The alarm clock rang and I rolled over to see what time it was. It was 7:00 am and I needed to hit the road early today. My schedule was full and I wanted to catch an hour on the sun.
I made my usual trip to the bathroom to shower and then returned to my bedroom to get dressed in a nice clean uniform. I grabbed some breakfast and headed down the hall to my home office.
An early check of email and faxes showed just the regular stuff, with some junk mail thrown in, of course. I checked my voicemail and learned that I had to include another stop to pick up a raccoon that was caught that night. With 10 stops on the books, it was going to be a very busy day! I re-checked my schedule to figure out where to fit in this raccoon catch and penciled it in.
Heading out the door, I forwarded my office phone to the cell phone and made my way to the truck. I gave it a good look over to make sure all of my equipment I needed was on board and I was on my way.
The first appointment of the day was going to be an easy one. The young couple had squirrels in their attic and was tired of living with their “squirrel alarm clock”. I checked my map to get a good idea of where they were located and rolled the truck out of the driveway.
Traffic was a little lighter at this time in the morning, so I was going to be able to get to my 8:30 am appointment with ease. Or so I thought. About halfway to my client’s house, traffic ground to a halt and I needed other options. Listening to the radio, I learned that there was an accident that was going to snarl things up for another 20-30 minutes. That definitely changed things! It was time to get off on the next exit and navigate through some city streets. A quick look at the map gave me some options, but they were not going to be that good. The morning rush would be fully under way shortly and the city streets going into town would be jammed.
I managed to creep up to the next exit and made my dash to the side streets and a couple alleys to get me past the crash. I decided to get back on the highway as the traffic would now be lighter with the crash behind me. It worked! I was soon rolling uninhibited to my client’s house. Life was good.
I arrived on time with a few minutes to spare. Jumping out of the truck, I was ready to tackle this squirrel problem and get on to the next job. I rang the doorbell on a nice home in Cherry Hills Village, CO and a young professional answered the door. I introduced myself and he said his name was Ken. I asked Ken to give me the details of what was the nature of the problem and asked him a few questions. I told him I would be doing an inspection of the entire house and the attic and he said, “Help yourself”.
It was time to pull the ladder off the truck. I made it a point to never take the ladder off until I spoke to the client. You never know if they are going to be home or may ask you to come back at a later date. I guess experience served that one up for me. Sometimes people just forget that you are coming. But usually, they are HAPPY to see the Wildlife Pro!
I rolled the 28 foot ladder off the truck and took it over and leaned it against the wall. Eased it back and hoisted it up to the roofline. I grabbed my inspection mirror and flashlight and tape measure and was on my way up. About half way up, I paused to look at a beautiful sight. The rising sun was hitting the Colorado Rockies with such a beautiful hue that it was amazing to look at. This was one of the great perks of working outside. The great views!
I made my way up the ladder, climbed onto the roof and began my inspection. I looked at all the normal areas, the rooflines, vents etc., but couldn’t find anything. Hmm. The house didn’t have a chimney, so I was going to have to inspect around the rooflines from the ground and see if there was anything that I was missing.
Back down on the ground again and my perimeter search began. Nothing in the front of the house. I went around to the gate that was in the high wooden fence. A quick whistle for any dog that might be waiting to take a bite out of me revealed nothing. I opened the gate and continued my search around the house. Nothing. “This is not right,” I said to myself. It was fall and the clues were not adding up right.
I went back to the truck, grabbed my respirator and my 5 foot step ladder and headed toward the attic. On the way back in, I asked Ken at what times he was hearing the noises. He said “Early morning and sometimes at night”. Well, this inspection was going to take a twist, if my instincts were correct.
I headed to the master bedroom closet where Ken indicated the attic access was located. I opened the door and there it was, right up over the clothes and shelf. So, it was going to be one of those balancing acts to get into and out of this attic. I donned the respirator, turned on my light and eased the door open. The access door was set aside and I made my way up the ladder and into the attic.
It was a nice attic with high ceilings, so it wasn’t all that bad. It was fall and it was cool in there which was always a welcome thing. As soon as I stepped into the attic, the cell phone rang. Murphy’s Law. I let it go to my voicemail because you never sound very professional trying to talk through a respirator!
The inspection of the attic was humming right along. There were no obvious trails in the insulation, nor wiring or structural damage. Nothing. A closer inspection revealed small holes in the insulation and some small trails along the walls of the attic. Then the tell tale sign that I was expecting, mice droppings! They didn’t have squirrels in their attic, it was mice.
