I spend a lot of time driving in October with trips to Libby Camps and Pittston Farm in northern Maine. In my travels I listened to The Long Tail by Chris Anderson I think that this line of thinking has huge implications for the guide business. I remember when I started out long ago that one of the hotel owners I visited to drop off brochures told me that I could not possibly succeed because I could not accommodate large groups. His rationale was that people did not do anything in groups of less than fifty.
I have been at a two day meeting where one of the topics was how do we recruit more kids into outdoor activities specifically hunting and fishing. More importantly how do we get them to develop a conservation ethic? The future of wildlife conservation is very much in question as the numbers of hunters and fisherman face precipitous decline. Because much if not all of the funding for wildlife conservation comes from hunters and fisherman and there is not a young cohort in line to replace the aging population something will have to be done very quickly.
I spent last week in northern Maine guiding grouse hunters at Libby Camps. I enjoy the chance to spend time in remote country. The dogs seem to like it as well even though they arrived home exhausted. After a couple of days off they are sitting at the kennel gates waiting patiently to go again.
