Tipping a hunting guide
- Thread starter RichP
- Start date
You do realize that servers at restaurants make very little in wages, right? I don't know what the norm is now but it's well below minimum wage, maybe $5/hr. This is because they are truly working for tips. I'm not a fan of the system but remember, when you don't tip them, they aren't getting a normal wage. I'm much rather not have to tip but then expect your food prices to be higher when the restaurant then has to compensate the servers more.
Really? I wasn't aware of that. Still, just goes to show how confusing it can be with the whole tipping situation and transparency. I guess I won't tip the bartender when I fly through SeaTac tomorrow
Looks like you are correct. Granted, I only Googled it and clicked the first link but it looks legit enough
The difference in compensation is astounding. Not a shabby gig in WA slinging burgers for $12/hr plus tips. Many other places though, like my home in KS, they are only making $2.13/hr plus tips.https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm
And an interesting article on the impact of these higher wages.
http://www.seattlemag.com/article/guide-gratuity-new-15-hour-era
Last edited:
Hi, my name is Chris and I tip people in tip typical fields. There I said it. So, just to add some extra flavor to this wide ranging discussion. Is there a difference -- for those of you that fall on the tipping side of the aisle -- when the topic is tipping outfitters/transporters as opposed to actual guides? Thinking of people who own the business. Asking for a friend.
Also, if anyone wants to start a movement to tip teachers, more of this would be relevant to me as perhaps I could afford hunts that merit tipping.
Finally, if that were to occur, how do I avoid looking like the guy that may not tip and therefore don't get dragged all over barren ground until I'm "allowed" to shoot something? Should I commit a certain amount of tip up front to ensure a good hunt, or just trust to my guide's psychic abilities to know I'm one of the "good" ones?
Also, if anyone wants to start a movement to tip teachers, more of this would be relevant to me as perhaps I could afford hunts that merit tipping.
Finally, if that were to occur, how do I avoid looking like the guy that may not tip and therefore don't get dragged all over barren ground until I'm "allowed" to shoot something? Should I commit a certain amount of tip up front to ensure a good hunt, or just trust to my guide's psychic abilities to know I'm one of the "good" ones?I have an opinion on the whole tipping thing but will keep my comments to hunting guides per the thread.i know a elk hunting guide in mt who said they would run clients around in circles on foot or with horses where they knew their was no elk and not rinse their dishes to try and get them sick. I have also hunted alaska twice. first time with the an owner outfitter on a Kodiak brown bear hunt and the second time on a dall sheep hunt with an assistant guide.i was successful on both.the assistant guide came in on vaca from his job.because he loves to hunt.long and short of both stories is I helped out in camp didn't second judge them didn't ask to be waited on. they said so many clients are wealthy privledged people they were just happy to have a normal blue collar guy and I tipped above my means both times.maybe not 15-20 or 25% but they recognized that were very happy.to this day we text, talk regularly and I have sent friends and relatives to hunt with them.its not all about the almighty dollar.but it does have its place.
Diddywahdiddy
FNG
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2014
- Messages
- 80
Wow.
I've not hunted beyond North America...hope to make Kamchatka, Mongolia and Tajikistan before my knees wear out.
I've lost count after over 40 guided hunts, not as many these days but in the past 20 years...there was one year-elk in 16A NM, elk/mule deer/antelope area 7 WY, Rocky Man Bighorn 552A Imnaha Unit OR, then back for mulies in an Eastern CO near-blizzard, gone from home for a month. The hunts have taken me from whitetails/mulies in Eastern CO/MT/WY, to mulies/elk in the mountains of MT/WY/ID/NM/CO to speed goats in WY/MT/CO/NM, to elk in MT/NM/AZ/WY/ID to sheep in OR/ID/AK/Yukon/British Coulumbia/MX, and moose in AK/Yukon. Add a few multi-day flyfishing trips in OR/ID/WY/MT with some totally awesome guides...I'd actually rather fly fish than hunt...you can pull over on a sandbar and break out a bottle of wine for lunch before the afternoon hatch!!
