Helmick Gets Rid of Pesky Wildlife with Live Action Critter Control Business

About two months ago, Luke Helmick of Tecumseh launched a new business venture, Live Action Critter Control, in which he sets live traps to get rid of those pesky varmints that cross your yard and get into places where you don’t want them, such as your house or barn.
“I didn’t see any others doing it and I felt a call to do this,” said Helmick, who used to do a lot of trapping when he was a kid. “I’d spend a lot of time in the wood and nearby creeks. When I was a kid, animal fur brought in a lot of money for a kid to have in his pocket.”
Over the years, people had call Helmick to catch wild critters around their homes. “I just decided to start this business to see how I could help others get rid of wildlife critters, such as raccoons, ‘possums and skunks, that have become nuisance pests.”
Helmick visited with representatives of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to apply for a permit for eliminating these wildlife pests.
“So far, business has been slow,” he said. However, Helmick has removed some squirrels from an attic, and raccoons from chicken houses, as well as removing skunks in the area. Helmick had one customer who had two squirrels that got inside the firewall of a pickup engine and totally destroyed the pickup.
It’s all about prevention,” said Helmick. One of the preventive measures Helmick uses is buttoning up the soffits, so that birds don’t destroy them.
The most common wildlife that Helmick will remove from a person’s property include raccoons, rabbits, and squirrels. In the future, Helmick would like to set up bait boxes for the removal of rats. Although Helmick is not crazy about handling snakes, he will eradicate them as well.
Helmick indicated that the most uncommon critters he can eradicate for his customers are badgers, groundhogs and mink. Helmick said a mink can completely destroy a coop of chickens within 30 minutes.
Helmick can use two solutions for taking care of those pesky critters that may be roaming around a person’s yard or getting inside a person’s home or shed. Although he likes the method of catch and release to other locations for critters such as raccoons, rabbits and squirrels, he will normally use the Nebraska Game and Parks standards for eradicating wildlife.
Helmick recalled receiving a call from a woman near Table Rock who claimed she saw a mountain lion in her yard and wondered if Helmick could so something since this woman’s grandchildren enjoyed playing outside around her property. Helmick decided to set up cameras around this woman’s property to track any suspicious animals that may be roaming around the area. The only animal that showed up on camera was a big dog. However, the dog was hard to track because it didn’t have any nails on his paws.
“Setting up the cameras gave the woman proof that the critter roaming around her property was not a mountain lion. I think this gave the woman some peace of mind,” said Helmick.
He also uses thermo-infrared cameras to locate any critters that may be hiding underneath a house or outbuilding. “Thermo infrared cameras are a great tool to have in the tool box.”
“If there is a problem of a critter burrowing in a person’s yard, I want to be able to find the critter and solve the problem,” said Helmick. Anyone wishing to contact Live Action Critter Control can contact Helmick’s Live Action Critter Control facebook page and see some videos of the type of work he does.
“I enjoy matching wits with different species of animals. Each animals is different and they are smart. They know how to work themselves around a trap and not get caught,” Helmick said. He added that people have to think instinctively with each animal species. “You get to know these animals’ patterns.”
Prior to starting Live Action Critter Control, Helmick worked at the fish hatchery near Burchard for 16 years. At that time, Helmick was living in the Sterling community where he lived for 22 years before he and his wife Rane decided to move to their acreage southeast of Tecumseh, six years ago.
“I just want to offer this service and make a little money at it as well,” Helmick said.
He admits he is self-taught in catching all kinds of critters; however, he does attend a variety of seminars sponsored by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to learn more about preventive critter control.