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Fishing and Hunting Workers: Career Overview

Hunt, trap, catch, or gather wild animals or aquatic animals and plants. May use nets, traps, or other equipment. May haul catch onto ship or other vessel.

The Daily Work of Fishing and Hunting Workers Do?

The core tasks performed by fishing and hunting workers include:

• Steer vessels and operate navigational instruments.
• Remove catches from fishing equipment and measure them to ensure compliance with legal size.
• Direct fishing or hunting operations, and supervise crew members.
• Interpret weather and vessel conditions to determine appropriate responses.
• Travel on foot, by vehicle, or by equipment such as boats, snowmobiles, helicopters, snowshoes, or skis to reach hunting areas.
• 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.
• Maintain engines, fishing gear, and other on-board equipment and perform minor repairs.
• Connect accessories such as floats, weights, flags, lights, or markers to nets, lines, or traps.

Key Skills and Knowledge

Top fishing and hunting workers rely on a mix of skills and domain knowledge.

Key Skills

These are the skills most central to this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:

Top Knowledge Areas

Types of Fishing and Hunting Workers Jobs

This career also goes by job titles like:

• Abalone Fisherman
• Albacore Fishing Boat Crewman
• Alligator Hunter
• Alligator Trapper
• Animal Bounty Hunter
• Animal Damage Control Agent
• Animal Trapper
• Bait Man

Employment and Demand

The U.S. employs around 130,644 fishing and hunting workers working in the United States today. Employment is projected to grow by +5.0% over the projection horizon.

Fishing and Hunting Workers Pay

Statistic	Value
Annual median	$51,869
Hourly median	$24.94
10th percentile	$32,293
25th percentile	$42,081
75th percentile	$61,658
90th percentile	$71,446

Pay can vary substantially based on experience, location, and industry.

Tools and Technology

• Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel (hot technology)
• Office suite software: Microsoft Office software (hot technology)

The Day-to-Day Environment

The work environment for fishing and hunting workers reflects the following characteristics:

• Outdoors, Exposed to All Weather Conditions
• Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams
• Freedom to Make Decisions
• Contact With Others
• Exposed to Extremely Bright or Inadequate Lighting Conditions

Getting Started in This Career

Typical fishing and hunting workers positions require less than a high school diploma as the typical entry-level education. This occupation sits in Some Preparation Needed (Job Zone 2), signaling the level of preparation typically expected.

Similar Occupations

Similar Occupations

• Fish and Game Wardens (Primary-Long)
• First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers (Supplemental)
• Agricultural Equipment Operators (Primary-Long)
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse (Primary-Short)
• Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals (Primary-Short)
• Forest and Conservation Workers (Primary-Long)
• Helpers–Extraction Workers (Supplemental)
• Commercial Divers (Supplemental)

Degree Programs

Aspiring fishing and hunting workers commonly pursue programs in:

Natural Resources and Conservation

1 programs across 1 majors

• Fisheries Sciences

Sources

This profile draws on the following authoritative sources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
• BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
• O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.

SOC code: 45-3031.00 (Fishing and Hunting Workers).