I am a young kid and I’m looking for a job that I can work during the summer and then trap in the fall to spring. Do many people do this? Is it a realistic plan? And if so what kind of work can I do? Thank you

Road Construction

Life Guard

Welcome to the site young man. You have ambition so you are already ahead of many.

If you live close to town look around for places to work. My youngest son works at a parts store in the shop changing oil and fixing tires etc.

Save your money in the summer to help you through the school season.

Trapping for sure is fun and addicting but unfortunately hide prices are down. Does your area pay any bounty on animals like beaver? If so that's your best bet to target.

summer camp, seasonal restaurant help, resort help, landscaping

If any experience running machinery a farm job would work well. Also helps out alot with permission being envovled in ag

Are you looking for now or when an adult?

Welcome. Good ideas so far. There are plenty of jobs for young kids most will work with your schedule. Depending on your age you may need a work permit(from the school counselor) . When I was 14 I worked at Sonic on weekends and summer. My age and the laws said I couldn't work more than x hours per week. I did that for a year. Still helped on the field, get wood, hunt, hang with friends, bought all my snowboard gear and tickets.

Good luck on your endeavor have fun

I am totally addicted I have many coyotes in my area and many farms I was thinking farm work and a little control trapping in the summers then going full bore during the season I really want this to work out but I guess experience will tell for sure when I try it out thank you very much.

I was also thinking of becoming a government trapper but I hear that is really not a lot of trapping and a lot of federal paperwork crap I really appreciate all the responses and help thank you all.

I know a guy who raised a family doing exactly that. Trapped all winter. Since he was trying to feed his family I don’t think he viewed it as fun.

If you really wanted to make it happen their are jobs in construction or harvesting crews that are season that will allow you to work a lot of hrs during non trapping season. Put you should be willing to travel to those jobs. I think your best bet would to be able to may as much money in summer as you can especially with fur prices the way they are.

Yeah construction is good I have worked that for two summers and know how to run some equipment. I know prices aren’t good but trapping is really important to me and I want to do it as much as I can while hides are prime and not as just a side hobby.

Mowing lawns is both very profitable and very seasonal. I don't know your area at all, but if you go the farm hand or harvesters route, bean harvest doesn't end here until December most years. Although, if you told them beforehand when you needed to leave, I could see that working out. Especially like the the idea of getting more ground through your connections part of it, as flinthillfur said.

You may have been mislead about the government trapper jobs... some of them are mostly trapping with just some paperwork. But these days I believe you will need a college degree to get one.

lot of asphalt companies focus mostly on parking lots and smaller county road jobs. you come home every night but 75 hour weeks of hard work during the summer are pretty common. then laid off all winter drawing unemployment.

lot of trappers draw unemployment and trap but its not exactly legal. you are supposed to be actively seeking work and available for work.

the criminals who run unions have gotten it where union members are exempt from that if you can join a union and still look yourself in the eye to shave of a morning.

lot of trappers just work all they can stand in the off season and save money for trapping season. right now your cats and coyotes are ok price wise if you know where and how to catch them.

Get a "real Job" that has a early retirement like 20 years. Suffer them out then you'll be under 40 years old.With your retirement check. you'll have a check comming each month. With that it'll free you up to do what you want.
In the mean while you can hobby trap and learn the skills,it takes to become a perfisanal trapper.
Dont know what a goverment trapper makes. Dont realy care.Most goverment trappers I'v met.(NOT ALL)Are too big headed to realy learn the trade.
As a "Preador Control Contractor for the USF&WL" I'v made good money. (till the USDA came it and stole my conteacts.)Anymore I get another contract to clean up what the USDA could'nt catch.
Real Freedom comes with doing what you want to do every day. Not doing what you have to do every day.
I'v lived a good life. Traveled and trapped most all areas of the country.But I did have good fur prices ,most of the time. Now you cant survive on the prices fur is bringing.
Its also been a life wordering how I'm gona pay the bills. Driving trucks that are 10-20 year old.(we call them one payment trucks you buy them with the cash you have in your pocket.)

