Tipping your guide and camp cook???

[cutthroat666]

In one month I will go on my first ever guided hunt. I will be going to Wyoming to hunt Pronghorn.

When I booked the hunt I didn't really think about this but now I need to determine:

If everything goes well, how much (if anything) should I be expected to tip my hunting guide? How much for the camp cook? Anyone else?

I'm concerned that I will not do the right thing but I also don't want to overdo anything either.

I would appreciate a little guidance from any of you experienced with guided hunts. I'd also appreciate it if you let me know if you have experience as the guide or the guided hunter.

Thanks,

cutthroat

[300magman]

i will tip 10% of the hunt cost to the guide, and usually like $500 or so to the cook if applicable (this would be for a remote hunt 7-10 days). For you, im guessing that would be around $300 or so to the guide, and on a 3 day pronghorn hunt, maybe $150 to the cook.

For me, the tip is based on the EXPERIENCE, not the success of the hunt. If i had a lazy guide in a crappy camp, but got lucky and crossed paths with a great animal by chance, my tip would go way down, but if I had a guide that worked his azz off all day, every day and made every effort to have a safe, fun hunt, then i have tipped more like 15%. Just my way of thinking anyway, it is hunting and the performance shouldnt be rated on the success, cause the best guide in the world cant make the animals cooperate if they dont want to.

[deerguy]

I looked at an Antelope hunt, was $1800 in Montana. $400 - $500 tip would be good.

[Torkdiesel]

10% of the total hunt cost to the guide if he works for it
5% of the total hunt cost to the cook if the food is good and the camp is clean

Round up to the nearest $50 interval and your guide and cook will be happy to have you back again. (ie. if your hunt is $2200 for 3 days I would give the guide $250 and the cook $150.

If the outfitter is guiding you himself on this type of hunt I still go with the 10% rule of thumb. If it's a higher price hunt (ie. A $35,000 leopard hunt in Zim) I will adjust my tip percentage down because he is making good money off the hunt already.

I've been on a dozen guided hunts in Canada, the lower 48, Mexico, Alaska, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. I've also guided and outfitted for the last 15 years.

With these tipping guidelines nobody will think you're cheap. That being said if the guide brings you to a distant farm he just got permission on the day before and you slam a 85" speed goat, let him know you appreciate it with an extra $100. Alternatively if you are not happy with the guide, the accommodations, the cook or anything else to do with the hunt, please let the outfitter know. And hold off on a tip completely for the aspect of the experience you were not happy with.

Hope this helps out a bit.

[deercamp]

So on a 10k hunt I should still follow the 10% rule?? seems like a lot but I have never been so curious

[Sheepless]

It does seem like a lot , when the hunts are in US funds , even with Canadian outfitters , a 10000 hunt in now 13000 plus

[Roughneck Country]

On a trip that size $500 total, $200 cook, $300 guide. Only if the service was excellent. I usually have tip values based on ranges of hunt costs VS a flat 10%

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by deercamp

So on a 10k hunt I should still follow the 10% rule?? seems like a lot but I have never been so curious

You should tip what you feel the guide/staff deserve. You don't have to tip anything if you don't want to.

I got a $3500 tip once on a $5500 moose hunt, the hunter didn't get his moose (wounded a 55" bull at 75 yards) but was happy with the way I treated him after the "incident" and felt I had worked hard for him.

I've also got a handshake and a thank you card for a tip on a $20,000 mixed bag hunt. The teacher had saved up for the better part of 20 years to go on his once in a lifetime guided hunt. He killed a moose, elk, black bear and wolf in 10 days and they were all big animals. He maxed out his credit cards to pay for his flights and simply could not afford to give a tip.

I nor anybody else that has ever worked for me would look down on somebody in the second situation. If they did they would no longer be employed and if they ever said anything to the client they would get the azz chewing of their life.

I will admit I was walking pretty tall packing around that $3500 wad of Benjamin's though After all guides do like tips

[fish_e_o]

Originally Posted by Torkdiesel

I've also got a handshake and a thank you card for a tip on a $20,000 mixed bag hunt. The teacher had saved up for the better part of 20 years to go on his once in a lifetime guided hunt. He killed a moose, elk, black bear and wolf in 10 days and they were all big animals. He maxed out his credit cards to pay for his flights and simply could not afford to give a tip.

couldn't be upset about that!

