Hutchins was employed as Hudson's Bay Company surgeon at York Factory (Manitoba) 1766–1773 then Governor of Albany fort (Ontario) 1774–1782.
By all accounts, he was a conscientious and hard-working physician but found time for research including a study of local edible plants useful for prevention of scurvy.
He was visited 1768–1769 by astronomer William Wales, who had been sent by the Royal Society to observe the 1769 transit of Venus, and was left equipment and instructions for recording meteorological data.
Encouraged by his acting chief Andrew Graham 1771–1772, he kept notes on wildlife, including descriptions of species not previously recorded.
It is probable that much of the nature notes for which he was also highly praised was actually the work of Andrew Graham, either generously given or plagiarised, an action not considered so reprehensible in those days.