Hunting for a Living

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Do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.....because no one is hiring for that job.

I actually have an LE degree but unfortunately LE lost my interest about 3 years into the degree. I finished it out anyway and joined up with Uncle Sam for a hitch.

After that I did a lot of ranch and farm work until I met my wife and we moved East and South.

Planning for the future is a good thing but things rarely turn out as planned. If you pursue something you will most likely get distracted by something else. Maybe that will be a good thing.

The point is, why not go after this idea of being a professional hunter. You will have to put your heart and soul into it. Make friends and connections along the way though because you may need them if you decide to do something else.
 
FL-NC said:
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.
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Working for fish and game. Got stuck in an office.
 
Varminterror said:
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.
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You’re probably right. Attitude goes a long way and can be challenging to change when certain limiting factors exist. But I do get what you’re saying.
 
jmorris said:
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?
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I hate flying a desk with thousands of meaningless (to me) little things piling up and never enough time to do them.
 
Milt1 said:
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.
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Just had an interview today for a wildlife based LE job.
 
You got a degree in Biology ? How about pilots license? Think diversity.

Back in the 70’s I knew an old guy who was a trapper, hunter,scrounger who never worked a real job.

Start by living Rural where the cost of living isn’t skewed by vacation property or seasonal tourists, find your niche then find about six other things you can do for money.
 
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daniel craig said:
I hate flying a desk with thousands of meaningless (to me) little things piling up and never enough time to do them.
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I too have always looked at sitting at desks frustrating, no matter what my knowledge level has been but there is always something else to learn and the more tasks I take on the less time I have to devote to any single one.

I am often asked for drawings or parts lists for things I have built, where neither were ever created because of time limitations, they were just done on the fly, with what was on hand. In my “free” time as a relaxation activity.

Sometimes a “mentally” hard week of air conditioned mental work can be completely massaged out with a hard weekend of manual labor in the heat.

If you do that too much, you will start to complain, breathing fresh air “living the life” is too much work...

At some point you will find a balance you enjoy.
 
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jmorris said:
I too have always looked at sitting at desks frustrating, no matter what my knowledge level has been but there is always something else to learn and the more tasks I take on the less time I have to devote to any single one.

Sometimes a “mentally” hard week of air conditioned mental work can be completely massaged out with a hard weekend of manual labor in the heat.

If you do that too much, you will start to complain, breathing fresh air “living the life” is too much work...

At some point you will find a balance you enjoy.
Click to expand...
Balance is key for sure!
 
I started doing residential tree removal part time while in high school and have done it after I graduated. It paid good money and was enjoyable plus I had lots of firewood to sell in the winter back tjere in Cumos Republic of New Yorkiatan.
One year I decided to quit doing concrete & blacktop and go into full time tree service with the bucket truck, dump trucks, chippers and everything else I needed.

After working all day I have to cover lots of miles all accross the county and into the surrounding counties to give estimates.
Then cut & split all the wood so it would season out to srll for firewood. As many times you handle the wood from cutting it down, haul it to the yardcut it to firewood length h throw it in a pile, stack it, then load it in the dump truck to deliever it, some times restack it if they paid extra each piece of wood had a name.
After three years of working full time for my self was enough for me the fun was all gone.

Working for some one else you do your 40/50 hours a week at the end of the day you walk away and go do something enjoyable while you boss is either out doing estimates or doing paper work and other work related BS.

If you get tired of working there you can quit and move on.
If you are working for yourself and you want to walk away it isn't so easy after you invested tens of thousands of dollars.

For me I really love my three weeks of visiting my family back there and going out deer hunting almost every day for three weeks. Harvesting a bunch of deer and proccessing it. It's really enjoyable for me.
When I take on a new job first thing zi set straight is come November I am gone for New York State deer season come hell of high water. Nothing or no one will is more important to me then visiting family and deer hunting.
 
Highland Lofts said:
I started doing residential tree removal part time while in high school and have done it after I graduated. It paid good money and was enjoyable plus I had lots of firewood to sell in the winter back tjere in Cumos Republic of New Yorkiatan.
One year I decided to quit doing concrete & blacktop and go into full time tree service with the bucket truck, dump trucks, chippers and everything else I needed.

