tipping your guide
 

just wondering how everyone goes about tipping there guide.is there a set %, how much is to little or to much.

RE: tipping your guide
 

Whatever you are comfy with, and don't forget others, like the cook.

"common" answers are going to be 15%, but that is pretty high, 15% on a $3000 hunt is $450.

RE: tipping your guide
 

I am a professional hunting & fishing guide.
I've found 10% is the loose guideline. Generally it should be based on how hard your guide has worked for you, and what lengths has he/she gone to to make your hunting experience meet/exceed your expectations.
Also how experienced are they and how tuned in are they to knowing what your needs are and understanding the animals that you are hunting.
How is their risk assessment and are they 100% concerned for your safety and comfort at all times. How good are they at matching your ability/fitness to the hunting situation.
I guide hunters from many countries, some do not beleive in tipping at all.(Especially europeons.)

Remember that often guides receive minimal wages from their outfitters, and rely on tips to make a living.
I do beleive that tips should be earned and not just an expected add-on cost.
Regards

Tim Buma
New Zealand Back Country Outfitters Ltd

RE: tipping your guide
 

Tim, what would you expect to get if you were guiding two people at the same time. Say total cost for both hunters was arounf $7,000?

RE: tipping your guide
 

I have one question just for arguements sake. Lets say I saved up for 10 years (can only save $500 a year for this specific purpose) for my "dream" hunt in my "dream" location with ABC outfitters. The hunt is listed at $5000. Lets say I do my own taxidermy and and meat processing and the hunt is within a reasonable drive from where I live. If I only have $5000 in the bank would the outfitter want me to buy the hunt this year and break the bank or wait another year or two until I have extra "tip" money?

I've just always wondered because for me paying that much for a hunt could mean waiting more time (years) to come up with extra money for tips ect. Especially when it could be anywhere from 10%-20% based on the guides work and cooks ability.

Just wanted an outfitters take on this. I'm not thinking of doing this, I was just curious.

RE: tipping your guide
 

For BobCo19-65,
$700 = 10%
This would be a healthy tip, your guide would have to earn it.
I wouldn't pay that amount unless it was earned.
I was recently tipped $2,500 on a $7,000 hunt.
In this instance I worked my butt off for 7 days.
Trophies exceeded expectation, and additional hunting was added.
i.e. Birds & Small game.
On one night I was caping and skinning until 4.30 am, so that trophies would be ready to ship on the day of departure, and that was after preparing meals, cleaning gear and ensuring my clients got off to a comfy nights sleep.
I was very fortunate that these hunters recognised the additional effort that went in. (Many don't.)

Most guides do not work a 365 day year, in fact 100 days hunting is a pretty good effort.
Many outfitters are paying their guides in the region of $100 a day (In some cases less.) and the balance of their income is reliant on tips.
I say look after them, and you'll ensure good guides remain in the industry.

RE: tipping your guide
 

For rather_be_huntin.

I can relate to your scenario. (It sounds like me.)
It's your call really.
Guides can usually pick up on who can and can't afford, so they are unlikely to be overly disgruntled if you don't make a big tip, if they know you can't afford it.
I recently hunted with a guy who screwed the hunt price down to bare minimum, and ended up having to sell stuff to complete the purchase price of his hunt, he was genuine and a passionate hunter.
I thouroughly enjoyed his companionship on the hunt.
He tipped me $200 which I knew was a big ask on his funds, I was really grateful. The biggest bonus with this guy has been his attitude and his efforts to go out of his way to be a good refferee for me.
He also helped me buy hunting gear at real good prices through sources he had access to. e.g. a Leica Rangefinder.
We've become good friends.
Sooooo money isn't everything....
What no guide likes is the hunter who arrives business class with a $5,000 rifle and $2,000 binoculars, demands the world, and talks all week about how he's blown $$$ on this that & the other, and at the end of the hunt, goes cheap on the tip and is never heard of again.
We like everyone enjoy feed-back, and it's great when a hunt turns into an ongoing friendship.

