You’re too low. For late spring or summer beaver work you’re wayyyy too low. I’ve charged all kinds of ways. They can all work at times, but some don’t work every time.
For fur trapping, getting the last one doesn’t matter. Catch easy ones, move on.
Doing beaver work, there’s only one that matters—the last one. You have to be willing to make as many trips as it takes to close the deal or your time spent trying to solve beaver problems was in vain.
By the beaver is the hardest way to price for typical ADC work, period. Why? Because not every beaver is the same. Some are on the side of the highway, some are in city limits, some are only accessible by boat, some have to be walked to, some are easy, some are hard, some are easy to setup, some require improvising, perhaps buying equipment that will only be used once.
Per beaver works when they expect you to catch some beavers and they have a lot of them, unless of course you charge a lot per beaver——not to make it a jackpot, but to ensure your costs and time are covered for the ones that take the longest. Sure, you can run hard for a week, catch a lot and make a whole lot of money, so it’s not always a bad thing, it’s just not practical for single jobs. If there are many locations, it could work, maybe.
By the hour is okay at times, but it’s easy to get complicated dealing with multiple customers on the same day, and complicated isn’t what I want.
My two favorites are by the trip and by the job. What you charge has to be enough for you to be glad you took the job and hoping they call you for more. If at ANY rate you don’t enjoy beaver trapping anymore, you’re not charging enough.
Record your mileage, expenses, and income, and then look at it at tax time. That’s when the “I don’t charge enough” becomes most clear. Insurance alone is just a hair under $1000 per year for me. That’s a lot of $40-50 beavers just to cover that single expense. You have to make a profit and people will know that. Do your best, charge enough or don’t take the job, and you should be fine.