After working all day I have to cover lots of miles all accross the county and into the surrounding counties to give estimates.
Then cut & split all the wood so it would season out to srll for firewood. As many times you handle the wood from cutting it down, haul it to the yardcut it to firewood length h throw it in a pile, stack it, then load it in the dump truck to deliever it, some times restack it if they paid extra each piece of wood had a name.
After three years of working full time for my self was enough for me the fun was all gone.

Working for some one else you do your 40/50 hours a week at the end of the day you walk away and go do something enjoyable while you boss is either out doing estimates or doing paper work and other work related BS.

If you get tired of working there you can quit and move on.
If you are working for yourself and you want to walk away it isn't so easy after you invested tens of thousands of dollars.

For me I really love my three weeks of visiting my family back there and going out deer hunting almost every day for three weeks. Harvesting a bunch of deer and proccessing it. It's really enjoyable for me.
When I take on a new job first thing zi set straight is come November I am gone for New York State deer season come hell of high water. Nothing or no one will is more important to me then visiting family and deer hunting.
Click to expand...

So one of the major miscalculations I made as a hunting guide is that you never get to hunt for yourself because you’re busy taking care of other peoples hunting needs during hunting season. Same when I was flying bush in AK, your busiest times are during hunting season.
 
Sorry, but the long and short of it, is nobody's going to pay you, to do what everybody else is paying to do. But if you like being close to the action, there's positions available. Had you considered warehousing, or deliveries, for a large outdoors corporation, like Cabelas, or Bass Pro ?
All these operations have jobs, behind the sales floor, where you don't have to deal directly with the public. Sometimes, you can get a great discount on hunting gear, as a company employee.

Sad truth is, jobs all pretty much suck, that's why people get paid to do them. That's what jobs are, that's why jobs exist. If a "job" is fun, it's renamed "recreational activity", and some rich guy is handling it.
 
You said hunting is something you “can do” if you love it, don’t make it a career.

I’ve got guys every year that ask me why I don’t turn pro in bass fishing. I win most of the tournaments I fish. And I even work for MLF/FLW. The answer is simple. I fish (and hunt) as an escape from everyday life. Even the tournaments I fish, I don’t take seriously. If I did it for a living, what would I use as an escape from everyday life? Mowing the lawn? No thanks.
 
When I lived in Upstate New York I use to go to South West Florida to excape the near zero degree days or when we were expected a lot of snow.
I would do a theme park or the Tampa Zoo, (Lowery Park) and fish off the Venice Pier, the Fort Myers Pier or the Sanibel Pier. I would stay down there a week to three weeks, go home and go back in a couple of weeks.
I LOVE SOUTH WEST FLORIDA!.
When the economy bottomed out in 1999 i wanted out of New Yorkistan. Florida was on the top of the list to move to but decided against it.
It was grest get away place to go. It I would of moved there that feeling would of been gone for ever when you have to be there and live every day life with a every day job.
Where would I go to escape that life?
So I moved out here to Washington State AND HATE IT.
When the other half's mother cashes in her chips we probable move back there some where in Chenango county. I have been looking at homes on Lands of America.
I want a minimum of 25 acres, 50 would be better because you are guranteed a doe tag if you have over 50 acred. I want a four bedroom house with a barn. There are several place that I'd be interested in that are listed. When we sell this place, we can pay it off, buy a place back there and be sitting on $100,000.

Then zi can start going back to Florida durring the winter again.

Florida is my happy place, i could go to California durring the winter, but i can"t stand how liberal it is there. So I will never go there for any reason what so ever.
 
Indubitably, you CAN make a living hunting, but it takes more than hunting.

You have to find a legal way to make $ because gas cant be bought with fish....

