Tipping guides for hunt

I am going on a one day hunt for three whitetail doe in January. The hunt is fully guided and the guide is handling gutting, skinning, and quartering the deer. What is a fair tip to give the guide for all of theses services.

10-20 percent, on what you feel like is appropriate. If he goes above and beyond the higher, if not great lower of course.

As a guide and outfitter, i get asked this. Tip what you feel is worth it to you. For some thats 0% for some its been more than 100%. Ive had tips from $0 to several thousand. I dont expect a tip, i do my very best to earn it. Its rare i dont get one, but i treat it as icing on the cake. Imo std is 20%-30% when i go and can easily be more if he does a great job for me. I had one fellow tell me straight up he didnt have much money he was hunting does. I just said to myself no biggie. In the end he asked me if i wanted the backstraps from one of his does. Seeing how he was only hunting meat and i could tell he wasnt bs'in me about not being well off and on a tight budget. I was pretty impressed by that. So in short tips arent always money either.

As stated above that's just icing on the cake. Tip whatever you think is fair, put yourself in the guides boots and decide how much you would want to get for the effort involved. If you don't have a lot to tip I'm sure the guide would love a hand skinning, and quartering the does.

Wow, 20-30% sounds crazy high to me

To me a tip is a tip. What he charges for gutting skinning and quartering should be included in the guide fee if they provide that service.

I get this all the time being a guide I get calls before some hunts and or fishing trips asking about tips. Tips are not necessary but are appreciated. Like others I have had tips from 0$ to 500$. Some times just being a great client is a tip enough. If I was paying for a 500$ deer hunt I would fork over 60$ for a tip maybe 100$ if you had a really good time.

Thank you all for the help. I haven't been on a paid hunt before so this is all new to me.

that is WAY to high and yes I use to guide/outfit

Well if you gotten 20-30% 7mag....would you still be a guide/outfitter?

Well if you gotten 20-30% 7mag....would still be a guidel/outfitter? [/quote]

like your thinking Steve

I guide and find tips all over the place. I would say tips vary but 10% is what I use as a general rule for a guide. I also tip cooks if I have them.

Whatever you 'tip' (if you decide to do so) make it CASH. Please don't give your guide ANOTHER knife, they have boxes full.

Camp Cook is another person who should receive a little something, if they've done their job well and it is a separate position from the guide or staff (who sometimes handle that chore).

Be generous if you can afford to.

Guide bud had a sticker in his boat.....Tipping is not a city in China....

20-30% standard? I don't think so......

I think you should tip if they do the job well. I tried to tip on a hunt the other day and they refused it. So not everyone is the same on both sides of the equation.

Yall need to learn to read a bit better. I TIP 20% - 30%, I DONT THINK THATS AVERAGE ID SAY 10%-20%. Its like bartenders/waiters they usually tip better to service industry people. C'mon people.

I received about $200 yesterday for a tip on a 2 day hunt in which the bow hunter took a blackbuck doe and a trophy axis buck. The fee was $2200. I was more than pleased with that and it's especially helpful at this time of year. I took a customer out two weeks ago for a blackbuck doe hunt with a rifle and I got $100 tip for that $200 blackbuck doe fee. Its not a even percentage all the time, but I'm thankful for what I receive on a tip.

I have and will tip 20-30 % and more for a great experience, not just a harvest but the Experience...

anything over $50 id say is acceptable when I was doing it a bill per hunter seemed to be the norm.

I am not a hunting guid but i do do guided cat fishing and for some reason some people think that if they tip me I will bust my but or try harder to do a good job for them. but the thing is i do my best for every customer I mean i really bust my [censored] to make sure they had a good time and i put them on the fish I personly month thing they should tip its a set price so dont except it but i had no issues if they tip my hand wich is my sone and he really works hard when we have 4 -5 guys in the boat. it can get busy with tacking fishing off retying right and so one but to me they are paying me for it i dont depend on tips nore do i accept them am an just doing the job they all ready paid me several hundreds for . but that is just me if a guid takes a tip that is his choice to take it or not some customers i no can be pushing about it that is when i t send them to pay son he deserves it again its up to you and how you fell the guid did if he went above and be one what a guid should do then ya i say tip him or at least offer. and i am sure most guids dont expect tips they do there job you paid a lot of money for if you time them then you much feel he earned it if thats how you feel go a head its your money spend it how you like every one is difference on and about this 50 guys will probably give you 50 difference answers

I'm sick of the everybody needing a tip.....I pay an outfitter a nice amount of money and he should subsequently pay the guide accordingly.....if not then that's between outfitter and guide.

If this was discussing any other type of business and the thread was in the Off Topic section there would be some comments about the pay scale should match the job and tips would should not be necessary. Other comments would also include, "The guide and the hunter knew what they agreed to, no tip should be necessary".

I'm OK with that. That's why I guide the hunts myself when I have to. I tried hiring some others but when they didn't get tipped they raised a fuss to me about it. To me $150 a day wasn't enough for them, but I can't afford to pay them more than that and its easier just to do it myself. I have never asked for tips, but when I get one its nice.

Shoot, how would $150 a day to be the person who facilitates a person's hunt for a trophy on a place like that not be enough? I've sweat, worked in waste deep raw sewage, got eaten up by hazardous chemicals and broken down my body in physical labor for less than that. I would love a place close by I could earn money like that doing what I love. #Dream Job

Curtis i am with you and i Guid tiping is gotten crazy weather you time me or not does not change How i am going to do things I want you to come back and tell your fires 90 % of my customers come referrals from there friends they pay me to fine them and put them in the boat and i sometimes really have to us all i have learned to do it but i have yet to send someone one with out min of 38fish and the quite at noon when people try to tip i politely say no thank you its not necessary you are all ready paying me but if they push the issue i have them tip my hand wich are one of my kids they do more phial work then i do I dont understand why they want to tip its not a job were tipping is required You are all ready paying me 350 for you and 3 other for all day sunup till 3-4 pm or you get your limits what ever comes first there is not a guid out there who give you more time yes there are somme with more knowledge but you wont be dsapoined i process and if you did not enjoy your self its free and i dont even keep the money I use it to take other disabled vets out and there family for free so if you know a disabled vet from any era its fee just call me or google my screen name and a web site should come up i also make a Cheese dough bait that sells for faster then i can make it and all the profits i make from as well so i make nothing other then helping someone relax for the day

Yes but even fishing guides do much more than meets the eye. Maintaining rods and reels, getting up earlier, getting the boat in and set up, catching bait, even cleaning up the boat after a long day. Guides in hunting are up first and to bed last. Making sure breakfast is ready and cleaned up, cleaning/caping animals late in the evening, sharpening knives and discarding guts and cleanings. Most good guides it's not just the monetary reward, it's seeing happy hunters. It's a way to enjoy hunts and not be the hunter. It's about being there, being a part of it and the satisfaction that comes from that. I hunt a couple places that the "guides" work only on tips so not tipping them seems kind of CS to me.

Ask the guy do you want a 1099 or no tip, most will say "No Tip"

I guess there's always one.

Yes there is, that one non-hunting only here to troll type.

Tipping is a personal thing. I think most guides expect a tip as that is the norm and outfitters take that into account when they pay their guides.

My rule of thumb is $100/day or 15% of the hunt, whichever is higher, is a fair tip for most guided hunts and it should not be tied to getting a trophy but what the guide did to make your hunt a good experience. I could probably think of exceptions to go lower or higher...but that's what makes it a personal thing.