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by fish_e_o

couldn't be upset about that!

No, you certainly could not fish_e_o

[HoytCRX32]

If you get the experience of a lifetime, which I'm sure you hope you do, then don't feel bad about giving those that made it so a great tip. If your trip sucks, the go with what you are comfortable with. Keep in mind, you getting an animal doesn't translate into success..your guide and cooks might work their asses off and you may still come up empty...you need to recognize the difference.

[JD848]

Originally Posted by Torkdiesel

10% of the total hunt cost to the guide if he works for it
5% of the total hunt cost to the cook if the food is good and the camp is clean

Round up to the nearest $50 interval and your guide and cook will be happy to have you back again. (ie. if your hunt is $2200 for 3 days I would give the guide $250 and the cook $150.

If the outfitter is guiding you himself on this type of hunt I still go with the 10% rule of thumb. If it's a higher price hunt (ie. A $35,000 leopard hunt in Zim) I will adjust my tip percentage down because he is making good money off the hunt already.

I've been on a dozen guided hunts in Canada, the lower 48, Mexico, Alaska, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. I've also guided and outfitted for the last 15 years.

With these tipping guidelines nobody will think you're cheap. That being said if the guide brings you to a distant farm he just got permission on the day before and you slam a 85" speed goat, let him know you appreciate it with an extra $100. Alternatively if you are not happy with the guide, the accommodations, the cook or anything else to do with the hunt, please let the outfitter know. And hold off on a tip completely for the aspect of the experience you were not happy with.

Hope this helps out a bit.

x3 very well put.

[NewAlbertan]

Originally Posted by Torkdiesel

You should tip what you feel the guide/staff deserve. You don't have to tip anything if you don't want to.

I got a $3500 tip once on a $5500 moose hunt, the hunter didn't get his moose (wounded a 55" bull at 75 yards) but was happy with the way I treated him after the "incident" and felt I had worked hard for him.

I've also got a handshake and a thank you card for a tip on a $20,000 mixed bag hunt. The teacher had saved up for the better part of 20 years to go on his once in a lifetime guided hunt. He killed a moose, elk, black bear and wolf in 10 days and they were all big animals. He maxed out his credit cards to pay for his flights and simply could not afford to give a tip.

I nor anybody else that has ever worked for me would look down on somebody in the second situation. If they did they would no longer be employed and if they ever said anything to the client they would get the azz chewing of their life.

I will admit I was walking pretty tall packing around that $3500 wad of Benjamin's though After all guides do like tips

Great post. Great perspective. Cheers

[HowSwedeItIs]

Do you guys think there would ever be a case where you should tip up front? Maybe encourage a guide to go the extra mile? Ideally he'd do it anyway but you know how it is sometimes

[blgoodbrand1]

Originally Posted by HowSwedeItIs

Do you guys think there would ever be a case where you should tip up front? Maybe encourage a guide to go the extra mile? Ideally he'd do it anyway but you know how it is sometimes

That's just awkward.

[blgoodbrand1]

And not to be a wanker....but only on rare occasion does a guide want your gear / nick nacks as a tip. Pair of ELs...sure, much thanks.
Used junk that you don't want to have to take back home. No thanks.
As far as $ amounts, 10% is kinda of upper end average I would say. I never guide looking for tip and work hard for each client, but it sure is nice after a hunt to get a handshake and a few bills folded up.
All that being said I ship out to camp on Saturday and I'm looking for a buckle this year

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by blgoodbrand1

And not to be a wanker....but only on rare occasion does a guide want your gear / nick nacks as a tip. Pair of ELs...sure, much thanks.
Used junk that you don't want to have to take back home. No thanks.
As far as $ amounts, 10% is kinda of upper end average I would say. I never guide looking for tip and work hard for each client, but it sure is nice after a hunt to get a handshake and a few bills folded up.
All that being said I ship out to camp on Saturday and I'm looking for a buckle this year

Who are you guiding for this year ?

