Any Wildlife Biologists on TBH?

[Raider4044]

Thank y'all very much for all of the advice. I am kind of leaning toward the wildlife management side of it. What might be some summer jobs/internships that might be good for me to get an idea of things. (This last summer I worked on a ranch working cows, welding, building/fixing fence, and other odds and ends)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[txwhitetail]

Thank y'all very much for all of the advice. I am kind of leaning toward the wildlife management side of it. What might be some summer jobs/internships that might be good for me to get an idea of things. (This last summer I worked on a ranch working cows, welding, building/fixing fence, and other odds and ends)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's good experience because most of it on the wildlife side of the private sector is ranch work not hunting/fishing all the time.

[Russ81]

Any Wildlife Biologists on TBH?

Thank y'all very much for all of the advice. I am kind of leaning toward the wildlife management side of it. What might be some summer jobs/internships that might be good for me to get an idea of things. (This last summer I worked on a ranch working cows, welding, building/fixing fence, and other odds and ends)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is no wildlife management, wildlife do fine without us 99% of the time. Wildlife management is people management with a fancy title. I'd would work on public speaking and better understanding of Latin if your set to go full wildlife management degree. Maybe join a 4H wildlife team and go compete, you'll met a lot of universities that way and whittle down a school.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hawkpuppy 1]

TPWD always has a bunch of internships available that would be good to get into. Be as well rounded as possible. Learn to fix fence, plumbing, welding, fencing... Learn all your plants and grasses, trees and shrubs too. Go to as many presentations in the field you can through Agrilife, NRCS, TPWD, etc....

[79F250]

I'm majoring in natural resource management at Angelo state. My plan is to work at one of the WMAs in Texas. My go to's are chaparral WMA or Kerr WMA. If I can't find a job doing that my fall back plan is basically a ranch hand. Working cattle, doing brush control, being a hunting guide, fixin equipment, fences ect. Basically doing anything outside with wildlife and I'll be happy. My current boss knows some big ranches that pay there ranch hands $100,000 a year. Gonna check them out for sure.

[txwhitetail]

I'm majoring in natural resource management at Angelo state. My plan is to work at one of the WMAs in Texas. My go to's are chaparral WMA or Kerr WMA. If I can't find a job doing that my fall back plan is basically a ranch hand. Working cattle, doing brush control, being a hunting guide, fixin equipment, fences ect. Basically doing anything outside with wildlife and I'll be happy. My current boss knows some big ranches that pay there ranch hands $100,000 a year. Gonna check them out for sure.

Ranch hands 100k a year ??? Did you believe that?

[79F250]

Ranch hands 100k a year ??? Did you believe that?

He has no reason to lie. He told me this ranch makes over a $1,000,000 a day with oil. Ranch is a little over 100,000 acres also said all their ranch trucks are Ford raptors. I have no idea if all this is true, just what he told me I don't know why he would make that up so I believe him

[flywise]

He has no reason to lie. He told me this ranch makes over a $1,000,000 a day with oil. Ranch is a little over 100,000 acres also said all their ranch trucks are Ford raptors. I have no idea if all this is true, just what he told me I don't know why he would make that up so I believe him

Im betting none of it is true regardless how much a ranch is making in oil.
And A raptor would be the worlds worst ranch truck. BUT, if this ranch does have all he said, its the only one out there doing and paying this. I know ranch hands who get flown from east tx to new mexico to work 1 mans cattle. And they dont make anything like 100k a year

[ar3731guy]

I was a private wildlife biologist for 15 years on large ranches in south texas. it was great. had lots of fun. the hours are long and the pay is short. it may seem like good pay for a year, but you do the math and figure you hourly rate, it aint that good. I was never home 6 months of the year even though the ranch I ran was 20 mins down the road. I took a leap into a different career path and joined a large engineering firm. now I make 4 times what I used to in 40 hour weeks with weekends off. with all the time off I have now, it seems I do more wildlife stuff from guiding to selling hunts than when I was doing the wildlife thing full time and it seems like im having a lot more fun than I used to.

[Codie]

That was my dream as well until I realized there was no money to be made in that line of work. The folks getting to spend thier free time in the outdoors are not the wildlife biologists. It is the foks that work 40hrs a week and make enough money to enjoy extras in life. I would not take your bosses $100,000/yr ranch hand position into consideration when deciding if that line of work was for me or not. I agree that life will be more enjoyed if you are doing something you love, but I also know that life is expensive so you absolutely need to take into consideration whether you can support a family (if that is in your future plans) doing whatever job it is you are interested in. It can be done in the wildlife field, but the good paying ones are few and far between when compared to a lot of other lines of more general fields of work

[Russ81]

I'm majoring in natural resource management at Angelo state. My plan is to work at one of the WMAs in Texas. My go to's are chaparral WMA or Kerr WMA. If I can't find a job doing that my fall back plan is basically a ranch hand. Working cattle, doing brush control, being a hunting guide, fixin equipment, fences ect. Basically doing anything outside with wildlife and I'll be happy. My current boss knows some big ranches that pay there ranch hands $100,000 a year. Gonna check them out for sure.

