Step two: Choose management options

At this point in our story, Sherlock would retreat to his apartment, pick up his pipe, and think. So many clues, so many possible solutions: how do you choose?

With a proper species identification, the information you learned during your interview and inspection, and your knowledge of that animal's life history, you can estimate how many individuals might be present. Again, this will depend on the time of year (is it breeding, rearing young, hibernating, or migrating?), and the animal's social habits. Woodchucks are generally solitary, while bats are social and are often found in colonies. Is this animal territorial? Will it drive away others at certain times of the year? Does it have a large home range? If so, it might not be able to meet all of its needs just on this site. That could be tricky, because that might mean that the best solution would include addressing a situation on someone else's property, too, and you might not be able to do that.

All of this detective work is meant to help you decide how many individuals this site would naturally support. Of course, there could be other factors at work here, and you need to take that into account, too. If someone is feeding the wildlife you could encounter unbelievably high population levels, way beyond what the books suggest.

As you consider those questions, you may eliminate some control techniques because they're not practical, safe, or discreet enough for this situation. Legal restrictions may eliminate some options. The presence of free-roaming pets, children, or protected wildlife might also lead you to favor some approaches and avoid others.

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