Spent a whole summer on scaffolding jackhammering columns out of walls 20 feet above paper machines in 120 degree heat. Would that make me eligible to be a trapper?

yes , dirty jobs as you might call them answer the question

the interview wasn't for trapper , it was for anything , if you have the hustle to keep working in the heat , the cold , whatever the adversity.

it builds work ethic , something sorely lacking these days in so many.

to quote my oldest that is 22 and In college for Art education and student teaching , working an internship, picking up some contract art work , and making or delivering pizzas Friday Saturday , Sunday often till 0100 then taking the hours cleaning till 0400 and maintaining an A average all through school and college.
" why did you have to go and break me and make me the best worker any where I go! it's exhausting and frustrating to see other peoples lack of work ethic."

Reading this brought back memories of when I was in high school
I bucked hay bales on to a slip that was pulled by a tractor we had 4 slips gathering bales
Then there was 2 old boys stacking with a Derek and Jackson fork
Those boys could make a stack so square it was amazing!
My uncle could plant like he had GPS we would drive stakes at
the end of the field to start and the first run down the field he used the front site
like it was a rifle he took a lot of pride in his field
Now it's all GPS most younger generations don't know about the sites on a tractor

Related question.......for those of you with hay hauling experience. When you get to the barn........stack them flat or on edge? And why?

flat because they didn't tell me to do it any other way.

I can't ever recall seeing any around here stacked on edge.

what is the reason you had for stacking on edge?

Out side stack first row on edge creates a stronger foundation like a stem wall

I should clarify what I mean
All bottom row bales are on edge and tied behind in this creates
a solid foundation

My winter work was clamming through the ice.
you walk out on the bay ice and cut a hole, a 2 man crosscut without the end handle was used after getting the hole started with an ax.
You slid the cut out block under the surrounding ice, slide the rake as far under the ice as you could and start working it back, when you covered what you could reach, you cut a new hole and repeat.
Clams went into a garbage can full of water to keep them from freezing and everything was hauled back to shore on a sled.....

You ended up half froze and covered in ice, fun times, all that for a poor payday, lol
makes my joints hurt just thinking about it....

I forgot to mention I cut enough firewood on weekends for 2 households. My father had a massive heart attack when I was 12. My granny as well as us burned wood. I spent EVERY Saturday as soon as the leaves started to fall cutting at least 2 truckloads of wood. Busted it by hand also. Hard work for a 12 year old. Loaded and ricked every piece. But never complained because it had to be done.

Was raised on a small dairy farm so hay and straw baling were a given and it was all hands on deck. I was the youngest and smallest in the family but I could stack the bales on the truck or wagon so they did not fall off so I got to handle every bale in the field and usually again in the barn.

Our first baler was a wire tie rather than twine. Man, you could really pack some weight in those wire tie bales and that wire was hard on a fellers hands. It was not PTO driven. It had an air cooled Wisconsin motor and I was so glad when that thing finally died and we got a PTO drive twine baler.

We used straw to litter the stables during the winter so a many a hot June/July days spent baling and putting up straw. No baler with a kicker or self loading wagons back then. Two fellows walking, throwing bales up on the truck or wagon and me stacking them. Most of this was within 3 or 4 miles of home and I was driving tractors and trucks hauling hay on the roads long before I was old enough to have a drivers license.

Those were character building days for sure. Hot and sweaty and no AC to go home to either. A dip in the pond or creek or a spray down with a hose to clean up and cool off.

Hay baling was my life from 45 to 65 I would cut and rake then hire a driver for tractor and baler and I would stack then with lots of hay racks I would fill and sell and store loads in the sheds for winter sale . Alfalfa Orchard grass was a big seller to horse people . Loved my job !

I might add to the above that in order to meet a deadline, we worked 12 hour days for 7 days a week with no days off for a month. I would get home, eat, shower go to bed and get up a few hours later to face the next day. Dirty work and strenuous for sure. Then it dropped down to 10 hour days, six days a week which felt like a vacation. Good thing that I was young.

A buddy and I were 16 and were throwing bales on the hayrack. Hotter than holy blazes. The baler was messed up and some were two feet long and some were seven feet long. My buddy passed out and I threw him on the hayrack and was pulling and stacking by myself until he came to all the while the baler never slowed down. At the end of the day we went into town and crammed into a trap house and loaded clay pigeons into the thrower so the town sports could trap shoot. Good times.

As for hottest job . Spent 10 years in a foundry making aluminium wheels for Honda accords in the 90's 12 hour days. worked 81 straight days got 1 day off then 79 straight. handled 2,000 wheels per day that in cast form (before machining) 40 lbs each.

Loading and stacking then elevator and in the mow in steel buildings in va... June july as a 11-14yr old. Did all the neighbors and loaded logs on flatbed by hand. Paid 2.50 an hr cash in 1970-73.made more as a kid then when i worked in a factory at 18;for 2.30 an hr. Tractor kept a fast pace , had to run from bale to bale non stop and pitch on wagon.

I didn't do any haying , but unloaded and stacked many a hay truck as a kid.

My mom worked in a feed store as a bookkeeper. I got dragged along as a way to 'babysit' an 8 year old. So , I got put to work. No pay.
Unloaded many a truck , hay , salt blocks , all kinds of animal feed. Stacked it to the ceiling. Started out with the 25lb bags , then the 50lb bags. After a bit , 75lb bags. Finally worked up to the 100lb bags.

At the age of 11 , I weighed about 89lbs soaking wet but could carry a 100lb bag.

Some customers would only buy a small amount like 1-2 bags and the adult guys in the store would carry it out for them to put in the trunk of a car. If they got lucky , customer would maybe give them a quarter or two tip as a bag of feed was about $4 back then.

One day the guys were busy and I got sent to bring out a 100lb bag for a customer. The customer was shocked when they seen this small 11 year old kid carting a bag of feed that they even could not carry. Fumbled with their keys in a hurry to open the trunk for fear this poor kid would get crushed/die from carrying a big bag of feed.
Got a nice tip.
The guys that normally did this were impressed. So then they would purposely send me out with the feed because I got killer tips compared to the adults. It was a good hustle.

Man I'm glad we didn't have to buck lots of hay as a kid , we didn't have those lite Hollywood bales. Ours were 80 -90 for 2 string bales ( and those were few and far between ) and 110 to 125 for 3 string bales. Did it a few times but usually just a 100 or 200 over the summer, All ours were loaded and stacked with a harrow bed. We spent our days moving wheel lines and packing hand line to irrigate.

Grew up south Kansas City and never had a chance to hay as a kid. At 18 went to college and loved being out of the city living with farm kids. Bought a small farm and started square baling about 8 years ago. Still run a JD 24T and NH 273. Locals call me now to square bale and put up about a thousand a year now. I very much enjoy it. Makes me appreciate physical labor and every night after spending it in the hay field - I get the best sleep of my life as I am worn out. Kind of remember the look as the sweat was pouring off my arms and the dry hay dust make green sweat drops....don't know why but always thought is was kinda neat. And yes, the breeze in the loft is a nice pleasure - we put most of ours up at dark now and just get trailers and wagons to barn before dark.

Growing up I worked at several farms helping to put hay away in the summer, in return instead of getting paid I was given permission to trap and hunt.

Man, I'd like to know how many bales I've pulled of a 24T over the years! I also still have and use one.