tried many different tactics, some were illegal. At the time I was catching 1000 beaver during the cool months of December through February. At the same time I was licensed in two states to build roads and bridges as well as multi-story buildings. That didn,t work for them. I may not have had a nuisance license at the time but it sure didn,t mean I was not a professional.

They tried later by changing the interpretation of the law to where I had to have a permit but could not trap right of ways. I was trapping on the ranking member of the senate committee ,s property. I called him. We changed the law. Now any trapper with a license can trap for cities and counties along their right of ways and in there jurisdiction for beaver. I went ahead and got my nuisance permit that I use now not very often. My son did the same thing.

Another example: one of the licenses I had was a Florida General Contractors License. I knew several men that failed the test many times that built some of the biggest buildings in Florida. They were excellent builders but just couldn,t take a test the way it was presented. They were much more qualified than myself. It was not good for the community for them not to be able to build without hiring a licensed employee that was not needed. Just added to the cost.

Your comment is a red herring, because the issue here isn't self-help, it's people working for hire doing things they haven't bothered to get the license to do. Just like an unlicensed plumber, electrician, or whatever.

I suggest that the guys who are making a business of it, either follow the regulations that are permissible for trappers, or get the freaking ADC license like I did. The homeowners/housing contractors who hire these 2-3 guys who are running the side businesses probably don't know they are doing work that requires an ADC license.

I don't reasonably see myself taking any more ADC jobs in the foreseeable future, so it's not my competition....but is competition to any properly licensed ADC company, and there are a couple that service this area from an hour away...but I'm sure they cost more due to the distance and I can't vouch for whether they are any good.

The pests at issue here are not fur trapping situations, it's animals getting into houses/crawl spaces....mainly skunks, groundhogs, possums. There are also snakes, squirrels, bats, but those positively off limits to trappers.

I can see the need for some types of licenses for businesses but the need to be licensed to haul a cage trap a few miles down the road to properly dispatch an animal that was causing a problem is certainly not one of them.

The ones I have a problem with are the do gooders who set havaharts and haul their catches down the road and try to give someone else their problem.

It's like some of the driveway mechanics who's work is just as good or if not better than the guys in the shops that have certificates in a desk or up on a wall that reflects on them knowing how to install a clutch. Just another way to hit you in the wallet, that's all. I get the legality of what you're typing and I agree, if we have to be licensed and obtain permits for certain jobs others should too. Cash the checks and move on to the next job, because they aren't going to stop what they are doing, it's only going to get worse.

X2

What kind of license? State ADC, State Trapping or Biz?

If anything, trapping is the easy part. The exclusion is where the money is.

I wouldn't worry about it.