RE: tipping your guide
 

??? 10 %
5 day pig hunt; $400 = $40
6 day elk hunt $4000= $400
10 day desert sheep $12000=$1200

RE: tipping your guide
 

The guide I hunted antelope with last year I gave him a Knives of Alaska "muskrat" with ivory handle and a leather sheath and $50. ( MSRP $100, I got a deal on it when I ordered my knifes). He seamed quite happy with it. He guided 3 of us that day and we all tagged out by mid afternoon. The other hunters gave him $50 and $150 cash tip. The outfitter fee for the hunt was $1250 for three days. Hope this helps some. These are just what I tipped and others I observed. This was my first experiance with a guided western hunt.

RE: tipping your guide
 

Should you tip the cooks and any other employees (packers/wranglers)the outfitter has in elk camp? If so how much % or $?

RE: tipping your guide
 

There is an old rule that says that one need not tip the owner of a business. If the guide is the owner of the outfitting company, I do not tip. If the guide is an employee of the owner, I tip 10%, which can go up, if I feel as if I am receiving some extra consideration, beyond what was advertised.

RE: tipping your guide
 

Tim Buma is right with his last sentence in his last post.

I did some guiding back when I was in college on a couple of different private ranches. I guided probably 50 different hunters most of which were deer hunts. And like Tim said, the guide knows who can and cant afford to pay a good tip. I've guided everybody from guys who arrived on the ranch in there own private jet, and who paid $8,000 for a 5 day deer hunt. To a guy who was a police officer from San Antonio who brought down 1 of his 4 kids for his first deer hunt.

Now I would have been pissed if the guy who has a jet, went cheap on the tip. But on the other hand, I didnt even really care how big of a tip the Police officer gave me. I knew that the first guy could give me one hell of a tip, which he ended up giving me $1,000 cash and a pair of Ziess binoculars (he had 3 of the exact same pair). The police officers son ended up taking a 120" cull buck on his 3 day of hunting, he tipped me $100, which I was completly fine with. So money is not everything. I was lucky in that the ranch that I worked on gave me $150 a day, plus I kept what ever tips I made, so I was doing pretty good for a college kid.

It is my experience that the "rich guys" are the ones who normally go cheap on the tips. The average guy normally is the best tipper. The main reason for this is that the average guy feels embarressed and feels like he must give a good tip. He dosent want to seem like a tight wad. But the rich guy knows that he is rich and can do/have what ever he wants, so he dosent really care what anybody thinks of him. So the rich guys normally think that they can give the guide a little tip, and he will be/should be happy with it. The average guy normally gives you money, the rich guy normally gives you a piece of there equipment. I have a friend who guided a quial hunt, the hunter tipped him by giving him his brand new high end beneli shotgun. Why? Because that hunter had just bought the shotgun and had never been quail hunting before, he went down only on an invotation, so he was never going to use that shotgun again after that hunt.

The tip is all up to the hunter, it is there call.

RE: tipping your guide
 

I have never hired a guide to hunt or fish with.I have hunted with guides on bear hunts and have caught bears for their clients.I would say 10% + depending on how hard they work for you and how much money you have.
Elkshed

RE: tipping your guide
 

Being an outfitter and a guide, I've got to agree with what everyone is basicaly saying here.
You know who can and can't afford a tip. The guides do not care if they don't get a tip from the ones who they know can't afford it. They are happy just showing them a good time and hopefully starting a good friendship is sometimes the best tip anyone can get.
10% is usually a good rule of thumb if you can afford it.
Here is something to remember when tipping.
Fishing or hunting.... The outfitter or lodge is paid for everything offered. It is his job to ensure that you are in a good area for fishing or hunting. He does all the "grunt work" and research to make sure this happens so that you get what you paid for and hopefully come back.
Some people will tip a guide lots for "the trophy" that he or she may get, but in reality you already paid the outfitter for that oppertunity to get "the trophy" and that is what a good outfitter or lodge will provide.

