Predator Control Business

Guess I’m lucky down here, rich landowners pay to have predators removed. I’m not a professional and only charge for what I kill. And I get free rein on all the properties to hunt what I want, I have traded a few coyotes for a turkey before, but I WILL NOT shoot someone else’s deer regardless. They put a lot of work in their properties to have some really nice bucks and I just don’t feel I’ve “earned” it if that makes sense.
 
Just having access to the properties to hunt is payment enough around here. And as shoots100 mentioned, it sometimes pays by the landowner recommending me to others.

Not that long ago, I considered the coyotes themselves as payment. I would get $ from a couple different guys that would put up fur. Nowadays it isn’t worth it. I still have one guy that will take the very best of the best IF I feel inclined to drag them out and contact him. And then he doesn’t pay anything so it’s really not worth it from my side of the deal. It works out occasionally as some properties require that I remove what I kill. If it happens to be a prime example specimen, I’ll give him a call.
 
Wow! Y’all guys must have retired quite wealthy or come from serious money. I’ve gotten to really know my landowners and have made friends for life, but I have to work a regular 8-5 and do this on the side. There’s no way I could do this without getting paid. Keeping multiple properties as predator free 365 days a year as possible is work, lol. Time is a valuable commodity. I commend you guys that keep y’all’s access areas as free as possible all year long, and do it for FREE. Heck I’d go broke in a few months time. Traps and all associated equipment cost money, gas cost money, thermals and rifles definitely cost money, lol. Working before and after a day job means a lot of lost sleep for me.
Y’all would be a landowners dream down here, lol!!
 
Spurchaser said:
Wow! Y’all guys must have retired quite wealthy or come from serious money. I’ve gotten to really know my landowners and have made friends for life, but I have to work a regular 8-5 and do this on the side. There’s no way I could do this without getting paid. Keeping multiple properties as predator free 365 days a year as possible is work, lol. Time is a valuable commodity. I commend you guys that keep y’all’s access areas as free as possible all year long, and do it for FREE. Heck I’d go broke in a few months time. Traps and all associated equipment cost money, gas cost money, thermals and rifles definitely cost money, lol. Working before and after a day job means a lot of lost sleep for me.
Y’all would be a landowners dream down here, lol!!
Click to expand...
Mark, I can only speak for myself here, and I'm pretty sure you meant it in a jokingly manner, but I'm not retired, nor quite wealthy or come from serious money! I can dream though! Lol...

I think there are some significant differences in the objectives that you have compared to most of us guys up here in the northeast, and probably elsewhere. From your posts, you are doing a broad spectrum service of predator and invasive porker management to further manage game species habitat and numbers. I would say most of us that hunt coyotes are just happy to gain access to do what we love doing, while also doing a service to the landowners and farmers by reducing the chances of them losing their pets of livestock. For the most part we're just after a good coyote hunt. You on the other hand, while you may enjoy the coyote hunt, are also trapping just about everything other than the deer and birds you're trying to protect for landowners. Who by the way sound like "quite wealthy or come from serious money" kind of folks. Farmers on the other hand have been taking a beating for years now, so in my way of thinking, they're already doing us all a great service just by continuing to help keep our country fed while grinding out a living doing it. I think in your situation, payment is correct, and well earned. You are literally doing a job.
 
Yeah, these are very rich landowners with some very pristine properties.

If I get a call asking if I want to come call on someone’s property just for coyotes then NO I’m not charging, especially if it’s never been called or trapped. I’m just there for the fun of it at my leisure as long as I can bring someone along. I have a couple of pecan orchards we shoot like this.

This topic, while old, was about a “business” and everyone stated they’d do it for free. I assumed y’all had 24/7/365 access and kept the numbers down all year and had to be rich or bored stiff to not get any compensation for it. Recreational coyote hunting is different than maintaining predator numbers year round. I misunderstood the original post I guess.
 
Nahh... you didn't misunderstand. That fella was looking for help figuring out what to charge. Not sure current pricing is relevant to when he asked. I would say back then, for my needs, I would have probably been happy with the $ I made from the coyotes themselves.
 
I've never even considered taking or asking a dime for killing coyotes when land owners give me the ok to hunt their property nor have I done so when word of mouth results in someone contacting me because they have a coyote problem. Down here in central Florida finding someone to do the deed isn't difficult as with the dropping prices of thermal weapon sights seems more people are taking up the sport.

I'm a blue-collar worker, not retired, not rich money wise... and I have no problem with the personal expenses associated with hunting... I greatly appreciate a land owner trusting me enough to have access to their property and many of these places have lots of cattle.

Last year I lost access to 3400 acres due to a multi-year long in-family battle over selling the property... a Judge last year ruled the property had to be sold so it went for 40 million to developers, that's the place I hunted a lot and where the pics of deer, coyote, and hogs I use to post came from. I still have 350ish acres that was not part of the sale and a few other places locally.

Towards the end of the Summer I'll start hitting up land owners for permission and see if I can't acquire a couple more places to hunt... I've generally had good success asking, it helps when you're local LE as they know you will keep an eye out for trespassers and poachers, which I caught thirteen over the years on that larger property.
 