I agree that 10% for a desert ram hunt-fair chase of course- on a ranch in MX-is a bit much...more recently last December the owner assured me that $3,000 US for the guide, his two sons, the butler, the maid, the chef...was more than they would ever expect.
Now, elsewhere, especially for the better mule deer hunts-over 190" on two hunts, elk over 350", or just a damn fun time chasing speed goats around with a great/friendly guide who knows and shares the history of the area...and then for the sheep guides that push you mentally/physically and have great eyes to help you age/judge the ram...the 10% is just a starting point, in my opinion.
If you really appreciate the effort, if the effort goes above and beyond what you've seen elsewhere, and then if you are really fortunate and bag a B&C trophy, then I've easily given 15-20%, on three occasions higher. It's not about trying to impress someone, it's about showing them how much you appreciate them busting their ass, as you keep up with them...they appreciate that...and the generosity that you show the guide gives an objective/useful amount of how much this special experience meant to the hunter. Farther down he list, it may let the outfitter know that if you want to be a return client, you may get better dates and not have to wait as many years to get back for another hunt.
And finally, I've become great friends as with going to weddings, attending funerals, providing diagnostic/treatment advice across the thousands of miles, for numerous folks (I'm an MD who doesn't put "MD" on anything as it changes how people treat you)...We've visited and stayed overnight at their ranches when my wife and I or my son and I go back out West on our usual self-guided fishing/hiking trips...were invited to hunt upland birds as long as we called ahead of time and stayed out of the way...we are "pen pals" via email with some of the outfitters, their families, and especially one of the fathers who was my first Canadian sheep guide.
Cash is king, it shows appreciation...it is NOT buying friends...but it shows you appreciate the effort, the country, the culture...and yup, the hunt. I just spent two hours on the phone with one of the outfitters' father, just talking and visiting, as we chat about the number of rams and bulls they saw this year, the "uh oh" flipping of one of the bush planes, and the upcoming sheep/moose combo hunt that won't be until 2021. The "tip" is a bridge to a connection that stays open and leads to a broader circle of friends.
Jus sayin..
Best,
DWD
"Heart of the lion for the Masi,
Holy Grail for Sir Gawain,
Running Tide for Masefield,
Antler gleam in the morning for me..."
I've not hunted beyond North America...hope to make Kamchatka, Mongolia and Tajikistan before my knees wear out.
I've lost count after over 40 guided hunts, not as many these days but in the past 20 years...there was one year-elk in 16A NM, elk/mule deer/antelope area 7 WY, Rocky Man Bighorn 552A Imnaha Unit OR, then back for mulies in an Eastern CO near-blizzard, gone from home for a month. The hunts have taken me from whitetails/mulies in Eastern CO/MT/WY, to mulies/elk in the mountains of MT/WY/ID/NM/CO to speed goats in WY/MT/CO/NM, to elk in MT/NM/AZ/WY/ID to sheep in OR/ID/AK/Yukon/British Coulumbia/MX, and moose in AK/Yukon. Add a few multi-day flyfishing trips in OR/ID/WY/MT with some totally awesome guides...I'd actually rather fly fish than hunt...you can pull over on a sandbar and break out a bottle of wine for lunch before the afternoon hatch!!
I agree that 10% for a desert ram hunt-fair chase of course- on a ranch in MX-is a bit much...more recently last December the owner assured me that $3,000 US for the guide, his two sons, the butler, the maid, the chef...was more than they would ever expect.
Now, elsewhere, especially for the better mule deer hunts-over 190" on two hunts, elk over 350", or just a damn fun time chasing speed goats around with a great/friendly guide who knows and shares the history of the area...and then for the sheep guides that push you mentally/physically and have great eyes to help you age/judge the ram...the 10% is just a starting point, in my opinion.
