How much to tip your hunting guide?

[Mojave]

I have been in camp with a whale (superstar rich big spender client) before twice. Once in Africa and once in USA.

On the American experience, we had to share the guide because the cook didn't show up. So the outfitter ended up cooking. We alternated days, and I didn't get to kill the quality of an animal that I was initially shown on the first day, because they were saving it for the whale. The guide actually made the situation worse by trying to suck up to the whale the entire time.

In Namibia the outfitter was actually pissed off at the whale. Because the wife of the other client had said something nasty about the outfitters wife and created a shit storm. It didn't affect me as much, but I am glad their hunt ended about half way through my hunt.

I do not work in the service industry, and I hate tipping. I understand the concept, and I wish it would go away. Germany and Australia both do not have tipping. Customer service in both nations is pretty bad for service industry jobs. In America our customer service is ok, and way worse than it was when I was a kid. Entitled people on both the tipping side, and customer side have made it worse. Part of the reason I quit going to tipping eateries is because I hate getting shaken down for a tip. I do not understand why the asshole that hands me a iced tea at Starbucks gets 20% when I pay at the kiosk terminal in the drive through when another asshole at McDonalds gets no tip. That and the McDonalds tea is $2, where the one at Starbucks is about $5. For water and a tea bag and some ice. WTF is that?

I went to Jack in the Box the other day and the guy bent over backwards. There was no tip sign on the kiosk. It wasn't an option, but the owner of that franchise gave a shit and his employees do too.

People pay for quality. Not necessarily in the way that service industry people think they do.

 

[Wags]

I’ve heard of a couple hunts like this where “guide” was restricted from taking hunters where the elk were. Only the repeat customers went there.

That seemed to be similar with us. I can assure you I'll never return.

 

[displacedtexan]

That's sad, hope you don't go out much.
======================================

Very rarely! If I do it is someplace I don't have to tip.

I am still very Australian or European in my theory on tipping. I have spent 17 years of my life living overseas.

Yeah, but the people providing you service aren't being paid that way.

 

[CFarrington96]

As a hunting guide, I generally get 10%-15% on mule deer and elk hunts. Desert sheep I generally get under 10%, but they’re a much more expensive hunt, they’re generally easier to guide than mule deer and elk, and the tips are still good.

I give my all to get my clients on the class of animals they want and try to ensure they have a good time doing it. Not all my hunters have been successful, but my unsuccessful hunters generally tip as well, if not better, than my successful hunters. They can see that I did everything I could, and that even with the best hunting operations, it’s still hunting.

Overall, I give my all to my clients, and I feel like I’m generally compensated fairly.

 

[stevenray93]

I personally think that there are too many factors to just have a standard amount to tip. I’d say anywhere from $200-$1000 depending on the circumstances. Bring $1000 extra cash with you. At the end of the hunt rate your overall experience with the guide 1 out of 10. Whatever you rate him just put two zeros behind that.

Although guiding seems fun I thinks it’s a tough gig that these guys should be rewarded for if they do a kick butt job.

 

[WTNUT]

I have been in camp with a whale (superstar rich big spender client) before twice. Once in Africa and once in USA.


Well you baited me in …. My hunt was an Arizona early season rifle elk hunt in the primo unit at the time. This guy was not a financial whale, but thought he was. He didn’t know, but I could of bought and sold him 50 times over. Fortunately, I was raised to appreciate the fact that a man’s net worth makes him no more or less important than any other person - period.

This “whale” was the owner of a popular hunting magazine that assisted hunters with draw applications (not connected to the magazine at all now). The outfitter was lured in by the article that was going to be written. He did not care about any other hunter. After all, it was going to be over a decade before any of us even had a chance at a regular tag much less the one we had.

The “whale” was without a doubt the worst human I have ever met in terms of “hunting folk”. He was arrogant, demanding, and attempted at every turn to tell you his tag was the most important in camp. In fact, after the first night he decided we should not be in camp because it interfered with “his” experience. So off to another camp we went.

In contrast, my guide was wonderful person. He showed me a bull the evening before the hunt. I told him it was great and I ended up taking the bull on the third day of the hunt.

