03/25/2009
Business isn't booming, even for those who make the outdoors their business.
And by making the outdoors their business, of course, we mean two things. It's about knowing what there is to know about Maine's outdoors expanses in terms of enjoyment and survival, but it's also about making a living off knowing all there is to know of those things.
And you only have to attend a sportsman's show, a staple of Maine springtime, to see that business is hurting.
These days, the shows are starting to look like some sort of a wake. There are lines and lines of booths featuring guide services and outfitters, offering trips and adventures from here to Labrador. But there's a frustrating lack of interest, as the procession files idly by -- show patrons on the lookout for beef jerky or indoor trout ponds instead of big-ticket hunting and fishing trips.
For Maine's registered guides, particularly those trying to make a year-round living off sports, it's a particularly tough go in a down economy these days.
Most return business is steady. Seems people mean business when it comes to vacation, too. They budget in vacation even when the budget begins to tighten up around everything else.
For outdoorspeople, that means getting away for that hunting or fishing trip to recharge.
Where guide services are taking the hit is in drumming up new business.
Carroll Ware, of Fins and Furs Adventures in Skowhegan, said two weeks ago at the Eastern Maine Sportsman's Show in Orono that business is off from the same time last year.
"Our repeat customers are pretty much the same," said Ware, who serves as kind of a travel agent, working in partnership with outfitters in other countries, helping hunting and fishing enthusiasts find the right trip to meet their wishes.
"It's new business that's hurting us," Ware said. "There just doesn't seem to be much."
Ware also said that enrollment for his annual Maine Guide Schools, which prepare would-be guides for taking the state's licensing exams, is down.
It's a sign that those in the business now are struggling, and prospective guides either don't have the money to launch their own guide business or are waiting for the future to brighten considerably before doing so.
Most guides at the Pine Tree State Sportsman's Show in Wilton last weekend nodded in agreement at a figure putting overall business down by about 20 percent when compared to average bookings for this time of year.
Gardiner native Paul Laney of Laney's Guide Service in Grand Lake Stream and Denise Murchison of the Silverton Sporting Ranch in Canaan echoed Ware's sentiments.
What's perhaps most disturbing about the trend is that no single endeavor has been targeted. Between Laney, Murchison and Ware, a client could fish for trophy brook trout in Canada, troll for lake trout and salmon in northern Maine, hunt birds just half an hour from Augusta or chase bear, bobcat, moose, deer or just about anything else.
"Bear hunts," Murchison said. "Everybody seems to be looking for bear hunts right now. They're the big thing."
Unfortunately, they might be the only big thing for a while.
Clearly, it's not the best of times to be in the recreation business.
• • •
Charlie Todd, a wildlife biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, was recently named one of 18 recipients of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's prestigious Recovery Champion Award.
Todd received the award for his extraordinary efforts in helping restore the bald eagle population in Maine.
"Bald eagles were nearly extirpated from Maine," said DIF&W commissioner Dan Martin. "In 1972, only 29 pairs of eagles remained here. Today, thanks in large part to Charlie's efforts, there are at least 477 nesting pairs of eagles, annually producing more than 300 eaglets."
Todd's work covers all the bases, both on the ground and in the air. He spots habitat, protects nest sites, rears chicks, bands nestlings, rescues injured birds and provides eagles to other states to establish populations.
Todd is also establishing a scholarship program for eagle researchers.
"The Recovery Champion award both recognizes the exceptional conservation accomplishments of its honorees and highlights the importance of strong and diverse partnerships in species conservation," said Rowan Gould, the acting director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
"Recovery Champions are helping imperiled species regain their place in the natural resources fabric of our country while focusing attention on the importance of conserving our nation's biological heritage for future generations."
Travis Barrett -- 621-5648
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
Reader comments
Click here to view or add reader comments