How much to tip

[Deadfall]

Can a guide on here answer this:
What if your client is awesome, but can't afford to tip generously? I'm talking the guy with a good attitude and a good work ethic and a willingness to listen to your advice. The guy who has saved and is on the hunt of a lifetime. The guy whose success you are genuinely invested in.
That has to be better than the rich guy who sucks but then hands you a couple grand right?
Maybe I'm naïve.

No your not naive at all. I've been in tge guiding game for along time. Attitudes have changed some with younger guys these days. So I speak of my own experience in the following.
1. I've spent my entire life in the woods/mountains. Started guiding to give back a bit.
2. Absolutely nothing is more satisfying then a guy who us on a lifetime hunt having the time of his life.
3. For some of these new age guides money is a driving factor. They don't usually last long. Guiding is a labor of love. Tips are a cherry. Most of us are not setting the world on fire financially.
4. My experience...I personally would much rather hunt with a guy tgat can only afford a 200 dollar tip but is a pleasure to be around and enjoys the time..As opposed to guy who can afford a grand but is miserable, overbearing demanding and wants waited on hand and foot.

The money is all relative in my experience. Usually the big money tippers that ramble on about themselves non stop and how great they are. How wonderful of a tip they will give if they shoot a certain class animal..usually those guys can't hit anything and at the end of the hunt not only is the guide shot in all 3 aspects...the guide is also a no good dirt ball because the hunter didn't get his 350 inch bull.

I would take the 200 dollar guy any day.

There is no money in the world that can compare to watching a guy loose all body function when the highs and lows come together and he harvests. It's like watching your first born come into the world.

I've made life long friends doing what I do. I've seen grown men cry. Had guys hug me in the woods, which is a weird deal for a minute. Lol... at the end of year when your body is shot, almost can't pick up 2 loaves of bread because everything is strained or sprained, it's those memories that bring me back. Not the money.

One last thought. The folks who talk nonstop about how much money they have are usually the worst tippers. I've had supposedly rich guys shoot mature bull elk and not leave any tip at all.

Some disagree, that's my experience in a nutshell

 

[Deadfall]

One final thought. Do what you can do. If you get a good to great guide he's been around the block and understands not everyone is in same boat financially. Over the coarse of the hunt he will know what's up. It won't matter. Everyone knows what is right and what is not. If you go into a hunt worried about the tip your hunt experience will suffer.

If you can afford 20 percent great. If you can afford 5 percent great.

Just don't be the guy that can afford 20 percent but justifies 5 percent because he's a ego driven cheap skate....

 

[mtwarden]

I mean seriously if I order a few 40 dollar steaks and have a few beers or drinks, maybe an appetizer with my wife, say I’m at ~ 130.00. That waiter didn’t work any harder than a waiter who served 2 people at an Applebees on a 40 dollar tab. Why should the first waiter get a bigger tip? Because the food you bought was more expensive so you need to leave even more money? It’s flat out stupid.

no matter your opinion on tipping, this is some validity to this point

a hard working guide on a $5000 week long hunt should receive less than a hard working guide on a $25000 week long hunt?

 

[sasquatch]

no matter your opinion on tipping, this is some validity to this point

a hard working guide on a $5000 week long hunt should receive less than a hard working guide on a $25000 week long hunt?

Well, yea it makes sense in that small sample

But I bet the guy running 5k hunts (diff species or something) does a whole lot less hunts.

There’s a quantity/quality equation in the mix.


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[Q child]

No your not naive at all. I've been in tge guiding game for along time. Attitudes have changed some with younger guys these days. So I speak of my own experience in the following.
...
Some disagree, that's my experience in a nutshell

Hey Deadfall. Wow. Thanks for taking the time write out a thoughtful response. Very generous. That all makes a lot of sense.

 

[CoStick]

If people don’t tip, it probably best to not be repeat customers.

 

[bozeman]

I think @Deadfall is spot on....when I went on my first and only guided Elk hunt, I had saved for a few years and was in blue jeans, an older Cabelas windproof sweater and a 2nd hand Firstlite Uncompaghre jacket. That was 6 years ago and I have been blessed beyond my dreams financially in the past 5 years, but at that time, it was 'save, save, save'....... There were guys in full out Kuiu (lawyers from FL) who griped and moaned the whole time. I truly felt for their guide....I did.

thanks, @Deadfall, solid response.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Their boss is screwing them so I’m going to screw them on top of it. Nice plan

You could be like me and drink water so I can tip them MORE. If I see what I feel is a decent human being, working hard to support themselves I have no problem paying it forward. In fact it feels a little good to know you tried to help someone out who may not be as lucky as you. Maybe that’s why you cranky! Help people out sometime, maybe you’ll cheer up.

And nobody said you HAVE to go on %, that’s a baseline.