If you really appreciate the effort, if the effort goes above and beyond what you've seen elsewhere, and then if you are really fortunate and bag a B&C trophy, then I've easily given 15-20%, on three occasions higher. It's not about trying to impress someone, it's about showing them how much you appreciate them busting their ass, as you keep up with them...they appreciate that...and the generosity that you show the guide gives an objective/useful amount of how much this special experience meant to the hunter. Farther down he list, it may let the outfitter know that if you want to be a return client, you may get better dates and not have to wait as many years to get back for another hunt.
And finally, I've become great friends as with going to weddings, attending funerals, providing diagnostic/treatment advice across the thousands of miles, for numerous folks (I'm an MD who doesn't put "MD" on anything as it changes how people treat you)...We've visited and stayed overnight at their ranches when my wife and I or my son and I go back out West on our usual self-guided fishing/hiking trips...were invited to hunt upland birds as long as we called ahead of time and stayed out of the way...we are "pen pals" via email with some of the outfitters, their families, and especially one of the fathers who was my first Canadian sheep guide.
Cash is king, it shows appreciation...it is NOT buying friends...but it shows you appreciate the effort, the country, the culture...and yup, the hunt. I just spent two hours on the phone with one of the outfitters' father, just talking and visiting, as we chat about the number of rams and bulls they saw this year, the "uh oh" flipping of one of the bush planes, and the upcoming sheep/moose combo hunt that won't be until 2021. The "tip" is a bridge to a connection that stays open and leads to a broader circle of friends.
Jus sayin..
Best,
DWD
"Heart of the lion for the Masi,
Holy Grail for Sir Gawain,
Running Tide for Masefield,
Antler gleam in the morning for me..."
Last edited:
Salmonchaser
WKR
LOL
Really? I wasn't aware of that. Still, just goes to show how confusing it can be with the whole tipping situation and transparency. I guess I won't tip the bartender when I fly through SeaTac tomorrow
Looks like you are correct. Granted, I only Googled it and clicked the first link but it looks legit enough
https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm
And an interesting article on the impact of these higher wages.
http://www.seattlemag.com/article/guide-gratuity-new-15-hour-era
I forgot to mention the Wa/Seattle area in my comment but like Clark said and your links it is crazy here. Subway for instance is about $5 more in Seattle vs where I live because of the $15 min wage. I know Dicks burgers in Seattle pays $17.75 starting out where when I started my apprenticeship it was 18.50 and it’s a lot harder to get Into a trade than work at a burger joint but the cost of living is quite higher in Wa than most states.
Diddywahdiddy
FNG
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2014
- Messages
- 80
Interesting comment...and I disagree
...Harry Middleton, author of "The Earth is Enough"....which won multiple awards and was a fav of McGuane/Chatham/Harrison...Middleton was one of our greatest sports/conservation writers a la...Tom McGuane-"An Outside Chance"..."Keep the Change"; Russell Chatham-"Dark Waters"; Jack Curtis-"Where We Live"; Jim Harrison-"Legends of the Fall" and "True North"... he had "issues" with depression/anxiety...wrote voraciously about a number of conservation subjects...and was on a garbage truck crew for a number of years...so he could have free time to write and focus. Look it up.
Every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas I stand out at the edge of our yard, and give the crew...no, I don't know their names as they rotate and I'm sure there is some turnover, although the WM trucks and the crews in our area are very clean and the men/women are always polite...I give them bags of coffee, vacuum-packed venison sausage and bacon burger that my son/wife/I prepare from the whitetails we shoot on my farm. The smiles they react with are genuine, and my little attempts these 2-3 times of the year, and then again in January when we have excess doe meat to distribute, beyond that which I give to our church's mid-town mission for the homeless...is much appreciated. No I don't give cash, but the smoked deer sausage and venison bacon burgers packs are some of the best eating you can get Down South.
I "tip" them this way, and I'm assuming your "ignorant" comment was about cash...yup, perhaps not the optimal tip, but I'd consider it...you don't know who is driving the truck...and we should consider a little karma for those doing the work we don't necessarily consider "noble", but is necessary.