Like Red said, mowing lawns pay very good. Buy good equipment and strive to do the best job possible. A lot of my business is elderly people, treat them good and the whole town knows it. Word of mouth will get you all the work you can handle.

Go to school and learn to test crops. Have a cousin that does this. Good pay, state benefits, and plenty of down time in the winter.

if that way of life is attractive enough,you will find a way.trust me

road construction for a big outfit...benefits..health insurance.good pay,vacation pay 401K...you will be very busy April until November..sign up for state unemployment..mid November til late March..trap and hunt all winter.

I’ve done asphalt for thirty years because of trapping. It’s a sickness. Lol

Both are good honest livelihoods. Trapping is much more volatile. Yet it has so many nonbenefial benefits.

Been a real good life. Wouldn’t change a thing. Still looking forward to the next season.

Somebody told me if you love what you do you’ll never have to work. They were right

I trapped full time for several years and did other things in the summer. I did farm work, worked on a commercial fishing boat in Alaska one summer, drove motorhomes from the Winnebago factory all over the US which was busy in the late winter through summer so it was a good fit with the trapping. The deal was back then you could make better than average wages from the trapping part of it so I had a pretty good year round income. These days you would starve on the income from trapping in the midwest where I did it.

It's a dream for you and I hope you pull it off. I did, but it was a lot different back then.

No.

As a young kid, with your life in front of you, you deserve a forthright, no BS answer.

Trapping is a hobby, at best a side gig.

You have your whole life in front of you and you probably have no idea what you really want out of life, but at some point it might include retirement, or having a family, or sending kids to school, or seeing more of the world that the farm fields around your town. None of which are going to be sufficiently funded by a 'trapping career'.

In the words of Mike Rowe, "Pursue opportunity, not your dreams". Trapping is a dream, and a low paying one. Opportunities come through hard work, persistence, skills, risk, and luck. Start thinking about what you can do to make enough money such that you can trap in your spare time, and still enjoy your working time. Start building skills and turning those into cash and opportunities.

Best of luck.

I farmed from mid March to Oct then trapped full time before I got married. Sometimes I could squeeze April and May with some ADC work and turkey guideing, loved it for the time.taxidermy work was a help too.
Of course that was when you could go without insurance for a while.

My sigestion in this market would be hone your skills and streamline your methods, of course you prolly got high doller cats and yotes so I guess your market looks good, get you a job that seasonal around here is go to mowing and land scapeing or farming, you can get tons of hrs in the summer this is important, work 80 hrs a week if you can and put all you can away so you got cusion if thangs change mid season, if your gonna ship fur it'll be Feb or March before you get payed. Id make 3 or 4 trips to my buyer through the season when I was doing it.
I always looked at my bills like this if I monthly just an example
Truck payment 100
Insurance 150
Health insurance 150
Utilities 200
Then I owe 600 a month so if I want to trap Nov through Feb I have too have a minimum of 2400 in savings (bank coffee can what ever) that money is Bill money DON'T TUCH IT then put in another 2400 so say 5000 bucks that will get you way down the road when the fur starts too fly. 5000 bucks any too hard to find in the summer of you work hard it's tough to find on the line in winter no matter how hard you work and when you do find it, it takes some time to convert. In short plan plan plan them work your but off.
Good luck young man!! Wish you well.
Colt

OP - See thread -"More work than there is manpower..."

Sounds like there's plenty of opportunity out there for a young man who wants to stand above the rest...

OP- do what you want it's your life you only got 1, don't neglect your responsibilities your family or religion and work hard it all winds up the same in the end can't take it with ya!
I worked maintenance at a nursing home for a while,at that stage of life you can't tell the doctors from the ditch diggers!
Colt

Thank you all for the great ideas they are all so helpful I think I can do this I will be graduating this year and plan to get a degree possibly in wildlife management I am willing to do most any work during the summers as long as I can get my fix trapping in my opinion it is the greatest way a person could choose to spend their time and trappers seem to be great people these responses further instilled these beliefs thank you all so much.

I am 14. I help out on farms around me here in the summer. I tried to start a summer mowing business but that didn't turn out too well. Most of the people around here don't trust a kid to mow their lawn. It might be different out there as far as people's ideas go. I had a good friend move back from Idaho after living there for 5 years say that mowing didn't happen very often with it being dry so that might not work very well.

