Why it pays to be a nice guy

Thanks guys! BK, Your GPS should be there in a two or three days.

A year ago, I did a little job that I ended up loosing money on. Nothing big, just replacing some lock mechanism in some older Hurd doors (pain in the ) and had to make multiple return trips because the manufacture was sending me the wrong parts. While there, I found a pine squirrel had chewed a hole through the log home and took residence in a closet. I fabricated a support for a 120 coni and the squirrel problem was gone. Didn’t charge him or ask for anything…just did it because it needed to be done. (Should have mentioned that they live out of state and Father was in a nursing home)
So, fast forward 11 months and I get an email that took me completely by surprise.
“Hey Randy,
I hope business is treating you well and everything is going good. We sure did appreciate your work on the doors at my dads place there in WI. They have been working great all summer while we were up there. My brother and I were very impressed with everything. My brother said you even refused to wear your shoes in the house. Funny to me, but I can see what type of guy you are.
Glo told me about you trapping that squirrel out of the house. I tried to shoot him a couple times and missed. So glad you looked after my dads place the way you did. Well heres the deal. You know the ponds around the house? Something is eating our fish. I was there a couple weeks ago and there are piles of turds everywhere that are filled with fish scales. We saw a couple otter swimming around so we didn’t know if that is from them or not.
Also, there are more beaver in there again eating the trees down. I walked around the ponds and they have chewed up trees everywhere.
So if you know how to get them out of there, we would like to give you permission to hunt and trap our land whenever you would like. Call me and let us know if you want to do it. I can get a key for the gate mailed out asap.”

I guess all I can say is

I have a lot of traps to get set!

Can’t beat that Randy, otters to boot. Wonder if its got a decent rat population.

Yes, that is a nice gesture of gratitude…need a partner?

Tom, you need to get rested up for a Brown trip! Dan, there will be lots of rats in there. What looks like woods to the east is actually swamp with a series of running creeks. Even in this drought, I know for a fact that there is running water through there. I drove by on the road to the north about a month ago – its flowing!

That has to be such a great feeling! Good on you!

All I know is if you are ever looking for a place in MN, you can keep a key to my gates year round Randy . Karma is real and I hope either your pocket book or your memory bank is padded with this one . Not that you try to be a stand up guy for some rewards here and there, you are a stand up guy because you are . Nice to hear when it is recognized and remembered by people after only one job !

With the drought it sounds like every rat in that area is probably in that marsh. Probably loaded with coon too besides the beavers. Maybe you could even talk to the other farmers that are up and down stream where that water flows through and trap that area too. Maybe a $10,000 honey hole if no ones trapped it for a few years. Have you heard what mink prices might be, theres probably a few of those around too.

Keep us occasionally tuned in on how you do there would ya Randy.

Its not too often that I get all hyped up for new land. When I worked there, I was awe struck by everything I saw. Their dad was truly a caretaker of the land and it was the perfect eco system from rodents to predators. Dan your right, the drought has ALL my normal $$ spots dead. Creeks are dry with 4 feet of grass, and all my scouting has been nearly worthless. This year is definitely a case of no water – no fur! This exceptionally dry year has put a serious hurt on the critters.

Looks like what money you lost on the job might not be a loss after all. Happy trapping.