Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Tipping

Bottom line is some people are just cheap and others generous.

I'm dealing with this situation in sorts with my boat and taking people fishing, I have a couple regulars that fish with me all summer twice a week or more and never even attempt or offer to pay for gas etc. I don't accept money usually but these guys get a $600 fishing charter when they fish with me. We fish tournaments and I split winnings with them and they don't offer to cover expense for fuel, bait,tackle etc...it's getting old fast

Everyone else that fishes on my boat tries to shove money in my pocket or hide it in my vehicle as I won't accept it from them, one guy brought me dry aged steaks and veal from his work place.

On a recent hunt of 4 days with a large group that the guides busted hump on I was embarrassed to find out some hunters tipped $20.I liken it to having a great dinner with excellent food and service getting the tab for $250 and leaving $5 on the table

Any ways I believe good service and busting tail should be compensated and I do better than average because I appreciate it.

I first mated for a charter boat buddy last summer
His dad who was his normal mate had surgery so I offered to help for free,he said he'd split the tip with me.
The charter cost $600 and the tip was $150
Honestly that was the funnest $75 bucks I ever made
Great family that chartered the boat, a father 2 sons and a daughter. The one son was a marine and being deployed 2 days later to the middle east. I drove the boat,set lines and netted fish and took photos.

The marine with a 28lb King



Family shot with some fish they kept

Did you have anything to add to this or were you just quoting this for the sake of quoting it? I don't think there is anybody here that disagrees with what Bagneye said...

dvdegeorge,

Your experience reminds me of a guy I had a business meal with. I don't remember whether he was the client or me. I left enough to pay the bill and asked him to "pick up the tip." He looked down at the table and said, "You didn't leave one."

Haven't read most of this thread.

If I needed a tip to remain a viable business, I would include it in the price of the service. If it's needed to survive, it's not a tip, it's called profit margin.

If your business is viable without a tip, then it's a bonus to receive one and should not be considered mandatory with every client.

It all seems so simple to me.

I'm sure that many subtleties are lost on you.

And it was so wonderfully reflected in your response.

Only?

I suggest you get a better job...

$200 a day is not a good wage as a guide, if you aren't averaging at least $200 a day in tips. The season are too short, and the benefits aren't there like year round employment. Get really good at what you are guiding and be sought after, and you should be pulling in at least 5 bills a day working for someone else, including tips. Clients will be throwing tip money at you to make sure you are there the next year. The wealthier clients know how it works. If you own your own business, the rewards get better than that, but the risk is much higher.

Yeah, only.... You don't get paid to scout and the best guides have years of experience in a given area and 1-2 days scouting to every day they spend with a client in that year alone.

Last year I had 23 days scouting for 3 days of hunting for one clients sheep hunt. And You sarcastically ask "only" $200/day? F me that's funny

I brought this topic up in this mornings shop meeting.

In the meeting of 4, I was the only person that has been on any guided hunts. So tipping a guide was news to the rest of the tool shop.

One guy snickers.....then asks

"Tomorrow is trash day. Should I tape a $5 to the can? My guy works hard and I am sure he doesn't make much money"

Then another toolmaker added several other services in our weekly life we are leaving out of the loop.

Sarcasm?

Not at all.......I make just north of about half of that figure per day

So if guides make $200 a day they are not paid well?

We no doubt live in different economic areas of the USA

Seriously? You get your information from three guys who've never been on a guided hunt and think that's somehow relevant, and worth repeating on a forum with a bunch of guys who are either guides or have done multiple guided trips?

What's next, asking them how to treat a medical condition?

And here's a news flash for you--your trash men do work hard, they do appreciate tips, and a tip now and then (besides being a decent thing to do) pays back in spades. My wife always gives our trash men a card and a small tip at Christmas and they love her for it. A few times a year we will be out of town, or forget to roll the big trash can out to the curb. They will go into our back yard, find it, empty it, and return it to the back yard. And when I have a bunch of extra stuff to get rid of like dozens of leaf bags in the fall, they're not supposed to take it without charging me extra.

But guess what, they do. We're not asking for special treatment when we give them a tip, just being decent human beings. And they return the favor.

I wouldn't go into a restaurant and order a meal if I didn't intend on tipping the wait staff, because that's how they make their living and it's just a $hitty thing to do to a person.

I don't see why the same thing is so hard to understand when it comes to guides.

And PS, tell your buddy that no, he should not tape a $5 to the trash can. He should walk out, look them in the eye, say "thank you" for a thankless job, and put the money in their hands.

Our shop guys routinely talk about forum topics.....they all hunt and we all view this forum.

As far as understanding tipping a guide?

I believe that I stated in all of my guided hunts (just 4) I tipped

I am glad to see the passion though

So, if none of the shop guys backpack hunt, would you ask them questions about backpack hunting and think their input is worth repeating to guys who backpack hunt all the time?

It's not complicated. You price your service to stay in business, seasonal or not. If tips are the difference, you need to raise your price. Figure it out.

smokepole,

It was a story that I shared.....you are extra passionate this evening

Now.......about our work chatter

We talk about just about anything....but back pack hunting has yet to be a topic

I don't recall anyone giving tipping advice on guided hunts during the morning chat....but they all know that 10% is the benchmark as of now....

So they have that going for them

You have your head up your ass. But you're right about one thing, it's not hard to figure out.

Some jobs are traditionally compensated at least partially by tips. Everyone knows which jobs these are. If you want to avail yourself of these services, you should expect to pay a tip, and figure the cost of the tip into your total cost.

If you're such a cheap SOB that you're unwilling to pay a tip, don't try to rationalize it by saying the rest of the world should change.

Look in the mirror instead. That's where the problem is.

No Ted, you have that wrong.

I think your work chatter is irrelevant, and the question I asked is, why did you bring it up?