I got a deckhand job on a Jon boat in a stock pond baiting hooks for Swedish national bikini team members and handling catfish for $125,000 a year if you need some side money


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Charles]

I got a deckhand job on a Jon boat in a stock pond baiting hooks for Swedish national bikini team members and handling catfish for $125,000 a year if you need some side money


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Come on man...you know the rules. We need Pixels of the Sweds

[BrokenJ]

I am a Junior in High School and I'm thinking about majoring in wildlife biology. I interested in getting some opinions and suggestions from some people in that field. If you don't mind, just give me a brief description of your jobs and what you like and don't like about them.

Thanks, Kanyon

I was in your shoes 10 years ago. Graduating school looking at colleges wanting to go wildlife. Same thing happening here, happened too me. Everyone crying about how theirs no money, long hours, no weekends, that degree is not needed. On and on with negatives. First thing you need to do is be honest with yourself and make sure it's what you want, I would have done it for free, so I did it. Don't do it for the money and you will be fine. (Start off 35 to 40 then prove yourself 50 to 60 with truck, house , cell, health insurance, and retirement is not unrealistic with higher paying out there) When you are honest, hard working, have a good personality, and don't complain it's easy to find jobs.

I am in the private sector. Head Cattle foreman and assistant wildlife manager. Low and high fence ranch in south Texas and two low fence east Tx properties all mld. We hunt and manage for quail, dove, duck, and deer in that order in STX, and deer, dove, and turkey in ETX. Also manage 5 lakes between 25 and 50 acres for bass on properties. 150 head commercial cow calf operator built around the quail management program.


First piece of advice is go to a&m kingsville, reasonably priced and your as close to some of the finest ranches in Texas. Great school, great teachers, small class sizes and tons of hands on and Chances to work out in the field. I think my 4.5 yrs for school and books was around $25,000. What kingsville does more than anything is allow you to make connections. Owners and managers in the wildlife industry will take to professors and look for employees. So always work hard in class, on field trips, on work trips, turkey or deer captures ect. And you will stand out. Don't dress like hippie, be clean cut and respectful. No professor would put his name on the line for a goon.

Second piece of advice do a summer and fall internship. They Don't pay anything but that's not the point. Get experience in the field judging deer, culling, cleaning, taking records and learning on all species Dove duck quail cattle brush grasses. Learn different Management techniques ect. Make connections and earn a few college credit hours.

Third piece of advice stay out of trouble. The liability ranch Owners have is huge. Entertaining guest with guns is a huge liability. When they run a back ground check and you have a dwi, drug charges, or any other Criminal problems it's not worth the risk for them. It will make getting a job very hard. Being Honest and trustworthy are two of the biggest qualities you can have. Other things can be taught.

Last piece of advice is be humble. Just because your in wildlife doesn't mean that's all you do. Sometimes you have to dig a ditch, paint, build fence, fill feeders, clean a house or 6, do Landry, ect. When your in wildlife no telling what you might have to do. Keeping the ranch and operator going is what counts. So is that's what it takes, just do it. Most the time theirs people for those jobs but grabbing the trash when the cook or cleaning lady is swamped or helping your hands clean up around the headquarter before a big group on short notice is just the right thing to do.

Good luck and feel free to pm me. Ethan

[fullsizeaggie]

My bachelors is in Rangeland Ecology. I work with hydrogeology, hydrology and geology with some range mixed in. No matter your degree, take hydrology, geology or agronomy. Don't just stay in one path. Take as many different electives as you can. I have since gone back for about 14 hours in geology and am going to start a Masters in Natural Resources next year. It is very common that a masters is becoming the new bachelors. Every entry level position we have hired, has had a masters!!! Need any more help let me know.

[jmoore]

Some good advice above. The only thing I could add that I have not seen mentioned is to go to the TPWD website and look up your county bioloigist. Give him/her a call and visit for a bit. My free time in high school was spent doing volunteer work with our county biologist and I learned quite a bit from him. Being such a competitive field, it also looks good on college applications to have this work and experience listed that you've helped with previously and you'll better understand the work that comes with that title.
Good luck