I get this question on occasion. Usually by business men that hunt with me, that don't get terribly too much time afield. I guess the pictures on there cubical don't fit their fancy anymore. I think the question is best answered if it is clarified. You could be one of many types of upland guides. You could guide the pasture and rolling farmlands of the Dakotas, the hedge apple choked sorghum of Kansas. Or maybe your fancy is the rocky desert of the Sonora for Gambles Quail. For those guys, I haven't the foggiest idea.
Being a guide in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is like all the others, a different animal. Since at Steady Point we concentrate on Grouse and Woodcock and that's what our hunters want, my days are long and all and out strenuous. If you don't believe me ask anyone of the Steady Point Bunch that has followed me up and down Gameland Roads, doing mach 10 cause I got clients coming in the next day or the next week for that matter.
To be able to provide our hunters with a sustainable amount of birds, especially on state lands, it takes, as my good friend Jesse "T" would say, alot of boots on the ground. I can't tell you how many nights I have set at the "Steady Point Bar" pouring over maps to locate new coverts, only to get to them the following week and find that the once empty bog, has now been flooded by some break in beaver dam up stream. Hey that's the woods and coverts, forever changing.
What about zero hour, when my clients want the "Full Monty". The whole breakfast in the bush, with the venison sausage and toast and juice and eggs. Lets talk about some planning. The only plus to that is that my hunters have to drive to the game lands, thus my ride is quiet and I can talk to Great Grand Pa. Either way, Now lets talk about after the prep and "the boots are on the ground" what about clients? I can tell you this, my clients don't know it but they go through a interview process long before I accept a guide job. Having this in place, really helps me. This way very rarely do I have problem clients.
What about busting your hump, having the dogs put up more birds then these folks have seen their entire life and them missing every single one. I guess some would say, hey they paid their money, let them miss. I have run into guides and preserve owners that have that mentality and that kills me. I get more of a kick out of watching my hunters kill birds, then if I did it myself. Plus the dogs need those feathers in their mouths to keep them on the ball. This is why I stress with my hunters, prior to their hunt to shoot at least 2 or 3 rounds of sporting clays prior to the hunt with me. This way their reactions have come out of hibernation and they are a bit quicker on the trigger, which anyone knows is necessary for grouse hunting.
The dogs! Whoa, pardon the pun, that is a whole ta do itself. Training, birds, ranging of the dogs, food, shots, first aid and lets not forget conditioning. It takes a great deal of work for any hunting dog to be in shape for the season. Now take that and multiply that by two or three. You see I can't call the client the day before the hunt and say, Hey I know you want to do two or three days but the dogs aren't up to it. I wouldn't have any repeat business I would surmise. So it takes a great deal of work for the pups to be in that kind of condition to put in 8 hour days back to back. Just think how you feel after a whole day of grouse hunting. Now that dog does 100 times more work than you. Out of shape pups need not apply with us.
All in all, being an upland guide is the best job in the world. If I didn't have it, I wouldn't be me! Enough reading and telling your friends about how you used to kill grouse, get off your butt and call us to book a hunt. The season is coming and you want your dates, or someone else is going to get your spot.
Steady Point Upland Guide Service
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