When I booked the hunt, it was on the condition that if I killed early I would be able to stay around and at least hike and glass because it isn’t every day that I get to glass and hang out in that unit. By the 4th day, the whale had not gotten “his” bull. A 395 to 405 inch bull they camped out on the night before the hunt, and ended up getting shot out from under him at daylight. Karma is always a bitch.

I told the outfitter I was going out on the 4th day to scout, glass and film. On the second day of my hunt, we had seen a bull at under 30 yards with cows everywhere. The guide thought it was a 380 inch bull they knew and wanted me to shoot. It was not a clear shot. I saw the bulls body and a piece of antler but had no idea what it was and there ended up being over 20 cows around us. I did not risk it.

I found that bull early that 4th day. He was well over 380 inches. I have killed a ton of bulls and helped people kill tons. Trust me it was well over 380.

I spent the entire day with that bull, just he and I. He had lost every cow. I can’t to this day imagine what on this planet took his cows. I never called him until dusk that day. I took an incredible amount of video of him, and spent most of the day with him 50 to 100 yards from me. A day I will never forget, because if I had a tag that day would have ended early. It made me truly appreciate how unimportant the actual kill is.

I showed the video to the outfitter and whale, and listened to them beg me to tell them where it was taken. They were wanted to be my friend and all the sudden my existence had meaning. Ha ha. I told them he didn’t have cows, where he had been, and where I left him at dusk. I even got to stay in their camp that night and they went after him before daylight. They looked for days and never found him.

When I got home, I realized I had forgotten to tell them that at dusk right before leaving I had called him in to about 15 yards. After calling him in, I jumped up and started running and yelling at him like a crazy man possessed by aliens. I screamed, waived my arms, buggled, cow called, you name it I did it. Based upon my experience with elk, I suspect he stopped running somewhere around Kansas.

I have never in my 55 years of life met any other hunter that I would have done anything bad to, but those SOBs (outfitter and client) deserved every thing they got that time.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[HornPorn]

A $5K elk hunt where one guide leads you around the mountains for a week has very little in common to a sheep hunt up north (dall/stone/bighorn) where you are supported by all kinds of people and logistics...as an example, the bush pilot who flew you into a remote spot and then came and got your butt out during a tight window between bad weather. Pretty easy to see the lack of experience/ignorance in this thread. People talking about things they have no clue about

 

[hicountry1]

As a rule, I usually tip 10%+

My Alaskan grizz hunt was wildly successful, and my guide busted his butt to make the hunt successful. He got more than 10%

On the other end of the spectrum, my brother and I were on a MD hunt in Wyoming with a fairly well known outfitter.

2 things happened...1, unknown to us, he lost his honey hole area, which of course he never disclosed.

2, we were told we were going to hunt a certain mountain the first day. Well, a outdoor writer shows up that night and he gets the mountain and horses we were supposed to have. So, we end up being driven to national forest land, and on foot, climbed all fn day up this mtn, only to see 2 guys in a jeep at the top glossing.

Besides the fact that our tongues were hanging out, which was fine, we paid for a private land hunt. So I'm like....why didn't we do what yhose guys did, and not waste all fn morning climbing, seeing nothing btw....

Bottom line we did that all week, seeing nothing, while the outdoor writer hunting on horseback, where we were supposed to, shoots a 190inch MD the first day out.

We kept climbing high all week, when a the deer were down low, as we saw on the last day. I'm pretty sure the guides were told not to hunt low.

At the end of the hunt we each gave to outfitter $50 ea. to tip the guides.

He probably got an earful from the guides, but they did not put us on game when they easily could have. They did not advocate for their clients. They earned what they got.

Other than that fiasco, I always take care of my guides.

 

[intunegp]

Curious, why is it sad? The standard tip in the service industry has, for as long as I can remember, been 20%. But can you honestly say that the service has maintained the same level of quality to continue to justify the standard?
Nothing is owed, everything is earned.

Why is it sad to say he never tips more than 10%? Does that really need explanation?

The level of quality of service depends on your expectations, what the restaurant is trying to provide, and how well the restaurant operates as a whole. If you agree that the standard is 20% then someone tipping 10% or less whenever they go out would be sub-standard, right?