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Sorry, I’m not going to spend less money so I can give more of it away to somebody I don’t know.

 

[CoStick]

Sorry, I’m not going to spend less money so I can give more of it away to somebody I don’t know.

You ever see the moving “waiting “? Worth a watch.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

You ever see the moving “waiting “? Worth a watch.

I have seen it, I also worked in enough restaurants when I was younger to know that roughly zero percent of it is accurate.

 

[CoStick]

I have seen it, I also worked in enough restaurants when I was younger to know that roughly zero percent of it is accurate.

Okay…..

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Okay…..

I mean it’s a comedy movie written for high school kids. Do you actually believe that it is reflective of reality? You must be a big Ryan Reynolds’s fan or something.

 

[WCB]

Can a guide on here answer this:
What if your client is awesome, but can't afford to tip generously? I'm talking the guy with a good attitude and a good work ethic and a willingness to listen to your advice. The guy who has saved and is on the hunt of a lifetime. The guy whose success you are genuinely invested in.
That has to be better than the rich guy who sucks but then hands you a couple grand right?
Maybe I'm naïve.

100% agree with Deadfall and I have guided both. The guys that couldn't afford to tip a lot honestly came to me and said "hey it is not a lot and I wish I could give you more". The first thing I asked them is if they had taken care of the cook/camp jack. We had some outstanding help that would be waiting when we rode in and tie up the horses and help us guides out besides having camp clean and chow ready. If they hadn't or hadn't thought of it I told them to give it to them I'd be fine.

As Deadfall said those guys tend to be the more memorable hunts and the ones I enjoyed the most. I will say I had some BIG tippers some just worked harder and saved the extra for the hunt and some had DEEP pockets. The good tipping deep pocket guys also seemed to be very appreciative and fun to hunt with. The guys that had deep pockets and didn't tip well were the worst to hunt with even before they stiffed you on tips. They were also the ones with the most demands and unrealistic expectations.

 

[CoStick]

I mean it’s a comedy movie written for high school kids. Do you actually believe that it is reflective of reality? You must be a big Ryan Reynolds’s fan or something.

Not at all, just had around 20 years in the industry and when I was young working those types of chains I was shocked how some people behaved.

 

[CoStick]

I mean it’s a comedy movie written for high school kids. Do you actually believe that it is reflective of reality? You must be a big Ryan Reynolds’s fan or something.

I would add that I ended up working in high end places where everyone was professional. It was a career for them. Most people tip, some tip a lot. So when someone did you wrong at the end of the day it didn’t matter, percentage of sales seemed to be consistent.

With guides some of whom I would assume only get room and board, relying on tips for their income it is probably harder to make up for being stifffed.

 

[longtail]

Pretty simple really, tipping is a convention usually applied to certain positions in the hospitality industry, That would include waiters/waitresses and hunting guides. It would exclude garbage men, auto mechanics, plumbers, electricians, bus drivers, school teachers, gas station attendants, and sporting goods store employees.

I dont feel it’s that simple. Far from simple. School teachers spend more time with our kids some days then we do…… why shouldn’t we tip them? In most states there overworked and underpaid. And how do you know your garbage man isn’t worse off then the bartender who is a trust fund baby and just working at a bar to score with hot drunk babes

 

[MattB]

I dont feel it’s that simple. Far from simple. School teachers spend more time with our kids some days then we do…… why shouldn’t we tip them? In most states there overworked and underpaid. And how do you know your garbage man isn’t worse off then the bartender who is a trust fund baby and just working at a bar to score with hot drunk babes

It only gets complicated if you start considering factors that aren't relevant. Teachers and garbage men are not in the service industry, nor is their industry's compensation scheme predicated upon a portion of their income coming from tips.

 

[MattB]

I would add that I ended up working in high end places where everyone was professional. It was a career for them. Most people tip, some tip a lot. So when someone did you wrong at the end of the day it didn’t matter, percentage of sales seemed to be consistent.

With guides some of whom I would assume only get room and board, relying on tips for their income it is probably harder to make up for being stifffed.

Hunting guides generally are not going to take that many clients per season, so a single client's tip represents a larger % of their annual income than a single table to a waiter/waitress.

 

[WRO]

500.00 to your guide is pretty standard if he works hard, if not nothing..

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[Doc Holliday]

Outfitters want their guides to be happy and make money, but they also don't want one guide getting a $500 tip and another one getting $2k just because the 2nd hunter had deeper pockets. Sometimes you are also tipping a cook, a wrangler, a packer. Ask the outfitter before you head out there what a good tip is and who all you might be tipping, and bring enough money for the top of the range they tell you. I have also had guides tell me they like getting gear instead of money. Binos, spotter, a sleeping bag, goose down jacket, etc.