No you are right on one thing....somebody ,somewhere, at sometime will get offended or be the one who offends someone on here.

NO remarks were directed at you in particular. I am not sure what is off the wall? I voiced my opinion...that they should pay for us to come shoot them. That is it. If I am from out of state and I want to shoot them and book a hunt with you and we go around for 2 to 3 days looking for a bigger one and I get it, then I would tip you. I am not insulting your lively hood as you said, you are not full time and if you depended on tips, you would be out of business.

Bottom line is if the guide works hard, then he deserves a tip...maybe not a big one if he owns the operation and the land, but if not, like my goose guide....I am all for giving him what I think is far and probably is more then far two weeks before Christmas...that way he can sing my favorite song..."Merry Christmas to me"

I have been guiding for some time now and I don't require a tip. I have said it before and I'll say it again. If you really didn't like the trip and really think I didn't do everything possible to put you on the best duck hunt of your life, then don't pay me. I don't need your money that bad. I don't guide for the money, if so I would be in the poor house anyway. I ran a tab on the amount of money I have in gear in the barn right now and it's upwards of $50,000. Does anyone really think a twenty to 50 dollar tip is gonna cover my expenses. I think not. And what's more I have never had a client say I don't think you met your end of the bargain and asked to not pay me. They have always left a generous tip and they have always come back to me. I have had some people get mad when I cut them off of a hole thats full of birds and they kept missing their shots. I explained to them why they were getting cut off and then they understood. They came back again later and we did it all over again. So my opinion is' if you are generous enough to throw me some extra, Thak you. If not, Thank you and I'll see you next time fellas. There be my two cents, now ya'll can beat me up for a few days.

Thought I would sound off one more time here.

I went on a trout fishing trip in Arkansas two weeks ago and we hired a guide for a half day. He was incredible! He spent most of the time teaching me ways to improve my fly presentation, something he did not have to do. He was in no hurry to leave even though we booked just a half day. There were three of us and all three tipped without talking it over.

People tip when the guide goes beyond what one would expect. I was happy to pay him the extra money because he was happy to go beyond what we contracted for.

What it all boils down to, irregardless of the species being pursued, animal, fish, or bird, a guide that is in the business for the tips, is in the wrong business.

Clients, need to keep in mind, that a guide is providing a service, that the client can not provide for themselves, for whatever reason.

A tip doesn't have to be monetary, it can simply be someone showing their appreciation for the effort put forth by the guide/outfitter or the camp staff, by saying Thank You, or Please Feel Free To Use Me As A Reference.

As Lora(campcook) said earlier and maybe in another topic, we have had people that really couldn't afford it, give us tips, and people that could afford it, and we made the same effort for both, not even say Thank You.

Is that going to change the way we work for our clients, no, we work to please ourselves. When we do the best that we can and are satisfied with the job we did, that is all that is important, tips or no tips.