Example Career: Hunters and Trappers

Career Description

Hunt and trap wild animals for human consumption, fur, feed, bait, or other purposes.

What Job Titles Hunters and Trappers Might Have

• Hunter
• Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator
• Trapper
• Wildlife Control Operator

What Hunters and Trappers Do

• Patrol trap lines or nets to inspect settings, remove catch, and reset or relocate traps.
• Obtain permission from landowners to hunt or trap on their land.
• Travel on foot, by vehicle, or by equipment such as boats, snowmobiles, helicopters, snowshoes, or skis to reach hunting areas.
• Skin quarry, using knives, and stretch pelts on frames to be cured.
• Maintain and repair trapping equipment.
• Scrape fat, blubber, or flesh from skin sides of pelts with knives or hand scrapers.
• Obtain required approvals for using poisons or traps, and notify persons in areas where traps and poison are set.
• Track animals by checking for signs such as droppings or destruction of vegetation.
• Select, bait, and set traps, and lay poison along trails, according to species, size, habits, and environs of birds or animals and reasons for trapping them.
• Participate in animal damage control, wildlife management, disease control, and research activities.
• Release quarry from traps or nets and transfer to cages.
• Kill or stun trapped quarry, using clubs, poisons, guns, or drowning methods.
• Trap and capture quarry dead or alive for identification, relocation, or sale, using baited, scented, or camouflaged traps, snares, cages, or nets.
• Wash and sort pelts according to species, color, and quality.
• Teach or guide individuals or groups unfamiliar with specific hunting methods or types of prey.
• Mix baits for attracting animals.
• Pack pelts in containers, load containers onto trucks, and transport pelts to processing plants or to public auctions.
• Train dogs for hunting.

What Hunters and Trappers Should Be Good At

• Arm-Hand Steadiness - The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.

What Hunters and Trappers Should Be Interested In

• Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

What Hunters and Trappers Need to Learn

• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.