My name is Ron Ricciardi I am a Master Maine Guide and owner of North Maine Woods Guide Service. In 1962 my father bought the historic Eagle Lake Sporting Camps. I was born one year later. To get to our camps we would have to travel 6 miles by boat across Eagle Lake to reach these 16 log cabins nesting deep in the northern most part Maine. The smell of burning wood stoves, pumping water from the old well, coffee brewing and just the smell of the camps was forever embedded into my soul.
I will never forget the log cabin porches lined with monster whitetail deer and watching my dad carry big bucks up and down the stairs like sacks of potatoes. What I loved the most was seeing the happiness in people’s faces as they told their stories after a day’s hunt, all the teasing from other hunters if someone missed, pretty much just like kids, so really I fit right in. In the late 1970’s my father starting guiding for black bear. I would help my dad bait bear and build stands and run the hunter’s. I really enjoyed the business and meeting new friends and more-so, seeing those happy faces. After killing my first big buck I was pretty much hooked, I found myself tracking deer all day in the freezing cold, being lost at times. Crossing the lake in November and being caught in gale wind storms and being blown across the lake in a small boat like a tin can with waves splashing on me for miles turning to ice as the temps were way below freezing. Busting ice just to get back to the dock only to wake up early the next morning to do it all again. As time passed I married my beautiful wife Amy, had three children, and moved away to find work. l would always get back every year to go to my spots on the lake. Just to smell the forest and hear the silence was all I really needed. I was in my element. I knew this was where I belonged. Eventually I moved back and built my own cabins. I became a licensed Master Maine Guide and started my own business doing what I love, I am still seeing happy faces, making dreams come true and memories and that will last a life time.