Maybe I need to give a back story here…

I was voluntold about 10yrs ago I was going to start trapping a particular property I had access to. I agreed and even though the manager said they’d buy whatever I needed, I told him I’d buy my own stuff cause it had been 35+ years since I’d trapped and I didn’t want them wasting money if I wasn’t catching.
So I did. I started catching critters (coons, possums, K9’s and felines). After a month or so l was told to stop by the shop and received a check. To say I was confused was an understatement. See, I get to hunt this property and consider it a privilege to do so. I was told I get paid for time and critters and to start keeping up with my hours as well.

Well a few months pass and I start getting phone calls from other landowners asking what I charge? To be honest, I still don’t know what the plantation pays me as far as hours or critters and don’t care because of all the other benefits I have on this property.

I didn’t have a clue what to tell other folks because I’m not a professional and have a daytime 8-5 job. I talked to my son and he said just to make it worth my time and to be able to cover expenses. Most “professional” trappers down here charge $2500-3500 for 2-3 weeks of work no matter what they catch.

I decided I’d just charge per critter, I don’t catch then they don’t pay. I don’t have a contract with any of the landowners and tell them straight up I’m not a professional, I just get lucky every now and then. We discuss what they want protected and I tell them what needs to go. It’s worked out good for all of us.

A couple or three years ago I got my first thermal. At first I was just using it on the plantation still getting paid everytime I set foot on the place. I realized, what I can’t catch, I can sometimes call up and shoot. It worked almost too good. I’d rather call coyotes and cats than set traps for them. So now it’s what I can’t call, I catch, lol.

I mentioned thermals to my other landowners and they were all for it. Like one told me, “I pay you for dead critters, I don’t care how they die, just as long as they’re gone.” So yeah, I get paid for what I kill. I turn away landowners every year just because I don’t have enough hours in the day to take on anymore properties. But, I do offer thermal hunting from time to time for coyotes for free if they’re interested. But I just can’t devote enough time to properly maintain those properties. I mentioned pecan orchards in a previous reply. Those are some of my just for fun places when my contact can go.

So yeah, calling and thermal hunting coyotes is more fun to me than trapping them and definitely another tool to add to the arsenal.
 
here in PA the game commission has a course you can take to be a nuisance wildlife trapper. when you pass the course you get a license to remove problem animals 24 / 7 365 days a year even when the problem animal is out of season. the landowners pay for your service. i have no idea what they charge.

the cheaper way for the landowner is to allow folks like limbhanger10 and myself access to remove these critters for free, in season of course.

if i did that as a job, i would have to charge to cover my expenses such as gas and time. i have no idea what that would be but would balance it to be affordable for the landowner as well.

some properties we could make a killing removing raccoons and fox for like 10 bucks each.
 
bohunr said:
here in PA the game commission has a course you can take to be a nuisance wildlife trapper. when you pass the course you get a license to remove problem animals 24 / 7 365 days a year even when the problem animal is out of season. the landowners pay for your service. i have no idea what they charge.

the cheaper way for the landowner is to allow folks like limbhanger10 and myself access to remove these critters for free, in season of course.

if i did that as a job, i would have to charge to cover my expenses such as gas and time. i have no idea what that would be but would balance it to be affordable for the landowner as well.

some properties we could make a killing removing raccoons and fox for like 10 bucks each.
Click to expand...
Thats cheap and a good side hustle. I won’t ever get rich from it, but’s it something I enjoy and can make a little money while doing it. Plus I’ve made some great friends.
Down here landowners can apply for permits to have critters removed 24/7/365 and all I need is my commercial license to remove them under their permits. I only post vids and pics of in season critters and only with landowners permission.
 
i dont know what a nuisance trapper charges i just tossed those numbers out there. there have been some nights, at those prices (if we got paid) we could have come home with 150 to 200 dollars
 
Around my area trapping and "hunting" coyotes are two totally different things. A lot of land owners will let you trap, but won't let you hunt. Most trappers around here make their money buy selling the coyotes to fox pens. I think the price right now is $75-$110 per coyote. A buddy of mine that is a big coyote trapper told me the other day that he had an order for 200 coyotes.
 
if hunters skin the coyotes for life size mounts, prime hides are worth money on taxidermy dot net. just have to watch out for scammers like other places too.
 
bohunr said:
if hunters skin the coyotes for life size mounts, prime hides are worth money on taxidermy dot net. just have to watch out for scammers like other places too.
Click to expand...

I've noticed that here in SC and NC we have some really pretty coyotes compared to most of the country. They are very colorful and almost look like wolves. The coyote in my profile picture, I wish I would have done some sort of mount because he was huge and very pretty coat/markings.
 
Haha, I saved my coyotes and cats the first year and it’s not even worth the time of skinning them out and using freezer space. Our fur is absolutely worthless unfortunately. Back in the early 80’s we were getting $25 for coons, $35-55 for Reds, and $75+ for cats. And that was green, not fleshed and dried. And we were 11-12yr olds running traps before and after school on bicycles, lol!! For a few years, we’d make more in 3 months than our Dads did for the year.
 
Back
Top