Quality of service is subjective and everyone wants a little different experience when they're out to eat. Many of the things that may make you think you want to tip less are out of your server's control. If your order is brought to you correctly, your drink stays full, and your bill is closed when you want to leave then your server has probably earned their 18-20% tip.

I'm talking about sit down restaurants of course. I often ignore tip jars on the counter of fast food type places like Subway because those employees are paid an actual hourly wage. Servers and bartenders at sit down restaurants often lose the entirety of their hourly wage to taxes on their tips, and if they don't they're hard pressed to make the management pay them out the balance. At least that's how it was when I was in the industry in Georgia making $2.13/hr 8-10 years ago.

 

[Mojave]

Yeah, but the people providing you service aren't being paid that way.

So McDonalds pays (let's call it $10 an hour because I don't know). Starbucks probably also pays $10 an hour. They aren't paying those people waitress wages are they?

 

[Mojave]

Why is it sad to say he never tips more than 10%? Does that really need explanation?

The level of quality of service depends on your expectations, what the restaurant is trying to provide, and how well the restaurant operates as a whole. If you agree that the standard is 20% then someone tipping 10% or less whenever they go out would be sub-standard, right?

Quality of service is subjective and everyone wants a little different experience when they're out to eat. Many of the things that may make you think you want to tip less are out of your server's control. If your order is brought to you correctly, your drink stays full, and your bill is closed when you want to leave then your server has probably earned their 18-20% tip.

I'm talking about sit down restaurants of course. I often ignore tip jars on the counter of fast food type places like Subway because those employees are paid an actual hourly wage. Servers and bartenders at sit down restaurants often lose the entirety of their hourly wage to taxes on their tips, and if they don't they're hard pressed to make the management pay them out the balance. At least that's how it was when I was in the industry in Georgia making $2.13/hr 8-10 years ago.

Maybe it is an age thing. Only recently did tips "become" 20%.

Damn entitled millenials are trying to turn service jobs into careers.

I worked at Safeway, irrigated fields, cut meat, and worked in a diner washing dishes when I was a kid. Then I joined the military spent 20 years and got a real job.

A service job is a not a career.

Owning a service company is a career.

 

[displacedtexan]

Maybe it is an age thing. Only recently did tips "become" 20%.

Damn entitled millenials are trying to turn service jobs into careers.

I worked at Safeway, irrigated fields, cut meat, and worked in a diner washing dishes when I was a kid. Then I joined the military spent 20 years and got a real job.

A service job is a not a career.

Owning a service company is a career.

Well my non career has worked out well enough for me for 22 years, as a "damn millennial" I have no regrets on the path I've chosen.

 

[SDHNTR]

Maybe it is an age thing. Only recently did tips "become" 20%.

Damn entitled millenials are trying to turn service jobs into careers.

I worked at Safeway, irrigated fields, cut meat, and worked in a diner washing dishes when I was a kid. Then I joined the military spent 20 years and got a real job.

A service job is a not a career.

Owning a service company is a career.

Correct, but society still needs these employees! And those important jobs won’t be filled for minimum wage alone.

And an honest job in the service sector is a far more noble pursuit than some BS influencer whore producing “content” like a lot of worthless millennials seem to call a career.

 

[sacklunch]

Correct, but society still needs these employees! And those important jobs won’t be filled for minimum wage alone.

Do we need human beings work in g at McDonalds? Or can it all be automated?

I’m not sure your arguement that I need to subsidize the industry with my tips is valid. Lemme guess, you’re a fan of raising taxes too, because it’s our duty to fund our corrupt government?

 

[SDHNTR]

Do we need human beings work in g at McDonalds? Or can it all be automated?

I’m not sure your arguement that I need to subsidize the industry with my tips is valid. Lemme guess, you’re a fan of raising taxes too, because it’s our duty to fund our corrupt government?

BS argument. So lame it’s unworthy of a retort.

 

[intunegp]

Maybe it is an age thing. Only recently did tips "become" 20%.

Damn entitled millenials are trying to turn service jobs into careers.