Warning: this advice is based upon my personal values and is both general and specific.

It is your life to do with as you choose. However, I agree with the above comment. Create higher goals for yourself. Focus on achieving those goals. Always have the next goal or dream in mind while you are succeeding. Be satisfied with your successes. This is still the country of opportunity. Get creative. As a kid, I wanted to have a career that would allow me to do what I wanted in spare time and retire at a decent age. That worked for the most part. I am retired and have a full service wildlife business. I still work / play hard.

The more you know, the easier life is.

Enjoy life. Learn about music and art. Learn to play an instrument. Learn to speak a foreign language. Learn something new every day of your life.

Be honest and frugal. Other fundamental philosophies and values still work. Go to bed early. Get up early. Read autobiographies of very successful people and analyze their philosophies. Become involved with people smarter than yourself so you can learn from them. Don’t automatically trust everyone you meet. Eat healthy and nutritious food. Guard your health. Stay away from booze, drugs, gambling, crime, and shady people. Think creatively. Apply yourself to whatever you do. When you work for someone make yourself be indispensable. Take calculated risks and chances. Put your name on your gear and tools. Work for your money and then make your money work for you. Become a Christian and live right.

Learn manners and etiquette so that you can be comfortable in any situation with anyone. Learn to speak and write well. Improve your vocabulary - learn a new word everyday. Learn how things work and how to repair them.

Don’t let anyone drag you down or destroy your self-esteem. Don’t let a woman derail your plans and change your focus. However learn and grow as a person in your relationships. Consider if a woman is right for you and you are good for her. You can always do what a friend did. He married a woman and after about 7-8 years learned that her parents who lived a very plain and frugal but comfortable life were incredibly wealthy. Her parents gave them a couple million dollars a year for many years. But, don’t count on that happening.

Don't worry about others mistrust in people your reputation will grow as you grow and they will see the greatness in you.

Been there done that the biggest issue in working for a State agency or institution is sometimes it's like you never got out of high school, if you want to get ahead pucker up. If your willing to work hard others will let you do that and ride that wave to their success!


One big dog and pony show and the drama never ends.

Learn a skilled trade, and later start your own business, its wide open right now, because all the young kids do not want to work

I worked night shift most of my life so i had most of the day to do as I like.

Wildland Firefighter is an ideal job for someone wanting too trap in the winters. Can make pretty good money, see a lot of the country, and experience a lot of adventure.

I always thought having a summer soft serve stand would be ideal for being able to trap in the winter months, pick your own open and closing date for the year!

Depending upon where you live in Idaho you could have several farm related jobs that would involve long days and weeks from say April to November.
Potato farms may be looking for seasonal help and wheat farmers may need summer help.
Idaho is the fastest growing dairy state so there should be lots of opportunity to work in the cropping end of these farms, several cuttings of hay with cutting, merging, chopping, hauling and then corn silage and all the manure needs to be hauled as well. You may work a lot of hours in 5-7 months and may get some benefits if hours are enough. If you work on the farms with the cattle that will be more year round.

Bryce

SS it is great to see your ambition at such a young age it is rare nowadays. Dreams are wonderful and reality is just that reality. Consider a trade or skill with high demand. Learn that well and work hard and be frugal when your young. Turn your trade into your own business and grow that business into a successful career. While doing this trap all you can on the side. Life is long and to be able to enjoy much. Learn, earn and commit early so you can overcome and achieve many years to pursue your passions. Had $600 dollars when I graduate college and $15,000 dollars in debt. Saved all I could and never missed a day of pay in 25 years and retired at 46 with a pension and benefits. Now I still work at some things that pay. Landscape, yard mowing, bee hives, farming, referee, that all still pays but I love doing them and trapping pays the least but I still enjoy it.
If I am fortunate to live to average age of 76 and stay in decent health that’s 30 years of doing what I enjoy, that’s way plenty for me. Sometimes you just have to have some foresight and plan your way some and you can make it happen. Coyotes and beaver will still be here.
Good luck