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Old 10-12-2014, 07:33 PM
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HatchieLuvr
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: West TN
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Sheridan gave MIGHTY good advice! A general rule I use for hunts/fishing is $100 per day tip. If you get an exceptional trophy then there really is no limit, give til it hurts & you'll be greatly appreciated. (The oldest brother of my NM guide is a legend & has a sterling reputation for BRUTE bulls & his "tips" regularly exceed the price of the hunt itself. One particularly happy repeat client of his even drove a brandnew Z-71 to NM from his home in ID. They ended up with a 400" bull, the estatic & obviously well heeled hunter pitched the keys to the guide & hopped a plane home in Albuquerque!) Sheridan hit on another that ALOT of folks rarely consider, the cooks & housekeeping if you are in such a place! $10-$20 per maid/cook per day is a great starting point. On my 1998 NM elk hunt I was GLAD to tip my guide after we took the weeks biggest bull (368" 6x6) plus it won the $800 "bull pot" that every hunter kicked into before the 5 day hunt started. I guess some cheapsters split that pot with their guides but when he gave me my half & I handed it back to him he nearly jumped a backflip & it made his week. The outfitter likewise saw us tipping his cooks & maid staff (which was his wife & a couple of female employees) & he is regularly booked years in advance (he's the leading outfitter/guide for NM bulls in P&Y books) but he proudly welcomed us back in the future. He did NOT extend that invitation to every hunter in camp that week as well! (I've hunted muleys/lopes in WY & pheasants in SD & treated the help likewise. Those folks aren't there for charity, they got mouths to feed & bills to pay just like the rest of us.)

If an extra $1k or so in tips isn't in a mans ability then he honestly isn't properly ready for a hunt!

Last edited by HatchieLuvr; 10-12-2014 at 07:41 PM.
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