Tipping your guide
03-23-2005, 05:10 PM
#41
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: NW Wyoming
Posts: 312
RE: Tipping your guide
I have several friends who guide, some are outfitters, and my #2 son has been a guide in Nevada for 5 years. I have also used outfitters many times. I am yet to meet one outfitter,USA, Canada, and Africa, that makes all of his money or his entire living from outfitting. And I have never met a single guide that makes his annual income from guiding. Those that do both, guide and outfitt, do it because they love what they do, plain and simple. My son guides from Sept. till Feb. He brings home about $8000 for his efforts. When guiding, 16 hour days are not uncommon. The best tip he ever got was $200 for a 180 class muledeer shot by a plumber from Las Vegas. The worst, $50 from a corporate lawyer from California, for his efforts on a 160 classs desert bighorn. Most of his tips run between those two figures.
He simply does it becuase he loves guiding. He seldom gets to hunt on his own any more as he is working most of the hunting seasons. His boss, the outfitter he works for, has to work other jobs most the year to make ends meet. My son works in the oilfield in the summer and hunts antlers all spring, guides in the fall and winter, to scrape up, at best $18,000 a year.
Hiring a guide and outfitter for hunting isn't quite the same as hireing a carpenter, electrician, plumber, or lawn care person. My hunting is my recreation. A good guide is deterimental to an enjoyable hunt. Not just the hunting, they answer your questions about wildlife, flora,weather, politics, they are a guide. I had an eskimo flabergasted once, as I was more interested in all the wildlife we were seeing and how he lived in the arctic than taking a caribou! He had never had a hunter that was content with the experience. And i reflected his sharing of his world, with a good tip. And when I left I recieved a hand carved statue of a walrus as a gesture of friendship.
He simply does it becuase he loves guiding. He seldom gets to hunt on his own any more as he is working most of the hunting seasons. His boss, the outfitter he works for, has to work other jobs most the year to make ends meet. My son works in the oilfield in the summer and hunts antlers all spring, guides in the fall and winter, to scrape up, at best $18,000 a year.
Hiring a guide and outfitter for hunting isn't quite the same as hireing a carpenter, electrician, plumber, or lawn care person. My hunting is my recreation. A good guide is deterimental to an enjoyable hunt. Not just the hunting, they answer your questions about wildlife, flora,weather, politics, they are a guide. I had an eskimo flabergasted once, as I was more interested in all the wildlife we were seeing and how he lived in the arctic than taking a caribou! He had never had a hunter that was content with the experience. And i reflected his sharing of his world, with a good tip. And when I left I recieved a hand carved statue of a walrus as a gesture of friendship.
03-23-2005, 05:49 PM
#42
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 654
RE: Tipping your guide
the only guided hunt i went on was one where the guide went way out of his way to make sure i had a great time. "i was 14" he kept asking me if i was warm, if i was comfy, he really took extra time and effort to make sure i was having a great time. i saw lots of deer but i just wasn't seeing any good bucks. so on the last day my guide asked if i would like to shoot a doe because he had a tag i could use but i declined. my dad offered the guy a $250 tip but he wouldn't take it. so we ended up giving him a new leupold scope that i had used during the hunt. so we both walked away happy and i hope to return as soon as i get a chance
03-27-2005, 11:43 AM
#43
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location:
Posts: 179
RE: Tipping your guide
This has been an interesting topic!To tip or not to tip,how much to tip?There are a lot of variables that go into that equation.I have been on two guided trips both for whitetail deer.Both experiences were not at all pleasant.The owner/outfitter was not forhtright in both instances.In the first instance the owner took us in to area's that were outside his guiding territory(in another outfitters territory)all the "guides" were hunting at the same time they were guiding,killing better bucks than the hunters,and to add insult to injury were trying to hide their escapades.One young guide spilled his guts,when one of us pressured him a bit.I killed the second biggest buck taken and I was still furious because of the lack of ethics that this outfitter had.On that trip the only person that received a tip was the cook.I didn't care less if I was ever invited back again,the trip could have been for free and I wouldn't have gone.
