eagle chickie

I've been on guided hunts thruoutNorth America and Africa tipping is always a questionable item. In Africa a tip is expected and many companies print on the contract what is an acceptable % for everyone from the black whom washes your clothes to the PH. In parts of NA such as along the Rocky Mountain range fromnorth to south a tip is expected by cooks, guides,wranglers and I normally give 10% IF I felt their srevice was above normal for the industry. If I don't think they wenrt above and beyond their "jobs" I give them nothing,zip,nada...I do not feel it is my job to pay the outfitter's hired help, ifindeed he is under paying them expecting them to earn tips. I'd rather see him include their entire wages in the price of the hunt.
I've been on both sides of the debate..working as a wrangler and a guide. Busting my tail for some dude to get a shot at a nice bull elk only to have him miss it at 50 yds,then getting stiffed for a tip.
There is no way I'd tip a "guide" whom is putting out bait and dropping me off near it then driving an ATV in to pickup my bear as much as I wouldgive a elk guide whom bugled in my bull and packed it out without letting the meat get dirty.The bear "guide" would get a $20 bill the elk guide 10% of the hunt base price.EC

huntingson

Ditto. 10% for a good job, 0% for a bad one, and anywhere in between for a job that warrants it. The most I have ever paid was 15% and that guy busted his tail for us and went WAY above and beyond.

huntinglife

I very much agree with this one except to state that I almost always tip something to the cooks and wranglers. I give the cook 5%, I give the wranglers $100.00 and $150.00 if they packed out my elk and I give the guides 10%. I have been a guide in the past and because I owned a portion of the business I never accepted tips. I never tip the outfitter if he is guiding me! He owns the business and got paid for my hunt.

Now all of that being said, when I am booking a trip, I ask to speak to the guide who will be guiding me, and I tell him upfront what my expectations are for the hunt and if the guide listens, I tell him how to please me and how to earn another 5% tip on top of the 10% but he has to earn it by fully scouting the areas that we are to hunt prior to my getting there. I want to see bulls, bears and/or deer on film and I send him a cheap video camera to get me the footage and we work together as a team to have fun!

turkeyward

Hi Guys:
This Kevin fella is way off base. If you act like that with a professional guide or outfitter with any scruples you will only make trouble for yourself. I feel like he is treating the guide/outfitter as a pimp not as a quality service provider. I am also offended that this guy has the low level of class as to suggest that others should act the way he does. I am an outfitter and a guide. There is NOT a lot of money in this for the outfitters with the right attitude. We provide a service that we believe we can do better than most folks and care deeply about pleasing our clients. If you have to offer a tip in advance to get a guide to work hard for you, then you are hunting with a guide/outfitter who is in need of a new career.
Sometimes folks can weasel their way into a position of apparent knowledge of things just by self proclaiming their expertise and giving themselves some sort of title that suggests they are someone folks should listen to.
As far as tipping guys, what I always say is if you can afford it and you feel the guide deserves it then tip as much as you feel comfortable with. Whoever your guide is wheater he is outfitter/guide or just guide, he/she is still the guide and if they earned one then give one you feel comfortable with. I have seen tips from a hug and a "sorry I can't afford a tip," to $15 and $500 to a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee to guns to binoculars and knives. I can tell you from my side of this discussion, I appreciate every tip I get -- even if it's a hug and tears of happiness. If the guide earned a tip then give him/her what you feel comfortable giving. Even if it's $15 with a statement of wish it could be more but that's all you can afford.
Thanks for listening folks.

triggerhappy

turkeyward,

I appreciate your comments on tipping and doing what you feel comfortable with. But tell me, what does the guide expect? I am sure every guide is a little different but there has to be a threshold you hear around camp away from clients. Do you ever hear anything like "I busted my butt and got him a big bull, packed it out and he gives me a sorry --%"??

I have always been curious as to what goes on behind the scene, what drives guides crazy about clients etc. I have never done a guided hunt, I have been lucky enough to be able to bust my own butt on DIY hunts and be successful. But, when I have just finished debonning an elk and am loaded to the gills I often think how nice a guided hunt would be.

Give us a little insiders look.

Bob H in NH

I've only been on two guided hunts, but from what I can tell from chatting with the guides (lots of time while elk hunting), the 2 things that drive a guide completely nuts:

1) The hunter who "knows" better than the guide and doesn't listen, which often causes a missed chance.

