Guide gratuities

[gatt40]

I usually tip the guide especially if he takes care of animals we shoot. Also give about $25 to cook. When we have hunts on our place, I usually guide and do the cooking and appreciate tips however I don advertise or expect it.

[Hogmauler]

Where is the landowner in the equation? Their are trying to move a product. If they make it all inclusive and the guide doesn’t produce do they need to continue on there? The other side is guides can’t control animal movement but can sure pattern it in a controlled environment with high fence, feeders etc etc.
So the earlier argument that guides wouldn’t have any motivation to produce , in my opinion, doesn’t hold water. Where in America(besides the Congress and Senate) can you show up for work, not produce, and remain employed?

[sotx]

So the earlier argument that guides wouldn’t have any motivation to produce , in my opinion, doesn’t hold water. Where in America(besides the Congress and Senate) can you show up for work, not produce, and remain employed?

I was going to mention this as well. My company provides a service and my operators are expected to provide the best service they can. If they do not then it is on me and I make it right and the operator will have consequences. I set the price and the customer pays, no tipping allowed or required.

Now on the other hand, and lets use a western states guide as example. This is seasonal work for guides right. Guides have their regular 9 - 5 job and life. Come hunting season a lot of them are using vacation time to guide hunters. I would argue they are not guiding solely for the money, they are doing it because they are hunting nuts like we are and the money is a bonus. If the outfitter had to pay a living wage equal to what a guide makes at his 9 - 5 then a lot of us may not be able to afford the hunt. These are my thoughts anyways and I could be dead wrong.

[jason86]

Once again, I tip where tips are typical such as restaurants. I ate Mexican food after work today. On an $18 ticket I left $8 tip.

Like I told the other guy in the other thread. You can pound sand with the last comment. That’s your opinion. I’ve been on a cruise too, tip was included. Was not given a choice in the matter. I would’ve tipped the waiter well otherwise.

You clearly have never worked as a hunting guide. Or in the service industry.

You sir would get gar holed if you were my hunter. Guides For the most Part bust their asses To make your experience better. I promise you they aren’t getting rich on their day rate.

If someone busts there rear for me I tip well, I don’t care if it’s included or not. Rewarding people for hard work is a good thing. Make them feel appreciated. In the end you will both feel good.

[Hogmauler]

All very good points from the g s.

[RiverRat1]

Exactly right. They have this same discussion on fishing forums every year. There are always a few who don't want to tip their guide and want to rationalize why they shouldn't tip a guide. If you don't want to tip, don't tip. It's not life or death. It's a personal decision. Do what makes you happy.

I think the issue is this... You pay a guide to take you on a 4 hour fishing trip because you suck and decide to pay up to actually catch fish. And the $$ isn't cheap to the average working man.

I feel tips started off with good intentions long ago. Like the guide had problems finding the fish and drove around a lot versus sitting for long periods catching little/nothing. And then says sorry.. Asks what else you would like to catch and actually cares and wants you to catch. Here's some beer or snacks (that's not included in price) and we can stay out another hour to keep trying (above and beyond). So he should be tipped.

Now it's just a half drunk hung over 20 year old that shows up 3 minutes before the trip starts, drives to one "honey hole", never asked once what you wanted to catch and sits there and is back to the dock at exactly the 4 hour mark. And then makes up a BS line and has the balls to ask for a tip.

I agree tipping is out of control but a lot can't be helped. If a guide posts a price of $500 but others who don't mind putting on a guilt trip for tips can advertise $400 and take away a lot of the future clients.

[sotx]

You sir would get gar holed

Hilarious, love it LMAO

[Graysonhogs]

Hilarious, love it LMAO

+1

[Arrowsmith]

I have been on two guided elk hunts. I tipped the the guide $500.00 and the cook $100.00 on each hunt. I killed an elk on one hunt (4 day hunt). I was not successful on the other (5 day hunt). I felt the guide worked just as hard for me on the successful hunt as the guide did on the non successful hunt. Both cooks on both hunts did an awesome job.

With 6 hunters in camp the cooks probably make more than the guides for the week.

[tex8569]

Tips are reasonably standard in the outdoor service industries whether you like it or not. But they are also completely voluntary same as a restaurant. Tips help guides make a living wage same as a restaurant. If you take what a guide is paid divided by the hours they work and their own costs, I doubt many would be making more than minimum wage same as a waiter. ie if a hunting guide is being paid $200/day by an outfitter and working 4 am - 10 pm thats $11.11/hour. This doesnt even count scouting, travel, and setup/take down if needed before or after your trip.

