I know this has probably been discussed before and a common question. But I have an opportunity to trap beavers for a county road department 1 hour away from me. They are offering $200 per beaver. Is that worth it or do I need to negotiate a daily pay rate per check?

are you willing to lose on your time and gas if you don't catch. If you're getting paid per animal that should be the bonus to your pay check

That’s very true. Sounds like they have an abundance of beavers tho. I thought about just setting it heavy and increasing my odds?

Good plan! Will theft be an issue?

Theft shouldn’t be an issue. The areas they described, the average person won’t be going.

Too many variables to know if thats enough $.

May be a good time to invest in cellular trail cameras. You can physically go there with an animal in a trap.

Job from this spring.

One hour one way through Atlanta traffic. One acre pond with beaver chew all around inlet creek dammed up.

Evidence points to at least last year's mated pair so expected mom, pop and at least a couple yearlings.

Caught one yearling sized and one that looked like a half grown kit. No new activity since.

That worth 400?

Point being, you have no control over who's been in there before you, if they play in traffic or Bubba is camped out with a shotgun.

Figure your drive time, set time, set maintenance and formulate a fee based on your skill level and expected time to clear out a full strength colony. Also set it it up for a clear start and end date with option for more to follow as more will eventually move in. That way you get paid and catches are a no pressure thing you do.

But otherwise 200 per is a decent entry level price point.

I charge per day my traps are on the place for county work, same with school district, big company’s. That way you don’t have to show proof of what you catch. Not sure what your trap check laws are.

wws

Lots of things to factor in a lot has been said already, did you ask have they had someone in already to try and trap the beaver?

I have gone to a set-up fee/site inspection fee, this covers your first visit setting traps, inspecting the area, gas, etc. I charge mileage to my corporate clients or build it in to a flat rate service for some. $200 sounds like a lot but until you actually pull the beaver out you really do not know.

Some variables that are more business then trapping are, Is this a "in" you want and are willing to take it at a potential loss for future business? Or is this a one time gig? Did they contact you or did you reach out to them? If they contacted you, probably more leverage for you to negotiate.

County/Township infrastructure managers a lot of times just want one guy to call and know it will be taken care of quietly and professionally. They already have a budget for this service and do not need to shop it around. Many of these clients I have carried out some work for with the understanding that my fees will go up, if we are both happy with the results.

If your just starting out I would recommend you figure out your expenses and have that as your daily fee/ site visit and a per beaver amount as your profit. This way you will not lose (as much) money dipping your toe into the ADC world. You gain some experience and if you do a good job a possible reference for future clients.

I will say this, only once would I have made more money on charging per beaver, then the flat rate amount/daily amount I usually charge.

Most clients "say" they have an abundance. I've seen one so there must be a 100

I flat bid,,,,,,This much for this amount of days.
A long time ago I was doing clean up behind USDA at 300 per and sill made good wages before 6am..

I think it is all about how Good you are, and what are the expectations for the future.
If I make all the beaver go away,,,, so does my job.

I did it during the last fur boom with rats.....

Thank you all for the advice I will definitely take it into consideration!

Good luck, BB

I set up 3 this week.

First was pull truck over, basically drop a couple Comstocks at culvert. One beaver first night, two nights nothing and done.

Second has a large pond, goes under interstate a couple hundred feet through huge box culvert to a small pond. Beaver dam is about 1/4 way into culvert. Can't reach it from either end due to water level, without a boat/canoe/kayak. No fresh sign found, two days so far, no catch. Will need to break dam at some point, the state wants it opened up. I don't know if the place was trapped in the past. Boat launch is at far end of large pond away from culvert, unless I park on interstate and drag kayak through the woods.

Third I set today, took 15 minutes to drop Comstocks in a 3-5' wide stream coming into a small pond. (Trapped out 2 last season in same spot)

There's no way in hades that I would charge per beaver. Not to mention an incidental otter or snapping turtle, 20-30 minutes one way. I do hourly, including travel, with first hour doubled.

Dam IN the culvert? That's let's out dynamite! LOL

This is CT, we can't even use firecrackers.

Clarify expectations and property lines.

Had one for a local city that turned into a mess. Beaver in an HOA pond had moved up into the residents yards and started plugging the culverts going under the city roads.

Obvious solution was clean out the pond but city only wanted the culverts unplugged and HOA wasn't on board.

Check legalities. Until recently ROW trapping was strictly off limits in Georgia, still is for fur trapping. A few years back our own Kirk DeKalb got it legalized for nuisance trapping with written authorization of the agency controlling the ROW.

Another deal here. The metro counties inevitably end up owning the creek bottoms with zoning rendering them unbuildable and hence worthless. Without management the bottoms become beaver swamps and the counties do nothing but unplug what can be reached from the road.

The neighboring homeowners eventually get water backed up into their backyards and no way for me to go into the bottoms to legally solve the problem.

If asked the county will tell them to hire a guy but they won't give written permission to trap on county land.

