85104 Trappers and hunters

What this occupation covers

Trappers and hunters trap and hunt wild animals for pelts or live sale. They are usually self-employed and work on a seasonal basis.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 12 main duties for this code.

• Set traps with bait and position traps along trails
• Operate boats or snowmobiles or travel on foot, snowshoes or skis to patrol trapline or to reach hunting areas
• Pursue animals by observing and recognizing tracks, trails, animal droppings or broken foliage
• Remove catch and reset traps and snares
• Kill and skin catch for pelts, and treat and pack pelts for marketing or for transport to public auctions
• Kill wild animals using firearms or other weapons
• Trap live animals for sale to buyers or for relocation purposes
• Maintain and repair trapping and hunting equipment
• Maintain trails and access to trapping lines or hunting regions
• Trap designated animals for bounty or other control programs
• May train dogs for hunting
• May monitor animal population in the trapping or hunting regions to ensure future sustainability.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 12 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 73202 Pest controllers and fumigators
• 64322 Outdoor sport and recreational guides

Excluded from this code

• Animal control trapper AND nuisance control trapper (See 73202 Pest controllers and fumigators)
• Hunting guide (See 64322 Outdoor sport and recreational guides)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

beaver trapper · fur trapper · game trapper · hunter · land-based seal hunter · land-based sealer · muskrat trapper · seal hunter - hunting and trapping · sealer · sealer - hunting and trapping · trapper

Employment requirements

• Completion of trapping or hunting courses may be required in some provinces.
• A provincial trapping or hunting licence is required.