What do Hunters and Trappers do?

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

  • Maintain and repair trapping equipment.
  • Patrol trap lines or nets to inspect settings, remove catch, and reset or relocate traps.
  • Obtain required approvals for using poisons or traps, and notify persons in areas where traps and poison are set.
  • Trap and capture quarry dead or alive for identification, relocation, or sale, using baited, scented, or camouflaged traps, snares, cages, or nets.
  • Scrape fat, blubber, or flesh from skin-sides of pelts with knives or hand scrapers.
  • Kill or stun trapped quarry, using clubs, poisons, guns, or drowning methods.
  • 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.
  • Skin quarry, using knives, and stretch pelts on frames to be cured.
  • Travel on foot, or by using vehicles or equipment such as boats, snowmobiles, helicopters, snowshoes, or skis to reach hunting areas.
  • Track animals by checking for signs such as droppings or destruction of vegetation.
  • Pack pelts in containers, load containers onto trucks, and transport pelts to processing plants or to public auctions.
  • Participate in animal damage control, wildlife management, disease control, and research activities.
  • Teach or guide individuals or groups unfamiliar with specific hunting methods or types of prey.
  • Wash and sort pelts according to species, color, and quality.
  • Mix baits for attracting animals.
  • Decide where to set traps, using grid maps and aerial maps of hunting areas.
  • Remove designated parts such as ears or tails from slain quarry as evidence for killing bounty, using knives.
  • Train dogs for hunting.
  • Release quarry from traps or nets and transfer to cages.
  • Publicize hunting activities by writing for outdoor magazines or by making videos of their hunts.
  • Cut walk tracks for better access to traps and bait stations.
  • Cure pelts with salt and boric acid.

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Necessary Skills

  • Critical Thinking
  • Operation Monitoring
  • Monitoring
  • Operation and Control
  • Active Listening
  • Speaking
  • Coordination
  • Complex Problem Solving

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