Staff photo/TRAVIS BARRETT

If you're an outdoors writer or a Maine guide, the response is the same.

"Wow, you've got a great job!"

But to see a group of 20 aspiring guides, sitting in a lecture hall for 4 days as they study for taking the state's licensing exam for guides, you don't get that feeling at all. Instead, the very palpable thickness hovering in the air carries other feelings -- anxiety, panic, frustration.

Carroll Ware was once on the state's board of examiners, and he and his wife now run a class several times a year. This week, they're at the Skowhegan Community Center -- and the ground they cover is mind-baffling.

It's about a whole lot more than knowing where the best hunting spots are or about the best fishing techniques.

It's about finding lost people. Using a compass without a hint of self-doubt. Knowing where "river left" is.

Yep, being a guide is about a whole heck of a lot more than putting out bait under bear stands. Don't think so?

Find out in today's Kennebec Journal or Morning Sentinel.