When I became able to support the wife and 2 kids with year round hunting, Inwondered why I even came back to the village, so in a change of lifestyle, I packed my crap into a sled and went hunting and didnt go home. The wife and I took the kids and we simpley camped out for 11 years with a few short breaks , as I just wanted to stay out where the animals were and keep hunting. We made fur clothing and things like fur sleeping bags, boots, mittens, and the wife also scrimshawed ivory and carved bones while I could make a basket type sled tann some furs we caught and could spare, and get some decent $, for gas, bullets, diapers, etc...... or We had the skills sets and as a last ditch, our house in Noorvik village, so we did always have a safety net.Also, my wifes family is very large and we have many friends out on the land, hunters and their wifes, kids so we werent alone all the time. We homeschooled the kids and there was a camp corraspondence teacher that used to fly to the camps, but as time the kids grew up and the program stopped about 10 years ago, but we still homeschooled a couple kids who wanted to follow along, and with no regrets about that, either. kids cant learn Arctic Winter living outdoors from a book in a class room......

Untill National Geographic started following along, me, my wife and kids hunted, trapped and what we didnt eat, we made museum displays with our catch, tanned and sewn displays of my wifes Inupiaq Eskimo ancestors. The wifes reputation is workd wide, museums buy them as fast as we make them, and we still get requests.
Alaska is a hard place to hunt, and takes a year to become a resident, but most all of rual AK hunts/fishes/ gathers/traps for a seasonal income or to supplement foods and cash. A few huys hunt full time and support large, extended families , usually someone in the household is related to them, but Thats what its about. few people understand giving away the “paycheck”, but in the Eskimo way, its always returned, prehaps gas is bought, or bullets or camp gear or babysitting while the huntings going on for a share of the catch. Young guys often “crew up” and learn from older guys and receive a share of the catch, etc etc etc...

It can be done, and I got into the last 31 years simply by chance. With my kids grown up, its easy to keep hunting and haul a camera man along, for a few more $, simply because I can effectively do so. Not giiding, but recording I figure.
Besides the hunting, I much enjoy making my own equipment, and posting here.
Try look me up here, Ive been posting on The High Road for years, even easier with a small Honda 2000 generator, and a small dish bolted to a sled I tow behind my snowgo......and I share my experiences here, too

Its 2020 and hunting can still be a viable living, not primitively, but comfortably.

You can read over this link I wrote up a few years back, see what you think.



https://forums.outdoorsdirectory.co...-life-as-a-subsistance-hunter-fisher-gather-r
 
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Just keep in mind, caribou lives and hunts/fishes in Alaska, where game is a bit more plentiful than in the other 49 states. As for being a guide, I have several friends who are hunting guides, and the #1 complaint is not being able to enjoy hunting if they even get to while guiding, because they are 100% focused on the client. Fishing guides, depending on species, usually at least get to fish 'with' the client. (Trolling methods not so much. I speak from personal experience here as Gilligan to my Dad's Skipper on his salmon boat.) A good friend of works at a pheasant farm, and when he is working, he doesn't carry a shotgun. He and I go out hunting scratch birds on his days off, though.
 
caribou said:
Indubitably, you CAN make a living hunting, but it takes more than hunting.

You have to find a legal way to make $ because gas cant be bought with fish....

When I became able to support the wife and 2 kids with year round hunting, Inwondered why I even came back to the village, so in a change of lifestyle, I packed my crap into a sled and went hunting and didnt go home. The wife and I took the kids and we simpley camped out for 11 years with a few short breaks , as I just wanted to stay out where the animals were and keep hunting. We made fur clothing and things like fur sleeping bags, boots, mittens, and the wife also scrimshawed ivory and carved bones while I could make a basket type sled tann some furs we caught and could spare, and get some decent $, for gas, bullets, diapers, etc...... or We had the skills sets and as a last ditch, our house in Noorvik village, so we did always have a safety net.Also, my wifes family is very large and we have many friends out on the land, hunters and their wifes, kids so we werent alone all the time. We homeschooled the kids and there was a camp corraspondence teacher that used to fly to the camps, but as time the kids grew up and the program stopped about 10 years ago, but we still homeschooled a couple kids who wanted to follow along, and with no regrets about that, either. kids cant learn Arctic Winter living outdoors from a book in a class room......