Now for the hard part, convincing the owners that it was mice when they were sure it was squirrels. Sometimes your clients are “the experts” and you just need to convince them otherwise.
I made my way back down out of the attic, closed the access door and retrieved my step ladder. I met Ken on the way down stairs and told him that there were mice in the attic. “Mice! It sounds like a herd of elephants up there!” I assured him that it wasn’t elephants and he chucked a little. I told him “Ken, there was no evidence of squirrels, only mice”. He was a bit relieved to know this and I told him what his options were. We could recommend a pest control company to treat the mice and then we could seal up the home when the mice were gone. He asked for the name of the pest control company, paid me for my inspection, set up another appointment for a later date and we were all set.
I loaded up the ladders, tied them on and I was on my way again.
My next “assignment” was a little old lady (from the sound of her voice on the phone and that fact that her name was Agnus) that had a problem with cats doing their business in her flower garden. It was not far to her home from Ken’s house. I checked the map for directions and was on my way once again. It was about 9:00 am and I needed to get a move on.
About 10 minutes later I was pulling up to the little old lady’s house. I liked working for older people. I liked to pick their brain about how things used to be and ask them questions they never thought would come from a 25 year old kid. To them I was a kid anyway. I stepped out of the truck and knocked on the door. She met me at the door with a big smile and said, “Are you the man who is here to get rid of those dang cats?” I said, “Yes Maam!” She took me by the arm and pulled me along to her flower beds and showed me what the cats were doing. I had seen this before and knew that she was not a happy camper. Nobody would like to be digging in their flower garden and uncover a pile of “you know what.”
She told me she wanted me to catch these stray cats and haul them off to the pound! I told her I could take care of that. I excused myself and headed to the truck to retrieve two cage traps. I set them up in the flower beds, baited them up well and set them. I test fired the doors to make sure they were working properly and reset them.
I went back to the truck and retrieved a service agreement and came back inside to fill everything out. The little old lady offered me some coffee and I declined the offer. Then she started to tell me how her husband would fix those cats if he was still alive. I assured her that I knew he would. Looking around the house, you could tell that there were some things that needed attention. She was a proud lady and was the type to try and do it all herself rather than ask. I admired her and her spirit. We filled out the service agreement and I asked her to call me when she saw a cat in the trap. She agreed and I was on the road again.
What is next on the agenda? Another squirrel job it looks like. Grab up the map and get my bearings and the truck roared to life. The next job was a bit further than the first job, so it was time to make up time. Let’s just say that I was going a bit over the speed limit. Just a bit. I made a wrong turn onto what I thought was the road I needed and had to pull over and get my bearings again. OK..I figured out what I did wrong. Back on course again.
I remembered that I had a voicemail in my phone and picked it up to check the voicemail. I received a message about another catch that was a couple miles back from where I was. I had to swing the truck around as it would be a long way back if I didn’t get this catch picked up now. Fortunately, it was a ground catch and I didn’t need to use any ladders.
I wheeled the truck around and headed to the house with the catch. I rolled up the driveway, jumped out of the truck, grabbed another raccoon cage, baited it and carried it over to replace the one with the raccoon in it. I grabbed the trap with the raccoon in it, replaced it with the empty cage and headed to the truck. I was thinking to myself, this raccoon must be 40 lbs! It was a huge male that had been in plenty of trashcans and bird feeders. I loaded him up in the truck, shut the tailgate and jumped back into the truck.
Okay, back to my third appointment. The owner was not going to be home on this one, so I had some flexibility in my schedule. I grabbed the map, made some quick decisions and was rolling once again. About 20 minutes later, I was staring at my next job. Earlier in the week, I had been to this house and removed a squirrel from the fireplace. They wanted a chimney cap installed and I didn’t have the size on the truck for this chimney flue. It was a big one, 18” X 18”. That is a big flue for any part of the country, so I had ordered in this cap.
The ladder came off the truck and I whisked it up to the chimney. This was a very wide chimney, but it only had one flue. I hoisted the ladder up against the chimney and rested it at the top, just above the crown.
The chimney cap was unboxed and checked for any damages. I searched my tool bag for my 3/8” nut driver and couldn’t find it. Great. Another snag in my day. I searched around for a minute and still couldn’t find it. I grabbed my cordless drill and pouch and low and behold, there it was, on the end of my drill! Note to myself; buy two 3/8” nut drivers!