I worked at Safeway, irrigated fields, cut meat, and worked in a diner washing dishes when I was a kid. Then I joined the military spent 20 years and got a real job.

A service job is a not a career.

Owning a service company is a career.

When I was a kid it was common to hear "his parents did/didn't raise him right" so I think it's funny to see all the older people shitting on entitled millenials now...seems to me a bunch of boomers didn't raise their kids right eh?

It's easy to blame a generation but there's people of all ages who never get it together. I'm a millenial and it seems to me most of the career fast food/service workers are a generation older than me, not my peers. I have a blue collar career, a home, a soon-to-be wife, and no financial worries even though I'm far from getting rich. I know people my age doing a lot better than me, and some not doing anything at all.

I have no problem tipping 18-20% when I choose to go out to eat because if it was all about saving a couple bucks I'd have fired up the grill. If you're having a $200 restaurant dinner and the difference between a $20 and $40 tip is what burns your wallet I'd say the budget needs a closer look.

 

[sacklunch]

BS argument. So lame it’s unworthy of a retort.

Why because you have nothing else than an emotionally based argument on why we need to tip?

Sorry dude, not my job to subsidize a failing industry, whatever it is, with my tips. I tip when appropriate and when earned, and I tip well, but to imply it’s mandatory is just silly.

We can live without fast food, restaurants and guided elk hunts, it’s not an essential business, sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it’s the truth. If they can’t pay their employees enough, that’s on them, not on me to subsidize them so their boss can skimp on wages.

 

[j_volt]

I truly hate the concept of tipping, but I continue to follow the societal norm of tipping.

I always ask the outfitter prior to showing up to see what they recommend as a starting point.

I like the general idea of tipping $100-$200 a day for a guide (counted by scheduled days, not hunted days). Using a % of the cost of the hunt makes no sense me.

 

[Mojave]

When I was a kid it was common to hear "his parents did/didn't raise him right" so I think it's funny to see all the older people shitting on entitled millenials now...seems to me a bunch of boomers didn't raise their kids right eh?

It's easy to blame a generation but there's people of all ages who never get it together. I'm a millenial and it seems to me most of the career fast food/service workers are a generation older than me, not my peers. I have a blue collar career, a home, a soon-to-be wife, and no financial worries even though I'm far from getting rich. I know people my age doing a lot better than me, and some not doing anything at all.

I have no problem tipping 18-20% when I choose to go out to eat because if it was all about saving a couple bucks I'd have fired up the grill. If you're having a $200 restaurant dinner and the difference between a $20 and $40 tip is what burns your wallet I'd say the budget needs a closer look.

I do not eat $200 restaurant dinners. That was a single me thing, or maybe wife and I dating thing. I have not been to a $200 dinner in the past 15 years.

Even as a family of 5, we eat cheap. We cook 97% of the meals we eat.

Both of us grew up eating out a lot. Like I said I washed dishes in a fancy restaurant when I was a kid. She waited tables until she got her teaching degree. We eat quick service food if we aren't cooking. Just not a fan. Everytime I buy a steak from a resteraunt I am usually so pissed off by how it was cooked I can barely eat it.

 

[Mojave]

When I was a kid it was common to hear "his parents did/didn't raise him right" so I think it's funny to see all the older people shitting on entitled millenials now...seems to me a bunch of boomers didn't raise their kids right eh?

It's easy to blame a generation but there's people of all ages who never get it together. I'm a millenial and it seems to me most of the career fast food/service workers are a generation older than me, not my peers. I have a blue collar career, a home, a soon-to-be wife, and no financial worries even though I'm far from getting rich. I know people my age doing a lot better than me, and some not doing anything at all.

I have no problem tipping 18-20% when I choose to go out to eat because if it was all about saving a couple bucks I'd have fired up the grill. If you're having a $200 restaurant dinner and the difference between a $20 and $40 tip is what burns your wallet I'd say the budget needs a closer look.

All of the fast food service people around here are 18-30 year olds. Unless they are handicapped. There are a lot of those.

My parents are of the lost generation, not boomers. But yes I get what you are saying, everyone blames everyone else.

It is not my job to fix the pay gap with tipping.

I have also heard of $100 a day.

Bottom line you do what you do.