Chapter 38
Your Guide
If you employ a guide on a hunting trip, I recommend that you have him carry a lightweight, full size axe, instead of a gun, also a very small pack sack with food enough for three meals, tin dishes for two, a small pail for making tea and a small fry pan.
In case of accident or other reasons you are obliged to stay out over night you will find one gun and one axe much better than two guns.
With an axe you can build a lean-to, get wood and make a fairly comfortable bed. In 1926 I was Caribou hunting in a very cold country.
Bill Gorman > By “cold country,” L.L. is probably referring to Canada. The last confirmed sighting of caribou in Maine was in 1908. Two efforts to restore the animals to the state — one in 1963, the other in 1989 — failed.
My guide carried an axe instead of a gun, also the other things mentioned above. We had a good hot meal every day at noon time. I was so impressed with the idea that I have never allowed my guide to carry a gun since, except to help hunt down a wounded deer. Years ago when my guide carried a gun duck hunting, I never knew who shot the ducks. Now my guide attends to the sculling and I handle the gun. If a duck drops, I know who shot it.
L.L. Bean (at left) and his hunting partner, L.P. Swett of Bangor, ME., with Caribou shot winter 1926.
You may be invited to make a party of four who make a practice of having cocktails, playing cards in camp and letting the guide shoot the deer. Don’t accept the invitation. Learn to shoot your own deer. It will be a great deal more satisfactory. The open air and exercise is well worth your time even if you fail to get your deer.
The State of Maine has Class A and Class B Guides. The Inland Fish and Game laws provide, that “No person shall be issued a Class A guide’s certificate unless he is physically, mentally and morally capable of guiding and caring for a party anywhere in the forests or on the waters of the State.”
BILL GORMAN > I hunt more than most people, but if I’m going somewhere new, I still think it is advantageous to hire a guide. The first time you hunt a new animal, or in a new state, a guide will show you where the animals are and what their practices are. This gives you more time to hunt and helps support the local economy. Visit the Maine Professional Guides Association Website at maineguides.org.
If you’re heading into the Maine wilderness for the first time, you would do well to hire a guide who knows the area and has earned the trust of others in the field. A Registered Maine Guide has successfully passed some of the most rigorous wilderness guide licensing programs in the country. He or she can help you optimize your experience, be it hunting, fishing, trapping, boating, snowmobiling, or primitive camping.
The legendary Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby received the first Maine guiding license on March 19, 1897. For many years, Registered Maine Guides primarily served hunters and fishermen, and they earned their license simply by proving their mettle to the local game warden. In 1975, the Maine Warden Service instituted a standardized test that includes a written and an oral examination. The program places a premium on safety, and registered guides have demonstrated, among other things, that they know how to react quickly and with a good plan should a client become lost. Registered Maine Guides are well versed in fishing, hunting, trapping laws, and other rules governing outdoor recreation.
In addition to the regular license, a master certification is available to guides who demonstrate a high level of experience and skill in certain areas, such as hunting, fishing, sea kayaking, and other activities.
By hiring a Registered Maine Guide for your first outing in a new area, you not only will improve your odds of catching fish or getting game, you’ll likely be treated to an outstanding meal. Registered Maine Guides are nearly as well known for their delicious spreads — roasted chicken, savory baked salmon, fresh biscuits, even pineapple upside down cake — as they are for their wilderness expertise.
— Bill Gorman