I have limited experience, I've been on 3 guided elk hunts, all with the same outfitter. Tipping came up each time I was there and the hunters varied in the approach from a "15% is standard", to "tip? You mean I'm expected to pay more?".

the outfitter himself sat in on one of the conversations and said he does not expect us to tip, but if want to go ahead. He also said if any of his guides hint at expecting a tip, he wants to know. Well one of the guides did, it made his hunters uncomfortable. That was his last week with the outfitter.

The tip, to me, is a personal thing. Guides do not get paid much, roughly $100-$150/day is what I hear. This for long days. Yes, they chose to do this. For me, when I have a lot of fun with a guide, we click on all levels and we have a good hunt, I will give him a tip. I even tipped the outfitter above when he was my guide first year there. He argued, I won, told him to take his wife out to dinner after the season is over.

The reason I balk at the 15%, is, again, based on 3 elk hunts, its way to high based on what people said they were tipping. More along the lines of $200-$300 per hunter. run the numbers, $5000 elk hunt, 2-1 hunter to guide. Each hunter goes 10%, that's $1000 to the guide, on top of the $500+ he makes as salary. Seems out of scope to me.

also, not all hunts are created equal. The "guide effort" for an archery elk hunt is one level, the "guide effort" for a whitetail hunt is on a different scale. Should this be factored in? One you spend all day with hiking, calling, spot and stalk etc. If you get a bull down, you could be in for carrying 100+lb packs miles. A whitetail: jump in the truck, walk you to the stand, come back later.