I'm not comfortable with wink and a nod permission from the county that can and will prosecute if things go south or the counties getting service paid for by the public.

That is pest control, not beaver trapping.....
I like to be a lazy culvert trapper also....

The best part is you can just throw Jimmys traps in and they catch stuff...

What do you mean Vinke? Are you saying the OP is fur trapping and being offered a bounty for his catch?
It sounds to me that he is negotiating a price with the county to remove beavers. If they are hiring him, that is pest control, aka ADC, aka Nuisance Wildlife Control.
Are you saying if I catch a beaver at a culvert, regardless of trap type, it's not beaver trapping? Then what the heck is it?

Anyway, the point of my post was to say sometimes a beaver (or other animal) will almost jump into the truck. Sure, we all like the easy (lazy) ones. May even make a profit.
Other times, they will make you earn every penny, and those situations won't pay the bills if charging per catch.

We’re all about lazy trapping. We don’t trap beaver. Or muskrat. Or foxes. Or coyotes. Going over it, I don’t see high profit vs time spent. We like chucks, skunks, raccoons and squirrels. It’s a business. I want quick money and very little time spent for it. If it’s a hobby, ok, let’s keep it interesting and run with the calls that come in.

Opposite here. I want the tough jobs and charge accordingly.

Done my time chasing low dollar squirrels servicing as many stops as I can pack into a day where the upsell was the profit.

I'm getting to old for the ladder work so I'll take three or four tough jobs that equal a couple good exclusions.

The one I'm on now is the worst, sitting on my butt 14-15 hours snake wrangling for a film studio but I'm going to clear a good five figures for ten days of doing nothing but relocating one garter and five browns.

And I still got these folks on an annual coyote and beaver rotation plus on call for all wildlife.

My grey squirrel jobs start at $1200. A single chuck will cost over half that.

Are you selling the exclusion as part of that?

Two models here. Sell the exclusion upfront sight unseen, which is insane, or sell the trapping as the loss leader and upsell on site. Too many PCOs jumped into the game.

Coyote and beaver trappers here are either good at it or gone.

I'm good enough to still be plugging along, barely.

For the squirrels, exclusion is in the price for a small hole/holes. Obviously a new soffit or fascia costs more.

For a chuck that’s just trapping. Exclusion is $30/ft for a deck/shed. There’s no loss on the trapping.

No on the fur tapping.
Yes to your original post saying,,,, "I pulled up to the easiest place a set",,, You should have added,,,,,"I did not Look to see what the Beaver were doing"
Beaver removal is a thing,,,,, no bug guy will ever understand,,,,,,,,,.........

Anyone who charges to catch beaver and doesnt catch any for any reason is a crook.

Can I charge to solve the problem rather than to catch the beaver? I am so feared by the local beaver that once in a while the whole colony just packs up and moves when they see my cockeyed footprints, or smell my BO, or hear my thundering voice…..problem solved.

I've done that. But as ugly as I am I'd run too, lol.

Any NCWO who sets for beaver, doesn't catch any beaver, and doesn't charge needs to find another line of work. The other option is to give the customer a website where they can buy hip boots, traps, drowning rods, chain, wire, rebar, drowning locks, lure, and a spade. Recommend a couple YouTube videos so they can educate themselves. Tell them to buy some bug spray because the mosquitos will be terrible in the 90 degree heat and the mud will be knee deep. After the customer has all that equipment and educational tools, then they can do the job for free.

Trust me. When I'm done there ain't no beaver on site or its a contender for the Bigfoot Invitational Hide and Seek World Championship.

But that's not to say the property 100 yards downstream doesn't have one.

But it's a poor business owner that doesn't have a raincheck program for customer satisfaction.

I trapped 56 beaver on a 100 ac parcel at 350 per ....how are you going to charge a flat rate on that one?
I believe it would be hard for anyone on here to sell a 20,000.00 "contract" to land owner.

After removal, we filed the permits,(big deal in WA, Native Americans, SEPA, WDFW, ) and did the water mitigation.....the office is what makes more money with beaver problems...

Horsepucky-if there are beaver 100 yards away its the same colony and you didnt take care of the problem..

If the property 100 yards away is a different water body, or different landowner up/down stream, there may be limits to what you can do. We don't all live on the Frontier, some of us have to obey property boundaries, and some of those boundaries may be small lots. Just like hunting, you may see a beaver (deer} on the adjoining property, but with no permission, it's off limits, unless the animal cooperates and comes to you.

If there are beaver 100 yards away they are the same colony and can easily be trapped where the rest are trapped.No need to go on any other property.
Even beaver from an adjacent colony up to a quarter mile away or more will venture into the spot where the previous colony has been trapped out once they know the dead colony is not marking the territorial castor mounds.
I trapped thousands of nuisance beaver professionally all my life in towns cities and remote..

Our beaver down here don't travel once the heat is on.

I've trapped one acre ponds that I couldn't get them to cross over to the other side in summer.