Skip to Content

Maine Guides and Outdoor Sporting Heritage

For more than 100 years, the title Registered Maine Guide has been a badge of honor, a distinction issued only to those who have demonstrated a thorough knowledge of Maine's outdoors. Maine Guides are as much a part of Maine’s outdoor sporting heritage as L.L. Bean and traditional Maine sporting camps.

Maine’s first licensed guide was Cornelia "Fly Rod" Crosby, one of the luminaries honored at the Rangeley Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum. Crosby received the first of more than 1,300 Maine Guide licenses issued in 1897, the program's inaugural year. Back then, hunting and fishing were the mainstays of the program. Now, more than century later, there are about 4,000 Maine Guides, licensed not only in categories for hunting and fishing, but also for recreation, sea kayaking, and tidewater fishing. 

Savvy visitors know to hire a member of the Maine Professional Guides Association for the best introductions to Maine's great outdoors including: hikes, nature walks, moose-spotting, wildlife safaris, birding, back-country snowshoeing and skiing, whitewater rafting expeditions, sea-kayaking along the Maine Island Trail, wilderness photography and paddling remote waters. Maine Guides have the skills and knowledge to turn a routine excursion into a memorable adventure.

For a complete immersion into the Maine sporting life, pair a guided adventure with a stay at a traditional Maine sporting camp. Most camps are either owned by Maine Guides or have arrangements with local Maine Guides.   

View all “Registered Maine Guide” listings

Search with more terms Advanced Search
Search for Registered Maine Guide
Close Open