Rat Catcher Renaissance.

[Mr Muddy 141]

Hang on; What’s going on with this stars bollox. And why’s my thread only got two? The picture of Phil’s dog is worth twice that on its own.

 

And, as I say: not my forum- not my place to tell anyone what not to write; but come on MMK, all the ‘you wouldn’t say it to my face’ crap. It’s just boring to read mate.

[Mr Muddy 141]

 

 

Don't really want to cross post, but there is lots on the NPTA sponsorship of the GBM over on UKPCO.

 

 

 

Yes I did catch a bit of that. I have to say; that NPTA bloke came across as plain rude.

 

I had no plans to join NPTA anyway, but it’s definitely a no now.

[Mole man Kent 26]

Muddy how true is it? I'm sure people would be a lot politer in person. I'm here just for the discussion

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Personally i think the art of rat control without poison has been lost on most of the lads working,owning the big firms .The firm that does the control on my local chicken farm was asked if it was good practice to run a trapline along side poisoning and he told the farmer trapping is now illegal .

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

That's shocking, FD. But, then; I had a local " Pest Control " guy in here the other day. Suited and booted. I locked the Dogs up, lest he get hairs on his smart, black clothes.

 

He was absolutely astonished at my body grippers. Had simply never seen or heard of such a thing in his life.

 

He made a valiant stab at a variety of Fenn's possibly being " Those 'Spring' traps. " (I explained the Fenn / Springer situation).

 

Imbra. Sawyer Rabbit. Juby? It's like I was showing and explaining to him some weird artefacts from a cave on Mars.

 

[Mole man Kent 26]

I really believe there are two types of Pesty those who get into the industry through a genuine love of wildlife, trapping & hunting and those who "fall" into the job. The above is obviously the fallen

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

I suspect you're right there too, Kent. Guy's probably about forty. Started up about seven years ago. Must have been doing something up till then.

 

Probably the one about the redundancy pay being used to sit his one day exam and buy him all the shiny gear.

 

I've honestly really got absolutely no insight into the thought processes that lead an out of work railway guard, or what ever, to think; " Hell, yeah! I'll get into that pest control game! "

 

It's like Taxidermy, isn't it? There's, surely, got to be that spark of interest in creatures to start with.

 

Maybe it's because there's so little to it? I mean, fleas? 'Wow! ~ There's a challenge.' Ye need to learn to sway ye sprayer lance in a consistent arc, while holding it behind ye?!

 

Must be nearly as tough as rubbing ye stomach while ye pat ye head with the other hand. Or chewing gum while walking a straight line. FFS.

 

For anything else? Just read the f**king label. It's all on there for ye.

 

Just remembered one thing this guy said to me. This illustrates it nicely:

 

" One thing I know we ain't got here is Moles! ..... Voles? Moles, voles ....? Is there something called a 'vole'? "

 

Says it all really, doesn't it?

 

Where's the job satisfaction in a career based on reading the instructions on a bottle and checking what ye manual says.

 

I had a push bike fixing manual one time. It told me Everything. Made sorting my bike out a piece of piss.

 

Why didn't I start up as a bike fixer? Because I hate f**king oil!!!

 

See what I'm saying?

 

[Mole man Kent 26]

I've ferreted, shot, bred lurchers and snared all my life. I've got a lot of permission and one day got asked what can I do about moles, started to trap them, then went on the btmr course to get a better insight. I've also got national dip in agriculture so have a lot of contacts with farmers. I'm still in work and I'm a contractor on the rails mate, so no redundancy pay.

All you guys seem to think that everyone gets into pest control to earn lots of money, tbh the pay is not a tad on the rail money but it's a way of life that makes me happy. Whenever I'm In a field with a bag of nets or a bag of traps, or when I see a ferret or a dog I've bred work, I think, life don't get better than that.

I'm fourth generation ferreter and all of my relatives where as passionate about it as me.

So what exactly is it you do then Pete?

I haven't just started up I've been doing it all my life.

[Mole man Kent 26]

I got showed how to trap moles by an old keeper friend and the rest I kinda taught meself

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

So what exactly is it you do then Pete?

 

I sit here, drinking tea. Every so often going out to stare at my bird traps, mate.

 

I also live in constant dread of farting

[Mr Muddy 141]

I got showed how to trap moles by an old keeper

 

 

went on the btmr course

 

I kinda taught meself

 

 

Who would you say you learned the most from mate?

[ChrisJones 7,975]

Job satisfaction comes from enjoying what you do. For me it was solving problems, on a continual basis, as opposed to turning up with a bottle and a manual. Solving problems that a lot of so called techs couldn't fix because they didn't want anything that took longer than a whizz round with the lance. Or a kick of a bait station.

 

Like a lot of us, on this forum especially, I started with a ferret and a few nets. I loved it! Got to be out in the fields with my dad, uncle, and my grandad. They showed me a lot and it gave me that fire to start.

 

But had I not picked up a bottle, and a manual, I wouldn't have been able to make it my career.

 

Like most things in life you have to adapt. Natural selection favours the ones who can adapt the fastest, and the best. If I hadn't adapted I wouldn't have spent as long as I have, doing the job. I certainly wouldn't have been able to do it on two continents! If I'd said 'f**k it, what's the point.' I'd be sat in a field, probably in Cheshire or Lancashire, on my spare time. Probably have some day job that involves the stacking of boxes, or the pushing of pens, dreaming for the weekend when I can go out and do what I love. Instead now I get to do that too, and get paid for it.

 

Granted. Spraying for insects isn't everyone's romantic ideal of the old school rat catcher but to say it's simply reading a manual and squirting a bottle devalues completely how some of us choose to make a living. A very interesting living at that. The job satisfaction, for me, when the phone rings and someone asks for the guy that fixes problems. The guy that doesn't advertise. The guy that's built his customer relationships on being the only guy they need to call when they have something crawling, biting, or stinging.

 

The reason the old school rat catcher doesn't exist, anymore, is because he had to adapt to a changing world. He had to evolve. He wouldn't be able to do the job today because there are more rats then there are people. If his position was relevant we'd still see him today. But we don't. Not because he's been pushed out, not because his methods don't work, but because he refused to make the changes necessary to evolve.

 

Robert Heinlein wrote.. 'A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.'

 

Accept that change is inevitable. Adapt, or die.

[Mole man Kent 26]

My keeper friend taught me the basics but being old school he was telling me some old wives takes, that he obviously picked up over time. The btmr course is good to know about mole biology etc, but the majority of what I learnt is by myself through trial and error. Different soil types and different traps.

I'm a member of the btmr but none of my work has been through them.

[Mole man Kent 26]

Good post Chris jones. People on the forum get upset about newbies coming into pest control, but if they was really in it for the money, would they honestly spend their spare time on a forum about it? Think about it.

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

Well,..a wee bit of money does come in handy for us old timers,..

Me and Outlaw Pete need certain necessities,..or we simply fade away...

 

Life is nothing without a Jalfrezi....

 

Edited March 8, 2014 by Phil Lloyd