A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A MIGRANT GUIDE

Scott Dillon has guided hunters and fishermen to game and fish across the U.S. for more than 15 years after training at a guide school in Montana where he learned the basic skills required to be a guide. Dillon, a longtime avid hunter and angler, uses much of what he's learned about wildlife and fish to help outdoorsmen live their dreams.

QUESTION: Scott, you're a migrant outdoor worker, aren't you?

ANSWER: Well, perhaps migrant guide is the best term for what I do for work.

QUESTION: Tell me when your season starts, and walk me through the year of what you do.

ANSWER: The season for me each year generally starts around March 15, when I head down to White Oak Plantation near Tuskegee, Alabama, to guide turkey hunters. I get done at White Oak about April 23 and drive straight to Ohio to do turkey hunts until May 16. Then I pull out on May 17 and head to the Kenai River in Alaska to do salmon fishing trips until about the middle of August. Then I head down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to guide elk and mule deer hunts. When I get done there on October 20, I'll go back to White Oak Plantation on October 22 for the lodge's Bows and Does hunt and then finish up guiding deer hunters on February 1.

QUESTION: What type of guiding do you like the best, Scott?

ANSWER: I don't have a particular favorite. But sometimes if I work too long doing one thing, I get burned out. If I change to different types of hunting and fishing, then I don't get burned out as quickly.

QUESTION: What do you like about guiding?

ANSWER: Probably the best thing about guiding is getting to know all the different people. I also enjoy being able to take somebody on his or her first hunt for some type of game and help him get what he wants.

QUESTION: How do you keep doing it -- guiding hunts across the country, that is? You've been doing guiding for 15 years -- seems like you'd get tired of guiding.

ANSWER: I like what I do. I don't know too many people who get to go to work doing something they like.

To contact White Oak Plantation, call or write the lodge at (334)727-9258, or 5215 County Road 10, Tuskegee, AL 36083.

TOMORROW: A TYPICAL DAY FOR A DEER GUIDE

Check back each day this week for more from Preston Pittman...

Day 1 - Getting Started As A Hunting Guide
Day 2 - A Year In The Life Of A Migrant Guide
Day 3 - A Typical Day For A Deer Guide
Day 4 - Life As A Turkey Guide
Day 5 - Salmon Guiding In Alaska And Elk Guiding In Wyoming

John's Journal