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by HowSwedeItIs

Do you guys think there would ever be a case where you should tip up front? Maybe encourage a guide to go the extra mile? Ideally he'd do it anyway but you know how it is sometimes

I've offered trackers in South Africa and Zim promises of bigger tips if they produced big animals for me. I offered one tracker in Zim a $1000 U.S. If he found me a 70 pound jumbo. That was equivalent to a years pay for him.
I've also offered captains while deep sea fishing big tips if they produced big fish. Usually a buck a pound kinda thing. Cost me a $1000 one day for a 400 blue Marlin and two 250 pound Stripped Marlin. I wasn't complaining though

[NewAlbertan]

With making it known / clear that you will reward good service, but payment always comes after delivery. That refers to service, not game.

[Fowl91]

I hunted SA just last year and had a great outfitter, great trackers, and a great guide... who was a little lazy. Spent a lot of the time yelling at the trackers and the rest on his phone. In the end I tipped the trackers about $100 each for a job well done and didn't tip the guide.

[HowSwedeItIs]

Thanks guys!

[JD848]

I had a couple who missed shore lunch once,they got lost and were hungry ,I wasn't the cook but asked the cook boat for some stuff .

After there lunch he came over and stuck some money in my top shirt pocket,they went back fishing and I cleaned up and looked on my shirt pocket,1000 bucks for a lunch,i guide up to twenty boats a day by
myself just putting the boats on hotspots ,some weeks fishing is hard and you have 40 to fifty people depending on you,there's a lot a pressure but I always seem to get by.If you ever want to go fishing look up Booi's resort on trout lake northen Ontario,100000 acre lake and it's is full of fish and mean full, and ask for JIM and tellem RON sent youplus the moose hunting is good but the tag limit's were cut back by 75,percent

Some are rich ,some save the whole year for that week so I do my best for 16 hours a day and whatever I get I get,my job is to make every buddy
s trip a good one,some have become my best friend and some I rather never see but either way when that plane shows up the next year my hand shake is the same for all.

I wanted to guide for moose but I getting surgery in 16 days so if i heel fast enough may get the two last groups,i work pipeline and logging but guiding has been the love my life.my wife asked me what I would do if won big in the lotto and I told her I would go back outfitting for my self or just go out and guide till my last breath,i just love it tip or no tip,but I have grandkids so the tip money gets put away for there schooling incase my kid gets sick or whatever.FIISHERMAN AND HUNTERS ARE GREAT PEOPLE.

[JonBoy]

I haven't paid for a hunt and probably never will, unless I make a LOT more money than I do now and have the spare cash to drop thousands (or tens of thousands) on a spectacular hunt.

However, to "have" to tip on top of that, just boggles my mind. If I'm paying you $10K to hunt a sheep, why do I have to pay you / the team another $1K for doing your job? Isn't that what the $10K was for?

It's not like waiting tables, where you generally get paid a lower wage and you "need" tips to balance out your earnings. Everyone is getting paid a fair wage to start, otherwise someone is just swallowing that $10K, in which case, that's not my problem, it's theirs.

I'll tell you what I appreciate: the guys here that say they work hard, regardless of the tip, because that's why I'd pay for a hunt in the first place (hard working people that are looking to give me what I paid to get).

[MooseRiverTrapper]

Originally Posted by JonBoy

I haven't paid for a hunt and probably never will, unless I make a LOT more money than I do now and have the spare cash to drop thousands (or tens of thousands) on a spectacular hunt.

However, to "have" to tip on top of that, just boggles my mind. If I'm paying you $10K to hunt a sheep, why do I have to pay you / the team another $1K for doing your job? Isn't that what the $10K was for?

It's not like waiting tables, where you generally get paid a lower wage and you "need" tips to balance out your earnings. Everyone is getting paid a fair wage to start, otherwise someone is just swallowing that $10K, in which case, that's not my problem, it's theirs.

I'll tell you what I appreciate: the guys here that say they work hard, regardless of the tip, because that's why I'd pay for a hunt in the first place (hard working people that are looking to give me what I paid to get).

You answered your own questions there. Guiding hunts is exactly the same as waiting tables from a financial perspective. That 10k goes to the planes, Horses, boats, fuel, cabins, fees to he government, allocations.

[drake]

Originally Posted by JonBoy

I haven't paid for a hunt and probably never will, unless I make a LOT more money than I do now and have the spare cash to drop thousands (or tens of thousands) on a spectacular hunt.

