If you hunt with a guide 3 straight days, what's the tipping protocol?

I shot the banded bird. As far as everything else, your dead on the money.

Tip depending on these things

• Where they prompt at returning calls, email or PMs.
• Did they answer all your questions above satisfaction
• Where they in time (10 minutes early is on time)
• Did they treat you like a hunting buddy and not a client
• Did they re-set decoys if birds weren't quite finishing?
• Where they kind and courteous
• Where they upfront with the entire operation

• A good tip is 20%

10% is more the avg in the hunting world 20% would be on high end.

I got that, no issues. Tip after every day? The first day? Last day?

personally, I'd do an all together tip at the end

this too!

What I really like when I am guiding and a client says "your not shooting are you"
And I land 50 -60 birds and his party kills 3 birds and I quote
" This was the worst hunt I have ever been on how much do I owe you"
I told him you don't owe me a thing but that is the last hunt I will ever take him on
I am not there to kill your birds but don't complain when you shoot 2 boxes of shells each and kill 2 birds total

It does not matter how many birds gets killed if the guide is helping me shoot my limit. It's not about the birds killed it's about the opportunity you gave your clients to limit out. In the above situation he should have thanked you, paid and walked away.Also I always set a time or ask the guide when the hunt will be over regardless of limits being killed or not. I can sit there all day hunting by myself but I know how hard it's for a guide working day in day out during hunting season.
As I said before if a guide starts shooting without my permission it's game over. I've been on both sides of the aisle and it took me a while to learn how to be a professional.

Well as a guide, former or present, I'm sure you've seen more times than not that most people/bad shooters don't realize they've shot a whole box or 2, but they see how few birds they had. Enter the guide. I had several people the past couple years on my dove hunts complain that they want their money back because they only shot 4 birds. My first response is asking how many boxes they went through. It never fails that I hear 2 or more boxes as a response.

For somebody like you that will say up front that it's all about the hunt and not just killing, takes a little stress off the guide and let's them know you're just there to enjoy it. But overall, people are expecting lots of birds and either don't know or don't care if a guide helps drop a few to increase that number

You tip after the last day OR when the guide ask to be paid for his work. Some like to get their clients to pay after everyday, some don't charge until their clients last hunt

IF a guide want to be paid day by day you tip 20% everyday IF you feel he deserves it. If y'all go sack an awesome stringer don't be afraid to tip more, if you go out and don't shoot much, tip less. If you tip a guide 20% off the first day he could best his tail a little harder.. Ur boils down to what you think is right or feel is right

I just returned from a Sandhill Crane hunt. We had 7 guns. Our cash tip at the conclusion of the hunt was 10%. The outfitter's website indicated that all hunters would be responsible for assisting in setting out the decoy spread and gathering cover for the layout blinds. The two guides were professional, prompt in answering all of my myriad questions in the weeks leading up the hunt, seemed to nearly blow their lungs out calling the birds in for nearly four hours, ran the dog or retrieved birds by hand, and adjusted the decoy spread midway through the hunt to keep the birds from busting early. Everyone contributed to gathering the decoys and layout blinds after the hunt. While I am consistent tipper of 20% in restaurants, 10% seemed equitable for services rendered. The first half of the hunt was slow with the birds not wanting to commit to the decoy spread and had us put about eight birds on the ground. The first large flock that appeared to be ready to commit with the opportunity to make the hunt a total success was busted by one in our group who jumped the gun and shot before the guides gave the ok to kill them. The guides were noticeably annoyed for fear that this might have deemed the hunt a failure but continued to work the birds. Ultimately, all seven of us got our limits. Without the guides shooting on these big birds, we probably would not have been as successful. I was grateful for this because our ultimate goal was to put some of these supposedly delicious birds on the dinner table. The birds were delicious; we had them chicken fried tonight for dinner.

Earlier in the year, my coworkers and I went out with a guide six weeks in a row on mourning dove hunts in Andrews County, Texas. The guide set out and picked up the decoys every time. He also marked birds in the brush and was helpful throughout. If you are not familiar with this part of the state, everything is the same color of brown as mourning dove. On these hunts, we tipped 15% and sometimes closer to 20%. The guide was professional, cracked jokes, and shot birds as most of us began approaching our limits. Even though I shot a limit all five times at the same water tank, I would have tipped the man regardless.

My bottom line is that these guides do a lot of work behind the scenes. They might drive hundreds of miles scouting locations in a week or meeting with prospective lessors. From my casual conversations, a not insignificant portion of the fees paid for a hunt can go to compensate the lessors for using their land. Add in the maintenance and acquisition of decoys and other equipment required for a first class hunt, and that eats up a good portion of this fee. I always feel good knowing that I could compensate a guide with some extra cash for all of the work that goes into providing a cityslicker like me with lasting outdoor memories.