2) Miss-representing your abilities. where I've gone, and going again this fall, each hunter gets a questionaire to fill in, things from right/left handed (its an archery hunt), comfortable shooting distance, physical condition for hiking etc. Based on this you may get put in certain wallow setups/stands/blinds and may get assigned to certain guides (some guides LOVE hiking the steep stuff etc). By miss-representing things you setup a situation which will not go smoothly.

game4lunch

Hey Kevin . . . sounds like you "PLAN" all the fun out of it.

I am a guide. Have been (and a cook) in this part of the country for several years. Our outfitter talks to the clients. We don't see them 'till they get here and we get "assigned" to them. Clents are told that $100.00 tip is damn near expected. BUT! . . . You know deep inside you have to earn generosity, not expect it. If I'm guiding two hunters at once (very common for antelope especially), each hunter might go $50.00 each.
We as guides (concientious ones anyway) join in with the outfitter/landowner in the field for live scoutings and general checking out the area. A client can pay a lot for a guided hunt, and deserves to get his moneies worth. But they all have a different idea as to what that is. First thing we (I) do is find out about my client. What cal/bullet he's shooting, put a few through paper, what kind of hunting he does back home, what kind of "trophy" he's expecting, what kind of shape he's in, etc. All part of the hunt experience. You become an entertainer as well. We guarantee to put the client on a shooter, the rest is up to him. After the kill, we take care of everything. After the hunter harvests his animal, maybe we go fishing, bird hunting, a lot of guys from back east want a coyote.

IMO, percentages are for the waitress at the coffee shop, not the guide who just spent days huntingwith you in order to make your hunt experience memorable.

eagle chickie

OK we've heard from a few guides/operators ...there are indeed some good people in the industry..I said some. but what about the caribou guide that flys into camp for the first time ever on the same flight you did...or the guide school 23 yr old whom drove the herd stock into camp 3 days before you arrived and has no knowledge of the area other than what the outfitter showed him on the topo map back at base...or the "guide whom drives an old stakew body 4x4 truck out to the bear bait dumps a 5 gallon bucket of table scraps onto the pile and sends you up a shaky treestand..then comes back 1 hr after dark stinking of diesel fuel from his regular job as a truck mechanic??????
Is there anyone whom believes these are not the industry standars and that good quality guides are no longer the norm? Rest assured when an outfitter finds a good guide he tries his best to hang onto them season after season but in lieu of a polished vet a trip to the local tap room is notunheard of looking for idled construction workers whom have some knowledge of hunting.
BTW I'vehunted with each of the examples I gave above over the years.

Bowflex

Thanks again for everyone's responses.

In talking with the Outfitter, the average tip is around $200

For those of you who are thinking of booking a guided hunt, do yourself a favor and check the Outfitter's references. I did and found out that some are really good while others are almost useless. You don't always get what you pay for.

I tip by the service given no matter what.

Good Hunting,
Bowflex

bronko22000

Like most of the posts said, tipping is a matter of what you think your guide deserves. I've been on several guided hunts, and with only one not so good, I gave my guide what I felt he deserved. Regardless of whether you get anything or not, its how hard did the guide work for you. Did he try to get you your game (which may have moved) or did he just sit in a pick-up all day and glass - pretending to be looking? If you aren't seeing game, did he talk to the outfitter and change stratagies? I've tipped from $100 up to $350 for services. I'm not rich by any sense of the imagination - at least not financially. It takes me a few years to save up for a hunt. I've been fortunate to hunt with some real down to earth outfitters. My last hunt for antelope and mulies was with an outfitter who I thing is first class and we hit it off right from the start. I'm going out with him for elk this year and I know I will have a blast. I'm not going to advertise here but if you send me a pm, I will tell you who it is.
In your case, it won't matter but if there is a group of you in a camp, I usually get the guys together the night before and ask them if they would like to pool all their tip money for the camp cook and put it in an enveloperather than each person tipping individually. Lets face it, some guys just don't have the money to tip as well as others. And this way, someone or all of you can take it to him/her with a smile and a thank you. Don't forget, this person was up at least an hour before you to make your breakfast, pack your lunch and probably went to bed after you when his chores were done. By the way, good luck on your hunt.