Ever considered your career choice based on hunting seasons? You’re likely not the first. In fact, a lot of serious hunters will admit that their career choices revolved around hunting. After all, if you have to work, why not do something that allows you to hit the woods as much as you want? You could brave the content creator waters and try to make a living through YouTube, but that route has become oversaturated and highly predictable.
If your sole purpose is to spend more time hunting, consider jobs that give you the flexibility to do just that. Surprisingly, most of those careers aren’t even outdoors-related. So, if you’re thinking you want to become a game warden or wildlife biologist so that you can spend more time outdoors, you can definitely do that. Just know that time won’t be spent hunting.
Luckily, there are plenty of career options that allow you to hunt more than one day per week. Some seasonal-type jobs might give you a whole season’s worth of downtime, while others can give you an extra few days per week to get outdoors. Here are a few ways you can make a living and spend as much time on the stand as possible.
Self-Employment
The best way to control your own schedule is to control your own schedule. Self-employment (for the most part) allows you to do this. Whether you’re a freelance writer, photographer, realtor, or you start your own business like FHF Gear Founder Paul Lewis, you can often spend more time in the woods than the average Joe. Freelance gigs will probably give you the most flexibility, while other careers, like realty, will give you a reasonable amount of wiggle room when it comes to your work schedule.
Of course, being your own boss comes with challenges. Running your own business requires putting in a ton of hours. W9 employees also can face volatility depending on the market they work in. As someone who regularly freelances, I can tell you that nothing’s guaranteed, and your work can dry up overnight. When companies or clients have to make budget cuts, freelancers are the first to hit the chopping block. But if you can manage your time and money well, you should love the freedom that comes with working for yourself.
Nurse
If you thrive on a structured work schedule, a profession like nursing can give you that and ample time to hunt. Nurses typically work some type of shift schedule, whether that means seven days on/seven days off or a 3/4 split. Either way, nurses have consistent extended time off. Not to mention, you can make a good living as a nurse, especially if you consider travel nursing. For instance, I have a good friend who is a travel nurse, and she made just over $80k. She also had a ton of time to travel for her own enjoyment during those off days.
Of course, those shifts come with long hours, sometimes without any substantial breaks. I know several nurses who work some of those longer night shifts that require a day to recoup. A lot of nurses also experience burnout because of the demanding work and long hours. Still, if you don’t mind the hours or the missed meals, you should have plenty of time to hunt between shifts.
Work From Home
One positive aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic is the work-from-home trend. Many tech, marketing, and media companies offer remote work for their employees, making it easy to work from anywhere, including the woods.
Sure, you might not be able to do much more than answer emails on the stand, but working from a laptop in the back of your truck or a hotel means you can manage your workload while traveling to hunt. At the least, you can manipulate your work schedule around legal shooting hours. Or, if you hunt close to home, you should have the flexibility to slip out for morning and evening sits. And if you happen to land a gig in the hunting industry, then you’ll likely be encouraged to hunt. As long as you get your work done, your boss will understand why you need to take off opening day.
A lot of these companies also boast generous or unlimited PTO, though you’ll still need to have your time off approved. But like freelancing, you won’t have much job security. Tech and media companies will make widespread cuts to “restructure” their budgets whenever things get squirrely. So don’t be surprised when the VP of the company wants to have a random Slack meeting with you at 10 am on a Tuesday, just a week after you convinced your wife to quit her job. Not that I speak from experience.
Community College Instructor
This one probably applies more to southern hunters than anyone else, but academia can provide a ton of hunting opportunities for folks in the Gulf states. I was pleasantly surprised in my freshman year of college when I had almost six weeks off during Christmas break. Where I live in Mississippi, that time coincides with all phases of the rut. I had my best season to date that year, and I notched all three of my buck tags. I hunted so many days I think my dad started to get jealous, so he burned a few weeks of vacation to join me. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons I decided to pursue a Master’s degree in English.
You won’t build a fortune in education, and there’s not a ton of flexibility outside of the liberal time off and holidays, but the benefits and extended breaks make it worth it for most. In fact, many colleges and universities don’t even offer classes on Fridays. As long as your department chair doesn’t add a meeting to that day, you’ll have a three-day weekend. When you consider the month-long Christmas break, three months off during the summer, and all the holidays in between, it certainly sweetens the deal.
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