Untill National Geographic started following along, me, my wife and kids hunted, trapped and what we didnt eat, we made museum displays with our catch, tanned and sewn displays of my wifes Inupiaq Eskimo ancestors. The wifes reputation is workd wide, museums buy them as fast as we make them, and we still get requests.
Alaska is a hard place to hunt, and takes a year to become a resident, but most all of rual AK hunts/fishes/ gathers/traps for a seasonal income or to supplement foods and cash. A few huys hunt full time and support large, extended families , usually someone in the household is related to them, but Thats what its about. few people understand giving away the “paycheck”, but in the Eskimo way, its always returned, prehaps gas is bought, or bullets or camp gear or babysitting while the huntings going on for a share of the catch. Young guys often “crew up” and learn from older guys and receive a share of the catch, etc etc etc...

It can be done, and I got into the last 31 years simply by chance. With my kids grown up, its easy to keep hunting and haul a camera man along, for a few more $, simply because I can effectively do so. Not giiding, but recording I figure.
Besides the hunting, I much enjoy making my own equipment, and posting here.
Try look me up here, Ive been posting on The High Road for years, even easier with a small Honda 2000 generator, and a small dish bolted to a sled I tow behind my snowgo......and I share my experiences here, too

Its 2020 and hunting can still be a viable living, not primitively, but comfortably.

You can read over this link I wrote up a few years back, see what you think.



https://forums.outdoorsdirectory.co...-life-as-a-subsistance-hunter-fisher-gather-r
Click to expand...

Always enjoy your posts, much more than a job or “making a living”, rather a way of living.
 
jmorris said:
Always enjoy your posts, much more than a job or “making a living”, rather a way of living.
Click to expand...

Exactly, Jmorris.

If you hunt for a living, theres so much “more” you will do to get out hunting and even more after hunting.

In Alaska its called a “Subsistence lifestyle”, but its so very common that we just say its the “village life style” in the perpetually “jobless” rural villages.
If you ever get to an Alaskan village, get out. In my village, we use our house like a camp, and 500 yards away is the Kobuk River, and its my way “out” to the fish , animals, and all nature has to offer. In the villages there are a few jobs, but mostly its not the place thats ‘happening’, just a place to live. You would want to get up in the morning and follow everyone whos up and going out where the action, fish, wildlife, firewood, camps, etc are. Too many folks go to a village and get disappointed with how folks live a modern ,comfortable life there, but when you eat dinner, most isnt from the store. Culture is found in food , social activity’s and language, and all of them reside in the people and lands around them. Tools and transportation may have changed, but the lands, waters, fish, birds, animals and weather have not, so Hunting/fishing is still very viable.

Alot of guys I hunt with work a ‘real job’ in mining, oilfields or services relating to supporting those types of places, usually 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, as well some are seasonal workers, say firefighting, schooling, or whatever, and winter hunter/trappers, etc.

Its not all hunting, its much more, and the satisfaction you feel at the end of the day can be emmense, but sometimes its painfull......or cold......or wet.......or delicious.......LOL!!!
 
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caribou said:
Indubitably, you CAN make a living hunting, but it takes more than hunting.

You have to find a legal way to make $ because gas cant be bought with fish....

When I became able to support the wife and 2 kids with year round hunting, Inwondered why I even came back to the village, so in a change of lifestyle, I packed my crap into a sled and went hunting and didnt go home. The wife and I took the kids and we simpley camped out for 11 years with a few short breaks , as I just wanted to stay out where the animals were and keep hunting. We made fur clothing and things like fur sleeping bags, boots, mittens, and the wife also scrimshawed ivory and carved bones while I could make a basket type sled tann some furs we caught and could spare, and get some decent $, for gas, bullets, diapers, etc...... or We had the skills sets and as a last ditch, our house in Noorvik village, so we did always have a safety net.Also, my wifes family is very large and we have many friends out on the land, hunters and their wifes, kids so we werent alone all the time. We homeschooled the kids and there was a camp corraspondence teacher that used to fly to the camps, but as time the kids grew up and the program stopped about 10 years ago, but we still homeschooled a couple kids who wanted to follow along, and with no regrets about that, either. kids cant learn Arctic Winter living outdoors from a book in a class room......