However, to "have" to tip on top of that, just boggles my mind. If I'm paying you $10K to hunt a sheep, why do I have to pay you / the team another $1K for doing your job? Isn't that what the $10K was for?

It's not like waiting tables, where you generally get paid a lower wage and you "need" tips to balance out your earnings. Everyone is getting paid a fair wage to start, otherwise someone is just swallowing that $10K, in which case, that's not my problem, it's theirs.

I'll tell you what I appreciate: the guys here that say they work hard, regardless of the tip, because that's why I'd pay for a hunt in the first place (hard working people that are looking to give me what I paid to get).

If i was guiding you and you came to camp with an attitude like that i would make you follow me up and down the mountains until the soles fell off your boots....lol. No stop and glass breaks for you....lol.

[blgoodbrand1]

Originally Posted by MooseRiverTrapper

You answered your own questions there. Guiding hunts is exactly the same as waiting tables from a financial perspective. That 10k goes to the planes, Horses, boats, fuel, cabins, fees to he government, allocations.

Yup.
If I was basing my decision to guide or not solely on $$$, I sure wouldn't take time away from oil patch job to go beat the pizz outta my truck, quad and other equipment.
Not to mention the time I don't get to hunt for myself or see my kids after work.
Anyone that thinks there's big bucks in guiding is way off base. Yes hunts are expensive, but so is everything needed to make them happen for a client.

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by drake

If i was guiding you and you came to camp with an attitude like that i would make you follow me up and down the mountains until the soles fell off your boots....lol. No stop and glass breaks for you....lol.

Ah the long walk with the cranky/privileged client manouver lol. The trick is to walk just far enough ahead so you can't here them complaining. lol

[blgoodbrand1]

Originally Posted by Torkdiesel

Ah the long walk with the cranky/privileged client manouver lol. The trick is to walk just far enough ahead so you can't here them complaining. lol

Or the "observation stand". You'll maybe see something from there but it will always be to far to kill it.

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by JonBoy

I haven't paid for a hunt and probably never will, unless I make a LOT more money than I do now and have the spare cash to drop thousands (or tens of thousands) on a spectacular hunt.

However, to "have" to tip on top of that, just boggles my mind. If I'm paying you $10K to hunt a sheep, why do I have to pay you / the team another $1K for doing your job? Isn't that what the $10K was for?

It's not like waiting tables, where you generally get paid a lower wage and you "need" tips to balance out your earnings. Everyone is getting paid a fair wage to start, otherwise someone is just swallowing that $10K, in which case, that's not my problem, it's theirs.

I'll tell you what I appreciate: the guys here that say they work hard, regardless of the tip, because that's why I'd pay for a hunt in the first place (hard working people that are looking to give me what I paid to get).

Please don't feel I'm picking on you Jonboy, this reply is to all those that are misinformed about why hunt costs are what they are and why tipping guides and cooks is customary.

First of all, sheep hunts don't cost $10,000 ! At a minimum for Dall sheep you're looking at 20K. For bighorn and Stone you're looking at 25-45K and for desert bighorn you're looking at 50K+

So let's use your $10,000 number and say we're going on a BC moose hunt. On top of that 10K you still have to buy your licenses which are 1K and get yourself there.
Now out of that 10K the outfitter has to pay for the guide, a cook, atv's or horses, food, fuel, maintenance on camps or tents, insurance, government fees, purchase price of the allocations or territory and trucks for moving hunters to and from base camp. You can see how nobody is just "swallowing" that 10K. Guides get paid a couple hundred a day, they work 12-16 hours minimum in some very harsh conditions, often with very different individuals.
Like I said before, tipping is entirely up to the client in all situations. But please don't think we are all just standing around getting rich.

[Immigrant]

I don't think there are many guides who are in it for the $$. Many may have started out thinking they will get rich but they soon find out they won't. I once got tipped a pair of muck boots, worn by the client for a week. I think he felt bad about it but he felt he needed to give me something. I honestly think that is all he could afford. He was a kindergarten teacher hunting a once in a lifetime. The morning of his departure i was wearing his boots. I could see He felt a little better that he did not offend me. We still phone each other every xmas and keep in touch often.
My point is if the guide expects a tip then he is in the wrong business. And the client should not worry about the tip all the time he is hunting. Tip what you can afford