Tip Question

This will be my first time going on a guided hunt. There will be 4 of us. What is the typical amount to pay the cook and the guide for tips? This is not a trophy hunt. Not sure where to post this...

If you have to ask.......

Seems like a reasonable question to me.

I generally tip repairmen twenty dollars. Just don't do like Beaver and expect change from a C note.

10% to start and up from there depending on quality of service.

I always decide in the individual. If they give crap service they don't get much or anything. You will know what right. Just rennet a lot of guides make their money from tips. Especially the ones who don't own the place. Tip how you would want to be tipped. Say he is with you for 3 days. Does all the gutting skinning and quartering. 100 bucks doesn't work out to much hourly! Or daily. Pretty sure you will know what's right. Lots of diff circumstances involved.

I've always wondered this as well.....whether it's a fishing trip or hunting. I tip servers but they work on tips (and I don't know any guides personally so not sure if the same applies to them) but isn't the service of the guide part of the deal? (Tongue in cheek playing the devil's advocate)

I'm interested in hearing opinions.

does he have a gun in his hand?

I usually offer a cash tip but..... I would rather buy them something they are going to use. 20% if the do a good job.

Define a good job.

When I was guiding, cash was nice and appreciated. But I still carry a Bowie knife that was a tip.. Just sayin there are other options, if they earn it!

This.

Have heard the same from other guides

means he doesn't know hence the question

Polite, listen to my needs and answers my questions. Gets me to the blind or hunting spot early, tries hard to get me on the animal I am after. Offers advice if they see I need it. The list goes on.

However the hunter can do things to make the guides job easier also.

Depends on what they do. Glorified pickup drivers are not guides. If they actually guide and/or take care of the animal(s) then 10% is a good starting point. If you are going on a 25K hunt for a whitetail where you sit in a blind and the guide says "Shoot that one" I would not tip $2500 for that however. OTOH, if it's a 1K hunt and the guide works his butt off I would tip more than $100 also.

As someone said, you will know what's fair. I wouldn't give gifts - you don't know what they need and money will spend on anything. Most gifts are just extra stuff the client has no need for and doesn't want to give $$.

I don't totally understand the tipping either. People say tip 10% but if I'm doing a $5000 difficult pack in elk hunt I don't feel that a high fence $5000 elk hunt guide should also get 10%. Or what if it's a semi guided hunt? Or a guided hunt and I would prefer to gut and skin all my animals myself? Or what about ranches that charge a guide fee? Aren't I paying for the guide by paying a guide fee? But then people day tip more because they worked hard. Isn't that what I'm paying for in a hunt! Especially with the amount of money for some of the hunts I go on. Also if it's 10% tip that's acceptable should I tip $20 for a $200 day hunt and $5000 for a $50000 elephant hunt? I don't understand why I should tip more because the hunt is more expensive? Also what if you go on a hunt with kill fees and you decide to shoot a $10000 deer instead of a $1000 deer. Should you tip more?

Those are my thought.

I always offer cash before I leave but, I pay attention during the hunt and try to find something they might need....

So you go shopping during a hunt Texaslefty?

I believe in tipping my guide and try to give as much as I can afford, or feel comfortable with. I've had hunts where I did not give a tip, and others where I gave $800. It really depends on how much effort he puts into your making your hunt successful. Some will go to extremes to do everything possible to get you on an animal. Others just do what is expected and treat you like just another number on a list.

The camp staff, I usually give them a lump sum and have either the guide or outfitter divide it up between them. That might be a hundred bucks for 2 or three people, or it might be quite a bit more. For the guide, I always make it a point when I expect to last see him, to shake his hand, tell him how much I appreciated everything he did, and hand him the cash. I've never seen a guide count it, or ever heard back one way or another if it wasn't enough. In my experience, they appreciate whatever you feel they deserve.

What are you hunting? Where are you going and what will the guide be doing for you, or your group? A fair amount depends on a lot of things. If it's a weekend hunt and all the guide is doing is putting you in a blind, then a hundred bucks is plenty. If it's a week long pack in trip to the mountains and he is getting up an hour before you to get the fire going, serve you coffee and then spend all day out in the snow or rain finding you game, then gutting it and carrying it back to camp, then making you comfortable every night, a much bigger tip would be appropriate.

One thing that I've also found on guided hunts is that the more I help out around camp, the better my hunts seem to turn out. I've been in camp with others that I didn't know who just sat there while the guides carried wood, fixed meals and cleaned up. I always try to keep active, and will bring wood to the fire, help skin animals and carry water to the horses. On those hunts, I somehow seem to end up with better animals then the guy who is always complaining or sitting on his butt, doing nothing. I can't say for sure that they treated me better, or if it's just that they hunt like they act in camp. At the end of the trip, I can say that I had a great time, while the lazy guy in camp might have a different view of the trip.

I totally agree with helping the guide. I personally don't like people doing things for me that I can do myself. I also feel I get more out of the hunt when I help out..

Quick example of helping out. I was on a hunt in New Zealand and there was another couple there. He owns a big gym in the Dallas area and at one time held quite a few world records for weight lifting. He was a short guy, but very thick and over weight. He enjoyed having his drink in the evening and pretty much sat in one spot in the lodge and didn't move. Not even to fill his own drink!!! After I shot an animal, I stayed outside at the skinning rack and helped skin my animal, get the meat into the locker and hose off the area. It was cold and wet, but it got done a lot faster with both my guide and me doing it.

Towards the end of the hunt, the other hunter asked about having his wife shoot a doe. They said yes, it would cost then a grand. I didn't say anything then, but while out hunting with my guide, I mentioned it just talking and though that was kind of high for a doe. He said it was, but if I wanted my wife and daughter to shoot something, they had a couple of good deals. My wife shot a 6x7 management red stag and my daughter shout a 2 year old fallow deer for $100 each. My guide said that was their cost and they would lose money if they went any lower.

He received a very nice tip!!!

Really?!?! No just pay attention during the hunt. Then at the end of the hunt with cash in hand offer to buy them something they could obviously use and then ship it to them.

BTW with all the stupid questions and provocative statements EddieWalker gets it and so do I.

I've never been on a guided hunt because I don't think I'd enjoy it. I have taken a lot of guided fishing trips with my customers and tip what the guide deserves depending on the service. I've tipped 30% at Fork for a guide that had a rough time teaching a guy to fish. I stiffed a guide on a trip on the Louisiana coast. He was unpleasant and rude. I was really hoping he'd try whipping my [censored] after he got no tip.

I do think almost everyone prefers cash instead of gifts.

Well Said