Frequent Guide Career Questions Part A:

"Not sure what course to take or where to start? "


This question is one of the two most asked questions when starting out in your guiding career. The course calendar is set up in such a way that will allow students who elect to take more than one course in a given semester to naturally progress through the program and meet the prerequisites of advanced courses. The 3 main areas where a professional guide may specialize in are:

a. Wilderness Guide
b. Hunting Guide
c. Angling Guide


You can choose to specialize in additional areas such as ranch manager, barn manager, or equine specialist but we will discuss the three listed above in this article.


For students wanting to specialize in Angling Guide:

If the student wishes to focus 100% on Guiding fisherman on inland lakes, creeks & streams using bait casting, spin casting, planer boards trolling ect then the Angling guide course is the route to take. Generally the employment season will run May though September in any given year. Other options would be to carry through with some operators for ice fishing but this is a very narrow market. You have a choice as well of starting your own guiding business but you are still limited to your short season. For someone just looking for summer type employment this would be a good option. Generally you would be on the east side as employment is stronger in this chosen field there. There are no prerequisites for the Angling guide course and it is offered at our Kirkland Lake, Ontario campus.


For students wanting to specialize as a hunting guide:

For students wishing to pursue a career as a hunting guide your employment season runs longer than the Angling guide with some outfits running up to 10 months out of the year. The question becomes where do I want to work? If you have to stay in your particular state or province you are limited to what your home has to offer in terms of species and season length. If you are fortunate to have multiple species and a long season then your employment length is good. If you have the option to move around then you are adding to your experience by adding different species to your portfolio thereby making you that much more in demand. This course is an advanced course and the two week wilderness guide training course is a pre-requisite. This course is offered at the Tumbler Ridge, BC campus.

For students wanting to specialize as a Wilderness Guide:

This exciting and rewarding career has many opportunities available and we will discuss a few here. This career path involves taking clients on overnight adventures by horse and pack train into the mountains. This also involves high calibre wildlife viewing trips such as grizzly bear viewing safaris. Wildlife eco-tours, trail riding facilities ect are all options available to the specialist in this field. Generally one would love the outdoors as much as being around horses as both are needed in this field. This course is held at our Tumbler Ridge campus. Students electing this path can further there study with the Advanced Wilderness Guide Course. The advanced course takes the skills acquired during the basic 2 week wilderness guide course and specializes in high calibre wildlife viewing safaris such as grizzly bears, mountain goat and sheep, mountain caribou ect. The advanced course provides training above 5,000 feet and uneven terrain.

We are available anytime to answer questions you may have.
Canadian Wilderness Guide School
705.642.6465
mailto:705.642.6465info@guideschool.ca
http://www.guideschool.ca/