The other trip I used a booking agent,thinking that surely this would be the way to screen the wheat from the chaff.This trip was in an area where I suspected the deer herd was hit hard with winter kill the winter before.I asked the outfitter point blank before booking was his area hit hard with winter kill.He assured me it wasn't.So I booked (I should have spoken to Fish And Game in that state)I was to trusting,I still find it hard to accept that hunters screw other hunters.Well I hunted one on one (one hunter,one guide with me the entire time)The guide was the owner I booked with.We walked 8 to 10 miles a day initially he tried to wear me out,that wasn't going to happen,I was always right on his heel's.We saw 3 deer in 6 days of walking those distances every day.I got to know this fellow fairly well over that time and he worked his butt off for me.There is no excuse for the guy lying to me about the winter kill.I gave him a $100 tip just out of respect of how hard he worked.He extended an offer to me to come back the following year and all that I would have to pay for was my air fare.He also told me about how he would drug a difficult mule or horse and sell it to another outfitter.My sense of honesty and ethics is a bit different than these outfitters I hunted with.
Having said all this I know that there are excellant outfitters out there and I am sure some day I will hunt with one again.If a person works hard for you and gives you their best effort they should be tipped even if you weren't successful! They can't control the game populations,the weather,your shooting ability,your physical condition etc..I am concerned about some of the posts on this topic as it relates to how much to tip.Many of the suggestions were putting things way out of reach for the common man,I know money drives the world,but what about decency, being a good person,sincerely appreciating what someone else does for you?I fear the day when a tip that is gracious for the tippers financial circumstances and a firm handshake with a sincere thank you is not enough!
The other trip I used a booking agent,thinking that surely this would be the way to screen the wheat from the chaff.This trip was in an area where I suspected the deer herd was hit hard with winter kill the winter before.I asked the outfitter point blank before booking was his area hit hard with winter kill.He assured me it wasn't.So I booked (I should have spoken to Fish And Game in that state)I was to trusting,I still find it hard to accept that hunters screw other hunters.Well I hunted one on one (one hunter,one guide with me the entire time)The guide was the owner I booked with.We walked 8 to 10 miles a day initially he tried to wear me out,that wasn't going to happen,I was always right on his heel's.We saw 3 deer in 6 days of walking those distances every day.I got to know this fellow fairly well over that time and he worked his butt off for me.There is no excuse for the guy lying to me about the winter kill.I gave him a $100 tip just out of respect of how hard he worked.He extended an offer to me to come back the following year and all that I would have to pay for was my air fare.He also told me about how he would drug a difficult mule or horse and sell it to another outfitter.My sense of honesty and ethics is a bit different than these outfitters I hunted with.
Having said all this I know that there are excellant outfitters out there and I am sure some day I will hunt with one again.If a person works hard for you and gives you their best effort they should be tipped even if you weren't successful! They can't control the game populations,the weather,your shooting ability,your physical condition etc..I am concerned about some of the posts on this topic as it relates to how much to tip.Many of the suggestions were putting things way out of reach for the common man,I know money drives the world,but what about decency, being a good person,sincerely appreciating what someone else does for you?I fear the day when a tip that is gracious for the tippers financial circumstances and a firm handshake with a sincere thank you is not enough!
03-27-2005, 02:40 PM
#44
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: PA
Posts: 8,167
RE: Tipping your guide
Something I think alot of hunters are missing is what you execpt from your guide.If you spend the week sitting on your arse you better tip him .Any elk camp I have been in has plenty of work to do.Giving the cook a hand with dishes won't cost you anything.There's always wood to cut,horses need watered.Did you sit in camp while your guide quartered and packed your elk out. You damb well better tip him.I have hunted with guys that never lifted a finger in camp, stayed up a night drinking, then sat on their arses and waited for the hands to do everything for them , these people are never seen again ,but for their stay they sure hunt alot of game void areas.