One distinction to make is the difference between a hired guide and an outfitter/owner. This is easier on a hunt where most guides are not the outfitter and get paid a fixed day rate than say a fishing captain who is a one man show with his own boat. An outfitter has many fixed costs but also the built in profit margin. It is definitely not common to tip the outfitter/booking agent unless theyre the ones who are your actual guides and even then I may adjust down a little. My standard is $100-$200 per day for a guide depending on the type of hunt, effort, etc FWIW. This is for a travel big game hunt. I dont tip as much for group wingshooting, fishing parties, just getting dropped off at a stand or similar.

Bottom line is, a tip is meant to show appreciate for the effort. Everyone is in a different financial position and guides know the difference when someone saved their whole lives for a hunt and tipped $150 vs the rich guy who books several trips a year and tips $150. You dont have to tip if you dont want to but it sure goes a long ways to helping the folks who made your trip worthwhile and arent making much money in the process.

[Hardware]

First thing you need to understand is "Tipping" isn't based on what Tax Bracket you're in. For the most part, the best tippers aren't the "Wealthy".

Tipping is based on your experience and how well you think that person or persons did that provided you a service. It is also usually someone other than the person or company you wrote a "check" to for the hunt, itself. If you expect gratuity to be included in a hunt, you need to express that to the outfitter or company beforehand.

Ditto above!!!

[diamond10x]

Not true. It’s a CHOICE to go on a guided hunt. I know lots of blue collar, lower to middle income, budget sensitive guys that still hunt. Heck, Public land permits are still only $48.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Best statement in the thread. If you are deciding to go on a guided hunt, you should be budgeting for a tip on top of the agreed price. The only guided hunt/hunts I go on are for crane and geese. I’m a DIY guy for anything hunting and fishing. When I go bird hunting, I budget for a 20% tip of the hunt price, and then clean my own birds. I’m not about to have someone else do the work I am capable of and pay/tip them for it. I guess that could make me a cheapskate but I tend to think of it as giving a break to the guide as he already worked his butt off from scouting and calling and making sure we are successful.

[gander]

I guided waterfowl hunts for 4-5 years and I would've loved to get paid the day rate that some of ya'll are implying guides get paid. I typically made $75 a hunt from the outfitter and the rest of my pay was solely based on tips. This was out in the Panhandle so it was a ton of driving and scouting. I would typically put 40k miles on my truck in a season. For a long time I thought that I might want to do that for a living, but after doing it for 4-5 years realized there was no way. My typical day was wake up at 3:30-4, meet clients go out to the field/pond. Dig holes for layout blinds, brush layout blinds in, throw decoys out, then hunting starts and you are around some of the most unsafe people with firearms you could ever imagine. After a successful hunt I'd have anywhere from 8-12 limits of birds to clean and package for them. I'd get them their birds and by this time its noon or just after. Long enough to clean up, eat some lunch and then if we weren't hunting another species that evening, I was out hitting the roads for the following days hunt, to get home after dark and do it all over again the next day.

I had some really good tips and I had some really bad ones, and from my personal experience, it was typically the clients who wanted to be waited on hand and foot that would tip the least. For example, in the mornings as I'm digging out holes or brushing blinds and setting up decoys, if the clients would hop right in and help, I immediately felt like I was in for a better day. Working class guys, who were "actual hunters" themselves I'd have tip me $5-600 after it was all said and done. I also had an entire family/group from a well known season all company come and hunt with me morning and evening for 3 days, we killed limits of what we were hunting each hunt and at the end I was tipped with a case of their seasoning.

I enjoyed the challenge of it, but the "bad apples" ruined it for me, and not just the ones who didn't tip well, but the ones who had me on edge the entire time because of how they handled guns. On more than one occasion I had to take someone's gun away from them after several warnings of how unsafe they were being. You lose the joy in it when you are constantly on edge for you, your dog's or another hunter's life/well being.

[WItoTX]

10% tip, then go up or down based on experience. If the guide worked his tail off to get me an animal, it goes up. If the guide just takes you to one spot, and you just wait, well it goes down. If I shoot an animal, the tip usually goes up.

Same with the cook, except I usually start at a dollar value. the last trip, I think it was $200, and it went up because not only was he cooking, but he gathered and split wood, and had the fire good and hot when we got back every night.

[drbonner]

But would you have tipped your cabin steward? The dining room Maitre d'? Before tips were included in the price of the cruise, it was typical to and expected to tip each of these persons. I'm thinking that the reason that tips are now included in the price of the cruise is because too many people simply didn't do so.

Do you tip the hostess that seats you at a restaurant? What about the cook? Did you tip the person that disenfects the chairs around the pool every night on your cruise liners? The point is it’s gotten ridiculous that companies encourage their customers to tip so they don’t have to pay them well. If I’m paying for a Midwest whitetail hunt that includes everything(according to their website) and the owner suggests I tip the guide, cook, person that made up my bed, etc.... shouldn’t I get some of my money back? I mean he advertised the hunt as all inclusive. His employees are being compensated, or should be.