Maine Sporting Camps
Man’s best friends, Rocky and Henry, relax on the porch at Bald Mountain Camps Resort in Rangeley, Maine.
Did you ever stand in front of a painting filled with a forest of trees surrounding a tranquil lake? Next to that lake was a half-hidden cabin sporting a rustic rocking chair on its hewn-log porch. Perhaps that was your “ah ha” moment. Suddenly there was a need to leave the skyscrapers behind, to find your own little cabin deep in the piney woods.
Maine’s sporting camps offer you the chance to live out that fantasy. Some take a bit of effort to reach, either by remote gravel roads or even float planes. Do a spot of fishing in a mountain stream, go kayaking on a lazy river or take a hike in the woods with your four-legged best friend. At the end of the day settle down on your own lake-front porch, count the stars and do a little communing with Mother Nature.
Types of Maine Sporting Camps
Rustic is the order of the day for Maine’s sporting camps. But there are different levels of rustic. For example, in north-western Maine, the Bald Mountain Camps Resort sits on Mooselookmeguntic Lake. Founded in the 1800s, the resort has 14 fully furnished log cabins with daily maid service, a communal dining room overlooking the lake and a fully stocked bar. Motor boats, canoes and kayaks are available for fishing or sport. The resort is open for skiers and ice-fishing in the winter. This sporting camp welcomes children and has a playground and safe swimming beach onsite.
The log cabin at Big Indian Pond, west of the Appalachian Mountain Club 100 Mile Wilderness Conservation Area, is at the other end of the rustic scale. Lit by gaslights and having an outhouse instead of indoor plumbing, this is about as back-to-nature as you can get and still sleep with a roof over your head. The cabin sits next to a 75 acre trout pond and is only accessible by float plane.
North of Mt. Katahdin, the Munsungan Hunting & Fishing Club offers the best of both worlds. it features rustic log cabins with indoor plumbing, meals served in a communal dining room and the chance to fish and hunt. Like many Maine sporting camps, Munsungan has a Registered Maine Master Guide at your service. Having passed several tests to earn their certification, these savvy outdoorsmen can help you make the most out of your hunting or fishing vacation.
Well-behaved dogs are welcome at many Maine sporting camps. Experienced hunters often bring their own trained bird-dogs and retrievers with them. It’s best to check before booking, just in case the camp you are looking at is one of the exceptions.
Maine Sporting Camps Locations
The back-to-nature premise of these camps means that most are in rural locations, mostly in the western and interior parts of Maine. Popular areas include the Kennebec Valley and Moose River area, the Aroostook Region bordering Canada, and the Katahdin-Moosehead Lake Region. Some Maine sporting camps in the Downeast Region are located near waterways filled with salmon and smallmouth bass.
Seasonal sporting camps, such as The Last Resort in Kennebec Valley, open in early May for the spring fishing season and stay open through the fall hunting season. Others, like the Bald Mountain Camps Resort are open year round, giving you the chance to commune with Mother Nature whenever the mood strikes.