Hunting for a Living

When you say hunt for a living, does that include guiding?

If putting up with people is a reason for not being suited for the "normal" workforce then guiding as one option would be no better. Likely worse. Read guide's reviews of hunters.
Hunting itself would be a tough way unless you got into a states DNR and managed to become a culler of nuisance critters. Selling game meat taken by hunting is pretty well illegal.
What kind of a "hunting" job do you envision? I've been a hunter for sixty years and would hate to make the lifestyle commercial.

I sort of do, but it’s a hard row to hoe, doesn’t pay well and you have to constantly hustle. For editorial and a show, but it’s a fickle business.

Game ranches will be your best bet for a place of employment as a cull hunter.

I had a great opportunity a few years ago to be a cull hunter on a piece of private land. Night hunting over bait was the name of the game. I used a H&R single shot in 300 Blackout subsonic. Shot 12 anterless deer in 2 weeks. I got paid nothing and by all definitions of what I perceive to be hunting, this wasn’t.

I got paid in game I had to process myself and the joys of people that were given a bunch of free jerky and sausage.

I could deal with being a cull hunter for a living. I would not want to guide though. If you hunt for a living, you no longer hunt for your own enjoyment.

Many states require certification to be a guide which often entails some sort of apprenticeship program and hours. Some places require knowledge of horse care.

If on a game ranch, hunting will not be your only duties. Running and fixing fence lines, restocking and relocating feeders, repairing and relocating stands are big jobs that will be the primary responsibilities.

Sounds more like you need to find something you can do solo, like making furniture or similar, where your interaction with others is at a minimum and not limited by a seasonal aspect.

You can indeed hunt for a living. Find some desolate bit of wilderness, build a fort, hunt for meat and skins, use the skins and eat the meat. Repeat. That's all I can figure .

I really like hunting but I wouldn't want to make a living at it. Too many variables out of my control to be something that I could do all the time.
No! to guiding because me & the general hunting public wouldn't get along. With all the snob hunters out there that want to just sit & have you make the animal run in front of them. I couldn't deal with that.
How good are you with your hands? Are you creative? There are a lot of things that are easy to make & can be sold.

Me and the traditional workforce do not get along too well either.

Strictly speaking, I am still in the traditional workforce however I also have two businesses. One is landscaping and the other is freelance accounting.

Once you start working for yourself it is really hard to take working for anyone or anything else very seriously.

Just a few thoughts for you to ponder. Unfortunately, NY is a very unfriendly state for business.

Working my high stress daily grind job makes me truly enjoy the solitude of hunting. To hunt for a living would just become work for me. No thx

Keep in mind that you run the risk of ruining a fun hobby by turning it into a job. I did this when I was an automotive magazine editor.

Duster340 said:

Working my high stress daily grind job makes me truly enjoy the solitude of hunting. To hunt for a living would just become work for me. No thx

Click to expand...

And that is another aspect. yes, there is that saying, find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life. To SOME degree that can be true. But the other saying about taking a hobby and trying to make a living means you turned something fun into work.
My parents, when alive, enjoyed golf as a recreational pasttime. neither was any good, but they did it for the fun with friends, etc. Someone on the PGA Tour, however, is putting in more hours than most workers in order to stay competitive since he doesn't eat if he doesn't win/place. To wit: You had better be REALLY good at whatever it is if you intend to go it alone and make a living at it.

Duster340 said:

Working my high stress daily grind job makes me truly enjoy the solitude of hunting. To hunt for a living would just become work for me. No thx

Click to expand...

I wholeheartedly agree. There's nothing more likely to turn a person off from a hobby they are passionate about, than trying to make a living doing it.

It's not true for everyone, but I'm confident it's true for most of us.

If you are leaving the military, it may be worth your time to look into jobs with forestry or fish & game. They like to hire veterans. A friend of mine just retired, and he was offered work with state forestry, but he decided to take a position as a private guide out west. He is also a very experienced hunter, which is why he was offered the guide position.

A good friend of mine kinda hunts for a living. He works as a ranch hand and as a guide during peak times of the seasons, but he runs a bunch of hog traps and says he gets paid by the state for every hog he kills. When I asked which one pays the best he basically said that they all have their ups and downs and he couldn’t really put a number on it because there are perks along with each job. Ranch hand is reliable, guiding is good money but seasonal, and hogs are hard work but he said there plenty of pork if he doesn’t claim a killed hog every once in a while. From what he describes, I can’t say that it is a monetarily fruitful existence but it’s keeping his family of 5 going.