Untill National Geographic started following along, me, my wife and kids hunted, trapped and what we didnt eat, we made museum displays with our catch, tanned and sewn displays of my wifes Inupiaq Eskimo ancestors. The wifes reputation is workd wide, museums buy them as fast as we make them, and we still get requests.
Alaska is a hard place to hunt, and takes a year to become a resident, but most all of rual AK hunts/fishes/ gathers/traps for a seasonal income or to supplement foods and cash. A few huys hunt full time and support large, extended families , usually someone in the household is related to them, but Thats what its about. few people understand giving away the “paycheck”, but in the Eskimo way, its always returned, prehaps gas is bought, or bullets or camp gear or babysitting while the huntings going on for a share of the catch. Young guys often “crew up” and learn from older guys and receive a share of the catch, etc etc etc...

It can be done, and I got into the last 31 years simply by chance. With my kids grown up, its easy to keep hunting and haul a camera man along, for a few more $, simply because I can effectively do so. Not giiding, but recording I figure.
Besides the hunting, I much enjoy making my own equipment, and posting here.
Try look me up here, Ive been posting on The High Road for years, even easier with a small Honda 2000 generator, and a small dish bolted to a sled I tow behind my snowgo......and I share my experiences here, too

Its 2020 and hunting can still be a viable living, not primitively, but comfortably.

You can read over this link I wrote up a few years back, see what you think.



https://forums.outdoorsdirectory.co...-life-as-a-subsistance-hunter-fisher-gather-r
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for that! I love your responses and I appreciate your candor. The more I do the 9-5 the more your lifestyle looks so much more appealing to me. I don’t pretend it’ll be easy or thay but it’ll be different and I think that’s what I need.
 
Alaska has a low population, high fuel and energy rates,, the Bush is many times more, in price. For example, until last summer before last, gasoline was 7.85$ a gAllon, its down to 6.10$ now and going to be lower with the last fall top off in late Sept. before it freezes here.
Anchorage prices are about 2.25$ for comparison.

It takes a year to become a resident, best spend getting local info, working, getting proper equipment and learning the lands, weather, and what come around when and whats done with it.
Learn how to use your equipment and how to repair it......like snowgos and outboards, airplane, etc.

Learn winter camping skills.

Practise the skills of trap setting, net setting, riflemanship, boating on lands, lakes, seas, Etc

After a year, you become a resident, get a hunting,fishing,trapping license, qualify to hunt Federal lands for personal use Aka “subsistence”

Theres checkerboards of Stare, Federal and privately owned lands, and each has its own laws, bag limits, etc.

Jobs pay well, but there are few in the bush Ak . Working on the Slope in an oilrig isnt booming at the moment, but seasonal mining and other jobs outside and in differing places can get a Guy through that first year.

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/wildliferegulations/pdfs/gmu23.pdf
 
caribou said:
Alaska has a low population, high fuel and energy rates,, the Bush is many times more, in price. For example, until last summer before last, gasoline was 7.85$ a gAllon, its down to 6.10$ now and going to be lower with the last fall top off in late Sept. before it freezes here.
Anchorage prices are about 2.25$ for comparison.

It takes a year to become a resident, best spend getting local info, working, getting proper equipment and learning the lands, weather, and what come around when and whats done with it.
Learn how to use your equipment and how to repair it......like snowgos and outboards, airplane, etc.

Learn winter camping skills.

Practise the skills of trap setting, net setting, riflemanship, boating on lands, lakes, seas, Etc

After a year, you become a resident, get a hunting,fishing,trapping license, qualify to hunt Federal lands for personal use Aka “subsistence”

Theres checkerboards of Stare, Federal and privately owned lands, and each has its own laws, bag limits, etc.

Jobs pay well, but there are few in the bush Ak . Working on the Slope in an oilrig isnt booming at the moment, but seasonal mining and other jobs outside and in differing places can get a Guy through that first year.

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/wildliferegulations/pdfs/gmu23.pdf
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for that info! I really do appreciate it!
 
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