Sir Henry Royce...he created a nice little car with a guy named Rolls...one of his quotes is...
"Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble"-Quidvis recte factum quamvis humile praeclarum"-that's Latin, from my early Catholic upbringing education btw.
Roger Tudor Jones...originally from Memphis ("Adapt, Evolve, Compete, or Die"), drove a farm tractor growing up...then later was partners with Fred Rogers of Demopolis, Alabama who also grew up dirt poor on an Alabama farm... and a guy named Soros, developed the "Quantum Fund"...they made billions...I don't know about Soros and his Greek heritage and leftist politics...but the Memphis boy and the Demopolis boy did back-breaking work early on and apparently learned from it...Jones still enjoys his favorite "outdoor pastime" of upland hunting and water fowling all over North America and the rest of the world and has world-class bird dogs and retrievers. He used to own a farm across the bayou from mine called "Buck Ridge", sold it and now has a place on the Eastern Shore of Maryland...prime water fowling.
Best,
DWD
...Harry Middleton, author of "The Earth is Enough"....which won multiple awards and was a fav of McGuane/Chatham/Harrison...Middleton was one of our greatest sports/conservation writers a la...Tom McGuane-"An Outside Chance"..."Keep the Change"; Russell Chatham-"Dark Waters"; Jack Curtis-"Where We Live"; Jim Harrison-"Legends of the Fall" and "True North"... he had "issues" with depression/anxiety...wrote voraciously about a number of conservation subjects...and was on a garbage truck crew for a number of years...so he could have free time to write and focus. Look it up.
Every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas I stand out at the edge of our yard, and give the crew...no, I don't know their names as they rotate and I'm sure there is some turnover, although the WM trucks and the crews in our area are very clean and the men/women are always polite...I give them bags of coffee, vacuum-packed venison sausage and bacon burger that my son/wife/I prepare from the whitetails we shoot on my farm. The smiles they react with are genuine, and my little attempts these 2-3 times of the year, and then again in January when we have excess doe meat to distribute, beyond that which I give to our church's mid-town mission for the homeless...is much appreciated. No I don't give cash, but the smoked deer sausage and venison bacon burgers packs are some of the best eating you can get Down South.
I "tip" them this way, and I'm assuming your "ignorant" comment was about cash...yup, perhaps not the optimal tip, but I'd consider it...you don't know who is driving the truck...and we should consider a little karma for those doing the work we don't necessarily consider "noble", but is necessary.
Sir Henry Royce...he created a nice little car with a guy named Rolls...one of his quotes is...
"Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble"-Quidvis recte factum quamvis humile praeclarum"-that's Latin, from my early Catholic upbringing education btw.
Roger Tudor Jones...originally from Memphis ("Adapt, Evolve, Compete, or Die"), drove a farm tractor growing up...then later was partners with Fred Rogers of Demopolis, Alabama who also grew up dirt poor on an Alabama farm... and a guy named Soros, developed the "Quantum Fund"...they made billions...I don't know about Soros and his Greek heritage and leftist politics...but the Memphis boy and the Demopolis boy did back-breaking work early on and apparently learned from it...Jones still enjoys his favorite "outdoor pastime" of upland hunting and water fowling all over North America and the rest of the world and has world-class bird dogs and retrievers. He used to own a farm across the bayou from mine called "Buck Ridge", sold it and now has a place on the Eastern Shore of Maryland...prime water fowling.
Best,
DWD
Salmonchaser
WKR
I just tipped the dump truck driver because he was skilled, got into my site without getting stuck and made a suggestion that ultimately saves me a bunch of money. Also leave a little something for the mailman and the garbage guy at thanksgiving to each his own I guess.
I've done the same with cement truck driver and a crane operator putting up a large windmill. They helped beyond what was expected of them and I showed my appreciation. Now a couple times since They've helped out at some reduced rates and I've recommended them to friends. And trust me the tip didn't cover the reduced/free services they have provided since. Of course maybe a couple free beers each time doesn't hurt either.
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