The guide is there to provide you with service. This is what you should be tipping on wheather you got the trophy or not. It is not his responsibility to get you the trophy but it is his responsibility to ensure you have a good time. He is being paid to do this as his job, but the things to look at is...
Is he making sure you are satisfied with your trip?
is he going beond what a normal guide will do?
when you forget you're rain coat he might tell you to stay there while he goes all the way back for it, or just lends you his.
He might move to numerouse spots to ensure everything works out a little better.
He might take you fishing or for a ride once you're hunt is over somewhere so that you still have a busy day just to keep you happy.
Bottom line is when you see you're guide going the extra mile to ensure you have a good time (which any guide I've ever known does this) let him know that you notice it and that you apreciate it with an affordable tip. A small one if you can't afford it and a large one if you can.
don't not come on a trip just because you can't afford a tip. Come and start saving to come again another time.
The guides know if you can't afford it and they know they've done a good job when they find out you're trying to save up some more money to come back again.
happy hunting,
shoot straight
Mark

RE: tipping your guide
 

I go by the 10-15% rule ( a little extra on the two-day hog hunt, and a little less on the mega-bucks hunt). If I like the guide and he works hard and is fun to be around, he gets more. If he's a sullen jerk who makes cracks about "city slickers" and acts like he'd rather be somewhere else, he gets less.

For those of you who make comments about "not being able to afford to tip," here's my tip: BOOK A HUNT THAT COSTS 10% LESS!!!!!

RE: tipping your guide
 

my father and me went on a guided deer hunt last winter and we had a ball! we were there for 7 days and hunted for 6. we each had a buck and doe tag. it cost $1000 for my dad and $800 for me. my dad filled both his tags by the third day and i got my doe the first but we were having trouble finding a nice buck and i never got one. my fathers guide heard my dad talking about trout and he took him down the road a ways to a great trout stream. me and my guide hunted hard and he did everything he could to make sure i was warm, comfie, enjoying myself etc. etc.

they knew with my father having 2 daughters in college and 1 younger then me that we wouldn't leave a big tip but they still went out of there way to show us a good time. we ended up leaving a $300 tip and we tell people how great they were and many of our friends have/ and are going to make a trip up there. we are planning on going back in 2006. we had so much fun and made lots of friends it was well worth it. have a great time on your hunt

RE: tipping your guide
 

I want to throw in a wrinkle to hear others opinions. Does the tip depend on bagging game/fish or not?

I have gone on a couple of guided fishing trips, actually one just a couple of weeks ago, and have been totally skunked. We still tipped, $20 tip per person on $180 per person day trip. Went once and the guide was a jerk, actually yelled at a guy in our boat for "jerking" his bait off (that does not sound good) when he got a strike. We still tipped him and did not get any fish. We went with another guide a couple weeks back and the river was super high and we were skunked again. But this time the guide was awesome, good company, enjoyed having us, shared tips, and genuinely was disappointed that we did not catch fish. We had a hard time getting him to accept our tip. That made me not care if we caught fish or not because we still had a good time.

Anyways, if you get skunked do you still tip?

RE: tipping your guide
 

Wow what an idea! Except you missed the point of my question. I asked if the hunt I WANTED (since bold type is your thing) in the area I WANTED with the outfitter I WANTED cost $5000 and I had no extra money for a tip would an outfitter want me to book a hunt with him now or wait A YEAR OR TWO MORE UNTIL I SAVED MORE MONEY FOR A TIP.

Looks like I got my answer from the outfitters above but thanks anyway for the idiotic response!!!!!

RE: tipping your guide
 

I don't take tips. I can't stop you from tipping one of the guides that work for me but I don't encourage it. They are getting paid a fair wage, they took the job knowing what the work entailed and they accepted it for that pay, to tip them is to say they deserve more than I am paying them.

If they only perform at 100% because of a possible tip then they are of no use to me, I am often heard saying to our crew that you don't get an "atta boy" when you are simply doing what you are suppossed to be doing!

If you'd like to buy a round at the evening fire that is fine, if you would like to leave a gift as a thank you that is fine too but money is insulting and in poor taste, to me anyway.

When I am offered a tip I feel that I am being insulted in a round about way; as if without that offer of a tip I did not do my best for you.

If you enjoyed your time with us then return, don't tip me, just come back. That is the true mark of an enjoyable trip--- a return trip.

money is only money, as a fine man has said, when you take a man's money all you take is his money, but when you take a man's time you take a part of his life.