Guide tipping question

[thusby]

I’ll usually tip the cook and the guide the same amount if it’s a small camp. Just watch those cooks work and you’ll see why.

 

[cgasner1]

Kodiak we did 10% split cross the boats. We had 9 guys hunting and 2 boats with 4 captains. My drop camp I tipped out at 50% I consider him a friend and he also gave us the friend rate so the big tip was a no brainer. In New Mexico last year I tipped my guide around 20% he absolutely busted his ass for us and we have his wife a few hundred for cooking some amazing meals. It’s a small world we live in all these people I’ve done business with still talk to me so must be doing something right.

 

[Steiny77]

Have done lots of guided hunts and never looked at it as a percentage.
On most hunts when successful I'll tip the guide somewhere around the $500 range. Camp helpers, cook, etc. might get $100 each.

Do what you can afford but most importantly treat them politely and respectfully, and don't be a lazy butt help out with things.

 

[thusby]

Do what you can afford but most importantly treat them politely and respectfully, and don't be a lazy butt help out with things.

That’s the biggest thing. Don’t ever be the guy that shoots an elk and goes back to camp to drink coffee while the work is happening.

 

[Joseph Peterson]

I have been an outfitter, guide, wrangler/packer, cook and everything else associated with guided hunts for 36 years. I have worked in remote wilderness horse camps, drive to backcountry camps, ranch cabin hunts, luxury lodge hunts and simple day hunts where we just provided a guide. The 10-20% guide for all service providers is good. I have had people tip extravagantly to me but to them it may not have seemed so. I have had people not tip at all. The ones I didn't care for were the ones who promised a large tip if they killed an animal. Conversely I have had people who kept on going out even after they shot the target animal just to relish in the country. There were many hunts where hunters would not tip the wrangler/packer so we guides would share some of ours. There were hunts where I was packer, cook and guide and was tipped only poor to average. I have never worked for a tip and could work no harder than the 100% I do because I love the job.

On the Africa subject, on my one trip to Tanzania, I was instructed to not give any tips other than a token personal item- shoes, knive, Leatherman etc. The monetary tips were given to the PH and company who would credit the employee at the local supply store. This kept them from running off to the nearest source of booze and whores and allowed their families security. Sad but true.

 

[44hunter45]

I have been an outfitter, guide, wrangler/packer, cook and everything else associated with guided hunts for 36 years. I have worked in remote wilderness horse camps, drive to backcountry camps, ranch cabin hunts, luxury lodge hunts and simple day hunts where we just provided a guide. The 10-20% guide for all service providers is good. I have had people tip extravagantly to me but to them it may not have seemed so. I have had people not tip at all. The ones I didn't care for were the ones who promised a large tip if they killed an animal. Conversely I have had people who kept on going out even after they shot the target animal just to relish in the country. There were many hunts where hunters would not tip the wrangler/packer so we guides would share some of ours. There were hunts where I was packer, cook and guide and was tipped only poor to average. I have never worked for a tip and could work no harder than the 100% I do because I love the job.

On the Africa subject, on my one trip to Tanzania, I was instructed to not give any tips other than a token personal item- shoes, knive, Leatherman etc. The monetary tips were given to the PH and company who would credit the employee at the local supply store. This kept them from running off to the nearest source of booze and whores and allowed their families security. Sad but true.

Love this. Boonie or Bust, LOL.

Good take away from your post for me is that I have not yet asked the outfitter how he and his crew handle tipping. I need to do that.

 

[noharleyyet]

Success or no, attitude and effort does it for me...in any case, pay it forward accordingly.

 

[44hunter45]

Success or no, attitude and effort does it for me...in any case, pay it forward accordingly.

In the "Don't ask if you don't want to hear the answer" department... Have I ever demonstrated a bad attitude?
I am the picture of joviality and manners. To quote my first born, " I am NOT annoying!"

 

[npaden]

Don’t be afraid to ask. Some outfits like the tip to go through the head person and others like it to go directly to each person involved. I’ve only done one guided hunt and that was Africa and the giving out of the tip at the end was a big deal. They called all the service folks in one at a time from the guides to the tracker, skinner, cook, maid and even the lady that did the laundry. It was nice to say thank you and goodbye as well as give them the tip.

We talked it out with the owners wife on the tips and she actually suggested us to reduce the tip on one person and increase the tip for the skinner since she felt what we were planning was a little out of proportion to the work involved on that.

We were somewhere close to 15% when it was all said and done.

 

[devon deer]

Unique thing is most of the world doesn't tip except n.a. you don't tip in Europe.

You are joking right?
I never expect a tip, but around 50% of my fishing/hunting clients do, and it ranges from on average 10-25%
We always tip in restaurants, unless the service has been terrible, which is very rare.

Just to mention, I have always given a good tip to any fly fishing guides when I have visited the US, last time was in 2007 though, even then it was $100, and around 15% in restaurants.
What I didn't appreciate was being given a bill by a server in Colorado once, she wrote on the bill in capital letters 'this doesn't include a tip!' we gave her only around 10% but really it left a sour taste, we should of just walked out.

 

[popeyoung12]

You are joking right?
I never expect a tip, but around 50% of my fishing/hunting clients do, and it ranges from on average 10-25%
We always tip in restaurants, unless the service has been terrible, which is very rare.

Just to mention, I have always given a good tip to any fly fishing guides when I have visited the US, last time was in 2007 though, even then it was $100, and around 15% in restaurants.
What I didn't appreciate was being given a bill by a server in Colorado once, she wrote on the bill in capital letters 'this doesn't include a tip!' we gave her only around 10% but really it left a sour taste, we should of just walked out.

I am referring to bars, dinner, not guides or tourguides. I have spent months in italy, Greece, Croatia, Spain, turkey, Malta. Not once was a receipt or an iPad had options for tipping.

 

[Polaris_Doc]

I am referring to bars, dinner, not guides or tourguides. I have spent months in italy, Greece, Croatia, Spain, turkey, Malta. Not once was a receipt or an iPad had options for tipping.

I totally agree with this. Tips I truly believe are earned. It is pretty sad when our culture is getting to the point where it's an expectation no matter what. What I truly can't stand is the credit card machines everywhere in the US it seems are programmed to pop up with a tip option. I'm sorry, but if I am ordering food at a sub sandwich big franchise place, you are making my food, that is it. You are not serving or providing an extra service that would be worthy of a tip.