I have been commercially guiding hunts since I was 16 years old, and hunting since I could hold a BB gun. I started my own guide service in 1990, at the “know it all” age of 23. I was in college and broke as broke could be because all did and cared about was hunting. My father took me hunting maybe 3 times as a child. I grew up on a farm and then we moved to a small town; but my grandfather still has the same family farm. This was the place that I killed my first Canada goose, duck, pheasant, quail, squirrel, rabbit and deer. Being from a small community everybody knew everybody and I was kind of known as a pretty good outdoorsman at a fairly early age.

 I was first paid to hunt when I was about 13 years old, I set pheasants for a nearby pheasant farm. After a couple of years of that, the same hunters then started to pay me to take them rabbit hunting and deer hunting. It actually blew my mind that somebody would pay me to help them shoot what often took no more than an hour to get?  Anyway, once I was in college I quit, due to all of the woman and parties of course; but I still hunted a lot. In my second senior year, hahaha, I decided that if none of my buddy’s where going to pay me for my time, equipment, gas, etc., somebody would and they did. I have been very successful ever since. I originally started charging $50 a day and was damn happy to get it, now depending on the hunt, it can be up to $1,200.00 a day. I have been written about and authored several articles in many regional magazines and newspapers as well as been featured on videos and television. At one time I hunted 1,000 hunters a year. Fortunately for me and my family I have reduced that number substantially and I currently am very choosey at when and where I am hunting, prime time, places, dates, etc., is the only thing I am interested in. I personally still guide Michigan duck and goose hunts as well as Missouri duck and goose hunts, and only at the prime times will I take anybody with me or my guides.

I also book a few big game hunts, great lakes charters and Florida Keys flats as well as big water trips for captains and guides that are friends of mine. These too are also only at prime time and prime areas.  To give you an example I shot a 7’4” and a 6’5” bear this year, a B & C antelope, a 160” 6 x 5 Muley, a N.W.T.F. turkey and a P & Y whitetail as well as catching a 28.5” 10lb. bass, a 145lb. tarpon all this year with other guides. Like I said I am lucky that I have had a long successful career at this as well as a successful real estate business allowing me to travel across the country hunting and fishing.

Over the years I have guided and captained for almost anything you can shoot or catch in the Mid Western States. I know what you want as a client, you want to shoot your gun! And that is what we aim to do! Hopefully along the way, Mother Nature and luck will be on our side and we’ll have a great time doing it. Our hunts are just that, no frills, straight meat, trying to get your birds kind of hunts, with some humor along the way. It’s a lot of work; but we realize you have limited days to do what you’re looking to do  so we concentrate on getting your birds and that is why we are often beat tired, can’t party at night (too often!), can’t clean birds (sometimes we can help?), etc. , etc. We figure you didn’t come to make friends, although that would be great and I think that we will, you came here to shoot birds so that’s what we do.

Call me old fashion; but I got into the guide business 17 years ago to help get some of my equipment paid for, to harvest birds and to have my clients harvest birds and I still feel that way today, I love to hear the guns going off and to see the smiles on everybody’s faces. Most “outfitters” don’t hunt, they either lease the land rights, own the land, or are farmers looking for additional income, it’s usually money driven, but not our operation. I still hunt nearly everyday of the waterfowl season and most of my guides do the same. You’ll hunt with guys that love to hunt as much as you and more; these guys give up many days at home or work to get beat up in the wind, cold, sun, snow and rain daily-not to mention all of my screaming and yelling. Some of my guides have been hunting with me for over 10 years and the rest for over 5 or 6 and have all killed or seen killed -thousands of birds and hundreds of scenario’s to kill birds.

No I don’t like the work all the time, or the time away from the wife and kids; but after 30 some years of hunting I still love to hunt as much as I did when I was but a gosling. I still have the addiction of new decoys, new equipment, new calls, new blinds and with over a $100,000.00 of this stuff you’d think I would be dead broke, well o.k. maybe I am; but that really doesn’t matter when it comes to killing these geese. I have harvested well over a hundred leg bands and neck collars personally and I still hope I will get one with every bird I shoot, even though I personally haven’t killed a leg band in the last 3 years-I have seen a ton of clients and guides shoot them- but my luck has really stunk with that lately! Anyway, rest assured when you hunt with us you will get your work out of sitting in a blind from sun up to sun down and hopefully shooting your gun until the barrels hot!

We aim to please and if I am with you when you shoot a leg band, just think about giving it to me, maybe as part of my tip-I deserve it don’t you think!  For more information on these great spring snow goose hunts or any hunt, just e-mail me at waterfowlspecialist@yahoo.com or give me a call at 269.760.6219 and I would be happy to help. It does help with some advance planning to get in on these hunts, especially if you want a weekend or specifically the spring snow goose season, they are often booked months and months in advance……………………….......... 
Take care, Scott