Maine Guide School

Maine Guide School

Mastering compass, paddle, fishing rod, and hunting rifle are all essential to becoming a Maine guide, but they’re not enough, say John and Tami Rogers, who run a school for guides in Lincoln, Maine (pop. 3,300).

The first skill to master is cooking. If a client asks a guide, “What are you going to cook?” and he doesn’t have an answer, he’s in trouble.

“The focal point of most guided days, deer hunting or fishing, is the meal,” John says. “You don’t even have to build a fire or bake biscuits. You can do it on a Coleman (kerosene) stove with a foldup oven. You take Tami’s homemade rolls, sprinkle a little water on them, put ’em in the oven before you start the meat and potatoes. And when you take the foil off, and the steam comes off those rolls.”

The weeklong guide course is about more than food, however. Starting at noon on Sunday, aspirants follow a rigorous schedule—from a 7:30 a.m. breakfast until the evening meal—cramming as much as they can about Maine wildlife, hunting and fishing regulations, first aid, cooking, and finding their way in the woods.

Classes, taught by John and Tami—a husband-wife team—meet in a pine building that looks as if it materialized spontaneously among the spruce and hemlock on the hillside above Folsom Pond in Lincoln. Moose horns over the door, deer antlers—and a big replica of the Maine Guide patch—identify the building. Students sit at handmade pine tables, surrounded by what Tami calls “learning tools”—mounted salmon, trout, and bass; life jackets and paddles; traps and fishing gear; and shelves full of books.

Not all lessons are taught outdoors, but canoe handling is taught on the lake, the “lost person” exercise in the woods, and outdoor cooking at a campfire on the shore. Students sit around the fire, swap stories, and ask questions. No one wants to go to bed.

At week’s end, the class takes a 500-question written test administered at the lodge by an official from Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Most pass because they’ve made a commitment to themselves. But then there’s the oral test, taken at Augusta.

“It’s a tough test,” says John. “When you go in, you’re nervous, but if you can’t manage 45 minutes under pressure, you don’t belong being a guide.”

The ability to think creatively in any situation is what Tami and John consider the core of their course. Every challenge in the outdoors is unique. “We give them the recipe, all the ingredients. They have to know how to use it,” Tami says.

Men and women come to the school from all over the country. The Rogerses aim for a mix, blending ages and occupations in assigning cabins. The time-darkened walls, wood stoves, and screened porches—with their view of the pond—evoke the archetypal Maine “camp.” Three to five share space, taking turns for showers and bathroom. They break bread together in the lodge. “No amount of money will get anyone a private cabin. It’s a great equalizer,” John says.

Building group dynamics works better than individual decisions, he’s found, especially in survival situations. Ph.D.s become friends with truck drivers, shy folks open up, and rugged individualists mellow.

“I don’t know what happens, but something does,” John says. “People become friends and keep in contact. The things that come out of it are things we didn’t plan on.”

He estimates only about 10 percent of those who take his course actually end up guiding for a living. Some guide part time. Others just want to know more about the woods. “It’s an inspirational class for those who love the woods. The license (as a Registered Maine Guide) is just a plus,” Tami says.

When school isn’t in session, Eagle Lodge, an old sporting camp the Rogerses renovated in east-central Maine, hosts fishing, hunting, and canoeing clientele. During the winter, the Rogerses operate Maine-ly Fishing in the Florida Keys, where John is a licensed saltwater captain.

North or South, it’s an outdoor life—and the best part is they enjoy working together all the time.

Jane Lamb writes from her home in Brunswick, Maine.

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