Ohio Nuisance Wild Animal Control Operator

[Blan37]

Thought I'd share something I did about 5 years ago and again today to get up to date that others might want to check into.

Ohio has a free study guide & test you can take to become a Commercial Nuisance Wild Animal Control Operator. You really don't need it to trap/kill nuisance wildlife, but if you want to learn about trapping and the laws, do it. If you pass the test and want to start charging for your services you can fill out a form, send in $40 and get a license.

The test is pretty much common sense questions but has some trivia-type questions in there (example: what behavior can White Nose Syndrome cause in bats?), so you do have to study a bit.

At the end of the test, if you pass, you get a certificate you can print out. If you don't pass, you're given a report of your grade and the questions you missed. You can go back and retake it till you pass.

All the details are here - expand the nuisance wild animal control section and there are links to the manual, the test & the license application: http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/licenses-and-permits/specialty-licenses-permits.

 

[Blan37]

A couple of links for quick reference:

Certification manual: Nuisance Wild Animal Control Certification Manual
Test: Ohio CNWACO Test
License application (only if you want to charge for services): Nuisance Wild Animal Control Application

More info about the test:

Required for all permit holders and employees who will perform Nuisance Wild Animal Control activities.

• Number of questions: 100
• Has a time limit of: 01:30:00
• Must be finished in one sitting. You cannot save and finish later.
• Questions displayed per page: 5
• Will allow you to go back and change answers.
• Will let you finish with some questions unanswered if you are not sure of the answer.
• Passing grade=80%

 

[Jackalope]

Awesome. I've considered it a few times. And considered it as a business. What I found was that most commercial places only hire the large national chains. So it would be a shit ton of residential. Which is OK but it doesn't allow much room for big business growth. IDK. I didn't look in to it for a long time I could be wrong.

 

[giles]

My buddy did this in Indianapolis and made a killing. He really made a lot of money on repair damage and things along those lines. Getting the animal was the easy part. I helped him on a couple of commercial properties vacuuming out all the insulation and replacing it. Big jobs that needed finished in a weekend. He ended up selling out because it got so big and he couldn’t keep guys.

Potential is there and there is money to be made. Think about your customer base? People with money that are tired of a situation. Wife said, I don’t care what it cost, just make it go away. You make it go away and charge them to remove the animal, any waste they left behind and get to do the repairs so they don’t return. If they don’t pay for repairs the first time. You WILL get a call back when another critter takes up the space.

 

[Jackalope]

My buddy did this in Indianapolis and made a killing. He really made a lot of money on repair damage and things along those lines. Getting the animal was the easy part. I helped him on a couple of commercial properties vacuuming out all the insulation and replacing it. Big jobs that needed finished in a weekend. He ended up selling out because it got so big and he couldn’t keep guys.

Potential is there and there is money to be made. Think about your customer base? People with money that are tired of a situation. Wife said, I don’t care what it cost, just make it go away. You make it go away and charge them to remove the animal, any waste they left behind and get to do the repairs so they don’t return. If they don’t pay for repairs the first time. You WILL get a call back when another critter takes up the space.

Curious Did he start it himself or did he buy in to a national franchise?

 

[giles]

Curious Did he start it himself or did he buy in to a national franchise?

Him and his buddy started it. Buddy ended up buying him out. Just like most businesses...after one screws the other.

 

[Blan37]

Another good Ohio freebee is the trappers course. Information is located here - scroll down below the Hunter Ed section. I got trapper certification before I got my nuisance cert, but you don't have to do one to do the other.

They offer instructor led courses but there's also a home study option and a test. You have to mail the test in on this one, though - no automatic / online grading because it gets tied to your Ohio Division of Wildlife account.

This will let you legally trap during the trapping seasons in the state and sell hides. You won't get rich, might break even, but that's not really why people do it.

Quick links
Study guide
Test booklet
Record answers on the Answer sheet
Complete the Student Registration Form and then mail it to:

ODNR Division of Wildlife
Outdoor Education-Home Study2045 Morse Road Building G
Columbus, OH 43229-6605

In a week or two (or longer now because of COVID), your new Ohio DOW ID Card will show up and you'll have a new entry on it in the lower right:

 

[Blan37]

My buddy did this in Indianapolis and made a killing. He really made a lot of money on repair damage and things along those lines. Getting the animal was the easy part. I helped him on a couple of commercial properties vacuuming out all the insulation and replacing it. Big jobs that needed finished in a weekend. He ended up selling out because it got so big and he couldn’t keep guys.

Potential is there and there is money to be made. Think about your customer base? People with money that are tired of a situation. Wife said, I don’t care what it cost, just make it go away. You make it go away and charge them to remove the animal, any waste they left behind and get to do the repairs so they don’t return. If they don’t pay for repairs the first time. You WILL get a call back when another critter takes up the space.

That's an angle I hadn't considered. Charge for removal and then get a restoration / repair / exclusion job. Not a bad gig.