Most Daur are farmers, herdsmen, hunters and fishermen. In mountainous areas, they hunt, burn charcoal, gather edible plants and tan, in addition to manufacturing carts and wooden pipes. In modern years, industry has become a part of their lives; Daur factories produce electric motors, transformers, and chemical fertilizer. For those who still farm, their main crops are maize, sorghum, wheat, soybeans and rice.

Every spring, the Daur cut trees from the upper reaches of the Nenjiang River. They then float these trees back to their homes in the Nenjiang River Valley, skin them clean of their bark and carve them into images of the mountain god Bainabi.

Some credit the Daur as being the first to play field hockey. They are first mentioned playing hockey (Beikuo) in the History of the Liao Dynasty, written over a thousand years ago (A.D. 916-1125). They use either a wooden or a felt ball and a stick, no more than a meter long, made from a young xylosma tree bent at the root. When played at night, the ball is bored with holes, soaked in pine resin and lit aflame.