Salary
Average Salary: $33,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,377,684
As you may have guessed by now, most hunter/trappers don't punch time clocks or work the sort of job where you collect a regular paycheck. Most hunter/trappers are self-employed, and the work is often part-time because animals can only be hunted in certain seasons—namely, fall and winter, when they won't be raising babies that can't yet fend for themselves.
Not only is hunting in the off-season illegal, it's a bad idea to cripple the herd. What's going to happen to your dream job if there are no deer left in the woods?
To meet the demands of living in today's world, many part-time hunter/trappers work a warm-weather job like roofing, construction, or road work from spring to early fall. Then they hunt during the cold months. If that's not your jam, consider working with a wildlife sanctuary or teaching schoolkids about the local wildlife.
For those hunter/trappers who do the job full-time for a conservation and wildlife service, the average pay is just under $33,000 per year (source). These officers do less hunting and trapping and more legal enforcement stuff. They check to make sure that everyone's got a hunting license, cart away nuisance animals like alligators and really aggressive raccoons, and help trap and tag wildlife to track migrations or other habits.
While most of these kinds of jobs are county or state office jobs, some can be found on military bases and in national parks. In the latter two, the pay is likely to be a little higher. Some employees in this category might get other perks instead of larger salaries such as a rent-free home with paid utilities inside the park and a park service vehicle to drive. So long as it's not Jurassic Park, that's a pretty sweet deal.