I have a few alternate suggestions for you, as others who know better than I have said hunting for a living is hard.

Work for a large landowner out West and manage their property. Most of these landowners are absentee and you'll have the place and time to yourself a lot of the time. You'll manage their herds of deer and elk and keep poachers away. Occasionally you'll build roads and other improvements. You'll probably need a degree in environmental studies, biology, etc to be competitive.

Join a law enforcement agency. Different agencies have different cultures, but if you work hard, make good decisions, and produce, generally you'll be left alone to do your thing. It's a fairly independent job for the most part. With your military background, you should be able to get on. Each day is different and unpredictable.

Armed School Safety at a larger school district. Holidays off, opportunities to investigate all kinds of issues, and generally 90% of the fun of law enforcement with 10% of the hassles. It's also a growing industry and a fairly secure job.

Shepherd out west. I dont know if it is still a viable industry, but you'll hang out with the sheep in the desert/mountains and generally be left alone. It probably doesn't pay to much though.

daniel craig said:

I don’t know. I was thinking for selling furs and meat but there’s no money in that anymore either. It’s just, hunting seems to be one of the few things I “can do”

Click to expand...

My son just turned 7, and I coach him on the same things with the same mantras I have mentored dozens of aspiring engineering students, graduates, and professionals, and hundreds of young athletes in my (short but satisfying) career - and it’s these two recurring mantras which come to mind when I read this post:

First: I have had to reprogram a lot of kids who have been told to “find something you love doing, then get paid to do it” and help them realize, even when you find something you love doing, it’s not ALWAYS “fun” when you’re doing it for “work.”. Anything “fun” you can do, which is always fun, are things which COST you when you do them. “Work,” on the other hand, is something you wouldn’t otherwise do, either at all or as often, but for the compensation. If work were always fun, we wouldn’t call it “work,” we’d call it “fun,” and we’d have to pay for the privilege of doing it, instead of being paid. So while I fully support the idea of enjoying what you do, at a deep, personal and passionate level, recognize it won’t always be “fun.”

Second, if you study successful people and success-mindset training and psychology, you’ll observe a pattern: There are three types of statements you should NEVER make if you want to be successful:

I can’t... (refusal to try)
I won’t... (refusal to act)
I don’t want to... (refusal to flex)

If you say you CAN hunt, then based on the physical, mental, and educational requirements for “hunting,” you are absolutely incorrect to say you “can’t” do a hundred other jobs which require the same attributes as hunting.

But what you really appear to be saying is “I don’t want to do anything except for something I find to be fun,” such it’s really not an aptitude issue, but rather an attitude issue.

The largest number of “professional hunters” I have talked with, worked at Dresser industries (now Halliburton's) Mota Bonita Lodge, at the time was an 88k acre lease from the King Ranch.

Most all of them were young, and had to do all sorts of things that were not hunting related but part of the job.

What turns you off your current job and what is the joy of hunting that makes you want to turn that into a job?

IlikeSA said:

I have a few alternate suggestions for you, as others who know better than I have said hunting for a living is hard.

.................

Shepherd out west. I dont know if it is still a viable industry, but you'll hang out with the sheep in the desert/mountains and generally be left alone. It probably doesn't pay to much though.

Click to expand...

I used to live in Winnemucca, NV; Basque sheep country. Those shepherds were all alone out there with some form of mobile wagon/camper and usually a good dog or two. Supplies were brought out on a regular schedule.....If you're a loner, that is definitely high on the list of jobs to have. When they did come to town, they DID party pretty hard..............

daniel craig said:

I don’t know. I was thinking for selling furs and meat but there’s no money in that anymore either. It’s just, hunting seems to be one of the few things I “can do”

Click to expand...

“Can do” or Want to do”?

Pest control and problem creature removal. Not glamorous but it’s “Hunting”.

There are guys here in TX who hunt varmints and hogs...kinda for a living...but they have day jobs too. and it’s hard work....and it takes a while to get a good reputation.

Even the old buffalo hunters supplied meat and hides to a commercial market worked their asses off for little money. That job has outsourced to cattle farmers.

Any living to be made "hunting" means either still working for the man or working with people, as in cosseting clients, or both.

As suggested above, outdoors focused law enforcement, forestry work, and other employment around public lands might be worth exploring.

I agree with DocRock, look at law enforcement jobs such as Highway Patrol or go to college and get a law enforcement degree and then decide which law enforcement field you wish to work in. I would advise you to not spend much time thinking about it, just go and do it and you'll eventually see which path you want to take.