Aprofessional hunter (less frequently referred to asmarket orcommercial hunter and regionally, especially in Britain and Ireland, asprofessional stalker orgamekeeper) is a person whohunts and/or managesgame by profession. Some professional hunters work in the private sector or for government agencies and manage species that are considered overabundant,^[1][2] others are self-employed and make a living by selling hides and meat,^[3] while still others guide clients onbig-game hunts.^[4]

In Australia several millionkangaroos are shot each year by licensed professional hunters inpopulation control programmes, with both their meat and hides sold.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

German professional hunters (Berufsjäger orBerufsjägerinnendepending on gender) mostly work for large private forest estates and for state-owned forest enterprises, where they controlbrowsing by reducing the numbers ofungulates likeroe deer orchamois, manage populations of sought-after trophy species likered deer and act as hunting guides for paying clients.^[10][11][12]

Historically, professional big-game hunters of European descent who plied their trade in Africa, especially during the first half of the 20th century, are often referred to as "white hunters" or "great white hunters".^[13] The countries of Southern and Eastern Africa, especially Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, are major destinations forbig-game hunting tourism in Africa.^[14][15] Local professional hunters, often simply referred to asPH, act as hunting guides for paying guest hunters and manage safari hunting businesses.^[16][17][18]

British professional stalkers and gamekeepers primarily work on large estates, especially in theScottish Highlands, where they most commonly manage red deer,common pheasant,red grouse andFrench partridge.^[19][20] Early in the 20th century there were an estimated 25,000 professional stalkers and gamekeepers employed in the UK,^[21] while today there are some 3000.^[22]

In a North American context the terms market hunter and commercial hunter are predominantly used to refer to hunters of the 19th and early 20th century who sold or traded the flesh, bones, skins and feathers of slain animals as a source of income. These hunters focused on species which gathered in large numbers for breeding, feeding, or migration and were organized intofactory-like groups that would systematically depopulate an area of any valuablewildlife over a short period of time. The animals which were hunted includedbison,deer,ducks and otherwaterfowl,geese,pigeons and many otherbirds,seals andwalruses,fish, rivermussels, andclams.^[24]

Populations of large birds were severely depleted through the 19th and early 20th century. The extermination of several species and the threatened loss of others caused popular legislation effectively prohibiting this form of commercial hunting in the United States.Hunting seasons were eventually established to conserve surviving wildlife and allow a certain amount of recovery and re-population to occur. TheMigratory Bird Treaty Act signed in 1918 regulated hunting and prohibited all hunting ofwood ducks until 1941 andswans until 1962.^[25]

Agencies like the federalWildlife Services (not to be confused with theUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service), part of theUnited States Department of Agriculture’sAnimal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and its equivalents on the state level employ professional hunters for lethal as well as non-lethal control of wildlife, for example, dealing with wildlife preying onlivestock (or humans) and engaging inbird control to preventbird strikes.^[26][27][28] The federal Wildlife Services alone has a staff of around 750 professional hunters.^[28] It works on around 565 airports around the United States to identify and reduce threats posed by bird strikes.^[28]

• Poaching – Illegal hunting of wildlife
• Trapping – Use of a device to remotely catch an animal
• Wildlife management – Management and control of wildlife populations

• Dickson, Barney., Hutton, Jonathan., Adams, W. M. (2009).Recreational Hunting, Conservation and Rural Livelihoods. (=Conservation Science and Practice). Wiley-Blackwell,ISBN 9781444303179.
• Gissibl, B. (2016).The conservation of luxury: Safari hunting and the consumption of wildlife in twentieth-century East Africa. In K. Hofmeester & B. Grewe (Eds.),Luxury in Global Perspective: Objects and Practices, 1600–2000 (Studies in Comparative World History, pp. 263–300). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316257913.011.
• Jacoby, Karl (2001).Crimes against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation. Berkeley: University of California Press,ISBN 9780520282292.
• Lovelock, Brent (2007).Tourism and the consumption of wildlife: hunting, shooting and sport fishing. London: Routledge.ISBN 978-0-203-93432-6.
• van der Merwe, Peet; du Plessis, Lindie (2014).Game farming and hunting tourism. African Sun Media.ISBN 978-0-9922359-1-8.

Media related toProfessional hunters at Wikimedia Commons

• Hunters
• Animal husbandry occupations

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