The Dickinson press., 1888-09-08
THE NORTH W00DSGUIDEs
WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO FOR THE
TOURISTS THEY LOOK AFTER.
Boyl,ood of the Future Guide-Ontfit mn,
Accomplishments of an Adirondack
Guidc-Iocation of Camps-Cookin.r am,
Camp Work-Floating for Deer.


According to their stories, the guides are
usually sons OF farmers or lumbcrmeu. and
are reared on the borders of the big woods.
lhey begin to fish for trout in the nearest
brook about rs soon as they can walk. md
before they are able to hold n gun otfhaud
they have been provided with an old musket
which has been bored out and thus made a
shotgun. Very often the guide kills his first
deer before he is in his teens, and instances
OF boys of tender years killing a bear are
scarcely uncommon Such bows roam the
woods with no more danger Of getting lost or
turned around than a city boy would find in
walking from City Hall to the Battery in
New York city.
But travelling through the woods without
getting lost is one of the least of the accom-
plisAa!Hats of an Adirondack gnide. More
thiii! iiiai the guide must be u capitalist He
carrie with him Il thirteen foot canoe and an
assortment of fishing tackle in IL pack basket
that seemed large enough to stock q country
store. Although the club has no end of boats
aiil scows on Bisby lake, the guides must
furnish their own boats for use on Moose
river and Canachagala lake. Whil, the
sportsman always fishes with his own tackle
the guide must have an abundant supply of
lines and hooks. too, including set or night
lines for taking the big ones that will not
rise to;t fly, and the reason for this will ap-
pear further on
KITS FOR TIE CAMP
Besides these, the guide must own Mt least
one good kit of cooking utensils. The Bisby
guides generally own from two to five kits
each, and each kit is kept hidden in tho
woods Mt such points on Moose river and the
lakes as the sportsman is likely to visit when
hunting and fishing. This saves the labor of
carrying kit from one place to another. n
matter of no small Importance. AT these
points. too, the guides erect camps in which
a party may lodge over night in comfort,
rain or shine. The camp is simply q lo., hut
rooted with spruce bark, and frequently
without doors or windows But there is a
good fireplace, and generally supply { dry
wood. Since a good canoe delivered on the
river is worth $50 and camp kit IS, the
guide who is well supplied with these and
with fishing tackle, dogs and rifles is q capi-
talist to the amount Of 500 at least.
Disaster, however, may sometimes over
take the camp kits and camps located in
favorable places on the river and lakes. Food
is frequently left with the kit, and if n bear
comes along he is sure to smell it. Even
when no food is there he will smell the kit.
and, having no fear under such circum-
stances, goes in and strs up tho camp in a
way that is exasperating Frequently the
guide and the sportsman return to ca,,,p
utter long day spent in wading the river
to lind the tinware scattered and the food
eaten and DESTROYED by bear.
The amount of luggage which the city
sportsman requires when going to rough it
at the club house in the Adirondacks some
times makes the guides groan in secret, but
never openly. There are baskets of wine,
cases of beer and denijohns of liquor, be-
sides boxes of canned goods and trunks of
clothing, not to mention silk umbrellas and
hat boxes, all of which find place in many
'ackwoods outfits. If the sportman be an
expert with the fly, Us most of them arc, tho
guide finds occupation in caring for the fish
taken; if not the guide must needs cut !,
pole, tic on Il line and hook and bait up With
n worm. 1t would never do for the sports
man to go back without a supply of fish to
prove his prowess to his friends
At the camp the guide does the cooking and
camp work generally. To hold his patrons
he must not only be good cook, but he must
learn the taste Of each sportsman and satisfy
it. whatever it may be. To satisfy that taste
not lnfrequently requires an infraction of the
game laws, but as one guide says, ''we
must calculate on having fish for breakfast.
law or no law, not to mention venison steaks,
before Aug. 15.' 1t can safely be said that
two deer are slaughtered out Of season at the
be!i"st of city sportslnen to one killed by
'fastng by natives for food, AID the deoi.
killed by the sportsmen can never be more
than quarter consumed before they spoil.
THE SWIMMING DEER