Fishing and Hunting Workers
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.
Most important skills
- Critical Thinking
- Coordination
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Time Management
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
Key knowledge
- Geography
- Mechanical
- Customer and Personal Service
- Law and Government
- Biology
- Sales and Marketing
- English Language
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Travel on foot, by vehicle, or by equipment such as boats, snowmobiles, helicopters, snowshoes, or skis to reach hunting areas.
- Steer vessels and operate navigational instruments.
- Maintain engines, fishing gear, and other on-board equipment and perform minor repairs.
- Remove catches from fishing equipment and measure them to ensure compliance with legal size.
- 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.
- Interpret weather and vessel conditions to determine appropriate responses.
- Wash decks, conveyors, knives, and other equipment, using brushes, detergents, and water.
- Connect accessories such as floats, weights, flags, lights, or markers to nets, lines, or traps.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Less than a High School Diploma (45% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (40%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (42.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Fishing and Hunting Workers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 45-3031 (exact); it may describe a broader group.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 70% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 59% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 94% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 73% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 93% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 61% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 77% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 63% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 10%
- Contact with others about half the time: 15%
- Contact with others most of the time: 30%
- Constant contact with others: 45%
n = 20, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 23.81%
- Fairly important: 9.52%
- Important: 19.05%
- Very important: 19.05%
- Extremely important: 28.57%
n = 21, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 10%
- Fairly important: 15%
- Important: 25%
- Very important: 40%
- Extremely important: 10%
n = 20, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 5%
- Limited freedom: 10%
- Some freedom: 25%
- A lot of freedom: 60%
n = 20, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Time pressure
- Never: 23.81%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 14.29%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 14.29%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 28.57%
- Every day: 19.05%
n = 21, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Conflict situations
- Never: 9.52%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 42.86%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 28.57%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 9.52%
- Every day: 9.52%
n = 21, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 10%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 55%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 25%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 10%
- Every day: 0%
n = 20, Occupational Expert 08/2025
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 5.26%
- Fairly serious: 42.11%
- Serious: 5.26%
- Very serious: 15.79%
- Extremely serious: 31.58%
n = 19, Occupational Expert 08/2025
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O*NET-SOC 45-3031.00 · SOC 45-3031 (exact, low confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8