Thread: Commercial Shooting Rates

Hey Fellas

A good mate of mine runs a pest control business in the big smoke. He is getting quite a few requests for some shooting work and as such want to set up for a bit of shooting control. I can help him with the rifle/gear and license side but hes after a bit of guidance around rates etc. Probably even help him out with a bit of the shooting if hes lucky

Does anyone have any insight on what he should be looking to charge? If you could PM me any details that would be awesome. Cheers

Edit: will be primarily rabbits with the odd possum, clients specifically asking for shooting control over bait/poison

More info required.
What type of shooting
What gear is needed
Distance to jobs
How build up
How much preshooting work required; signage and when does it need to go up. Who has to be notified

That's just off the top of my head

Originally Posted by Wirehunt

More info required.
What type of shooting
What gear is needed
Distance to jobs
How build up
How much preshooting work required; signage and when does it need to go up. Who has to be notified

That's just off the top of my head

These are the good questions man cheers. All the things only a commercial shooter would think of.

Will be semi rural/lifestyle with the odd rural block. Be 22 subs on rabbit mostly with the odd possum but he has also had inquiries about goat control. Thats another discussion though

distance wise he has a callout fee I believe, ost will be within 45 min drive, pretty standard for aucks.

Ill have to get him to find out about the regs for shooting signage etc

I charge an hourly rate, plus travel, ammunition, time spent contacting neighbours/researching boundaries etc.

It is essential to first visit the properties in the daytime to get the hang of safe shooting zones, boundaries, water tanks and water lines. Also to assess the extent of the problem and what species of pests are around.
For example, the client may say possums are stripping his fruit trees but a closer look reveals that pukeko or the kids next door are actually the problem! I do this first visit for free to build up goodwill.

Night shooting is often the best option but you need to be careful that you're not out shooting until 1 am. and finally home to bed at 3 am. which leaves you pretty buggered for your day job. If there's only a few possums or rabbits you still have to charge a decent amount...those critters can easily end up costing the client $50 each. Don't count on making extra $$ by plucking the possums either, it's not what you're there for and good shooting time can be wasted by trying to retrieve old poss from the top of a hawthorn hedge!

Sometimes a few well-placed traps can be set in the afternoon and checked the next morning thereby saving the client money and letting you catch up on your beauty sleep.
Finally you need to discuss if the dead critters need to be removed and disposed of. All takes time.

I do some of this work in Auckland my self, all the info the others have put forward is good to go. We also ring the cops and let them know who/what/where and a expected time frame give them a call when completed also.

To be honest. This sort or pest control is what most hunters would do for free.

If its only possums and rabbits you'd probably end up with a decent number of shooters for no cost

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

To be honest. This sort or pest control is what most hunters would do for free.

If its only possums and rabbits you'd probably end up with a decent number of shooters for no cost

Yep. A bunch of people either don't know this or dont like the idea of letting a hunter on to shoot their land. Remembering that the majority of people in this country are 2nd gen urbanised now.

The demand is there for him so he might as well take up the work. Good excuse to get the company to pay for his gun license too. He's pretty keen on the old hunting malarkey after a couple of good trips

Thanks all. Heaps to go on. Cheers

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

To be honest. This sort or pest control is what most hunters would do for free.

If its only possums and rabbits you'd probably end up with a decent number of shooters for no cost

The biggest issue with that solution is persistence. The recreational and casual hunter will take the easy ones but usually gives up well short of challenge levels.....When it gets difficult to get the last few that is when it show s up as when they re-establish, they are generally smarter and harder to get (Gunshy/ baitshy) I recently had a mate approached by someone who wanted to knock over some of his pesky piggys. To which he replied " Yes IF you get ALL of them." Dont just take the first easy ones then give up on the rest. He has seen what "educated" pigs will do and how hard they are to remove. He used to be a commercial / professional culler and knows how hard it can be to get levels down to non sustainable population levels. And it aint easy.

Originally Posted by Nick-D

Yep. A bunch of people either don't know this or dont like the idea of letting a hunter on to shoot their land. Remembering that the majority of people in this country are 2nd gen urbanised now.

The demand is there for him so he might as well take up the work. Good excuse to get the company to pay for his gun license too. He's pretty keen on the old hunting malarkey after a couple of good trips

Well to me the only difference between a hunter and a pest controller is the fact that you pay the last guy and he usually gets more.

Originally Posted by timattalon

The biggest issue with that solution is persistence. The recreational and casual hunter will take the easy ones but usually gives up well short of challenge levels.....When it gets difficult to get the last few that is when it show s up as when they re-establish, they are generally smarter and harder to get (Gunshy/ baitshy) I recently had a mate approached by someone who wanted to knock over some of his pesky piggys. To which he replied " Yes IF you get ALL of them." Dont just take the first easy ones then give up on the rest. He has seen what "educated" pigs will do and how hard they are to remove. He used to be a commercial / professional culler and knows how hard it can be to get levels down to non sustainable population levels. And it aint easy.

True. Depends on the end goal. Most situations it's only realistically controlling and not eradication

We don't use .22rf with subs, way to dangerous. Nothing like hearing a bullet whizzing out into space and your going where the fuck will that stop.
PCP is a much safer option.
Thermal works as people don't get all stirred up by the light flashing around AND you'll have a much much higher success rate including finding rats and mice.
Email the cops because paper trail, we have two email addys and both get used every time. Depending on when the shoot is happening, if it's over the weekend then I send them on the Friday. Through the week its on the morning of the shoot. No need to name shooters as sometimes they change but the company and a contact at the company should be included.
There is a lot of blocks we now don't shoot as it's marginal and people are getting toey about firearms, couple of ferrets, couple of small dogs and a longnet...

Best advice from Tim and wirehunt. Non commercial guys tire quickly once numbers drop..tend to make the problem worse long term..want to bring their mates too..