I put on my tool belt, grabbed the cap and headed up the ladder. As I was slowly making my assent, I heard someone say, “Hey, can you install one of those on my home?” I said “Sure. Let me install this one and I will be down in a minute.” Great. I might have sold a cap, but this would slow me down in my already busy day.
I looked down the flue with my flashlight for a double check to make sure nothing was in it, gave it the all clear and reached for the cap. I put the cap on the flue and had to make some minor adjustments, then secured it down. I stowed my tools in my tool bag and made my way hastily down the ladder to the awaiting neighbor.
He was a neatly dressed elderly man. I walked up to him and introduced myself. I told him that I had a busy schedule, but I could do a quick measurement of the flue and I would see if I had one on the truck. He said, “Knock yourself out”. I brought the ladder to the chimney, hoisted it up and flew up it. As luck would have it, you guessed it; it was the same size as the one I just installed!
I flew back down and informed him that I would need to order it, as it was an oversize flue. I told him the cost and he said “Do what you have to do”. Sure was nice to not have to haggle over the price of a chimney cap! I gave him my card and told him I would call him when the cap came in. Threw the ladder on the truck and was on my way with a wave!
Okay, 4 stops down and 8 to go! The next two were to pick up animals, so I knew they were going to be quick stops. The map….hmm..Where is the map? Oh, here it is. Under the pile of invoices. I flipped through a couple of pages and found my next stop. Fired up the truck and headed down the road again.
Each and every job is new and exciting. I meet new people from all walks of life and see some pretty incredible things along the way. I remember meeting a guy one time that had a huge house. He literally had a big game room in almost every room in the house. There was an African big game room, a North America room, A South American room and it went on and on. He even had an entire elephant in his house! You don’t go to many houses that have a stuffed elephant in them.
I was thinking to myself how lucky I was to be doing the job I do. It wasn’t a job; it was a way of life. It was the neatest thing that I had ever done in my life. I was getting paid to have fun all day, solve people’s wildlife problems and make their lives sane again. What a deal!
The next stop supposedly had a skunk in a cage. There shouldn’t have been a skunk in that cage it should have been another raccoon. Great. I pull up to the house grab some bait and a sheet. I peek around the house and sure enough, it was a skunk. It was fast asleep, but that would change pretty quickly. There was another wooden gate that I had to go through. I eased it open and it had a sticky spot. I shoved it a little harder and it came open with a crack. Well, the skunk was asleep, but was wide awake now! I pulled the sheet up to my eyes and slowly started walking towards it.
This guy was already upset and started dancing around in the cage. The smell of skunk odor was in the air and it looked like something had been harassing this animal and got a shot of something it didn’t want!
I edged my way to about 5 feet away and it let loose. Luckily for me, it was on the sheet. I continued to walk up to the cage and laid the sheet over it. I slowly…ever so slowly, opened the cage door and waited for the skunk to depart. Okay Pal, the door is open, this is your freedom staring you in the face, and it is time to get out of the cage. I propped the door open and slowly pulled back the sheet away from the door.
He or she (I wasn’t about to find out) was now on their way out the cage. With this cage so fowled up, I needed to swap it out. I returned to the truck to get another cage, baited it and brought it to the backyard. I moved it to a new location away from the skunk odor and was on my way again after it was set.
I documented my paperwork and got caught up on the last two jobs invoices, checked my map and headed down the road again. It was nearing noon now and I was starting to get a little hungry. I searched for my hand wipes and cleaned my hands. I managed to get a lunch packed the night before, so it was time to grab lunch on the run. Some days were like that, but this day was busier than normal and I needed to keep on going as the days were shorter now with it being fall.
Mark E. Dotson is the Chief Executive Officer of A All Animal Control, a Nuisance Wildlife Management firm with offices nationwide.
Mark brings twenty years of expertise to the field of Wildlife Management and Animal Damage Control.
Mark is a Certified Wildlife Control Professional, Certified Wildlife Professional, Academy Certified Professional, Certified Bird Control Expert, Certified Geese Management Professional, Certified Marksman and a BCI Certified Bat Removal Specialist.
Mark lives in Charleston, West Virginia, with his wife, Alisa, and stepsons, Trey and Marc. He works out of the corporate location in the city and a satellite office neatly tucked away in the woods. Mark is also the corporate trainer and consultant for A All Animal Control franchises.
Have you ever wanted to work with wildlife but didn’t know how to get started? To learn how you can become a Wildlife Management Professional, visit aallanimalcontrol.com/franchise.cfm aallanimalcontrol.com/franchise.cfm for more information.