Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting proper tipping

Was wondering if there is a standard percentage when tipping a guide? I understand the good ones put a lot of sweat and work into their work to get their clients a good elk. I want to be fair when the hunt is over elk or no elk.

No help from me. Been hunting the west since 1983, always DYI. Could not imagine paying 5k or more for a hunt. And then feeling as if I had to pay more. Just me tho.

Some of the bigger outfits may expect more than say the smaller rancher types but I would say 10% or so.
Most guides really appreciate anything you give them, they do not expect every hunter to be able to afford a huge tip.
Get to know your guide, work with him or her and relay any issue you may have about your ability in the mountains and do what they tell you while hunting.
You'll be able to determine what they were worth. If they're lazing and do really nothing to get you on an elk, tip should reflect that.

Don't forget the cook, a tip would be most appreciated if food is good. Even $100 is appreciated.

Well that certainly is helpful.

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Depending on how much effort was put into the hunt I would assume 10%+/- will catch it.

I’ve always tipped 10% when hunting ranches. I have not received a single frown, sideways glance, etc. I hunted Vermejo several times for elk, mule deer and pronghorn. While there, one of my buddies there guided perhaps the #1 figure on the outdoor tv scene for elk. The hunt was paid for by Scentlock so the tv hunter had zero bucks in the $$$$$$$$$ hunt.

He took a magnificent bull of course and tipped my buddy………




$150.

He’s not welcome back there.

I use a guide every year for elk. I give him 15 to 20 percent of the cost of the hunt. No problems.

I tip 10-15% on the guided elk hunts I’ve been on.

No solid etiquette in that frequently discussed realm. It's whatever one can afford and what one feels they deserve. If someone busts their ass for me, I'll go deep. Similarly, there will be zero if service, attitude, or effort are lacking.

Not all of us are members of the Getty family though and might have to save for a decade or more just to cover expenses. Coming up with another 10% or a grand might put us off for another year or two.

For many of us such is a significant concern. If things are tight, as difficult as it might be, I suggest one be frank and discuss the issue with the provider. Is it a one-man outfit with the owner/operator being one and the same? Some PNW fishing guides fit this setting. They're scoring $500 a day from each of the two fishermen sitting in their boat. Should he score a tip or not? Are additional staff/help salaried, collect a percent, or live off tips or a tip pool? Then go accordingly.

First mates on some fishing boats live/die on tips. Frequently, one might see a note to that effect posted somewhere on the boat. Wife and I did a tuna outing a couple years back, and a young 110 lb lady from the local community college ran her butt off tending to client's and the boat's needs for an entire 12-hour trip. We cleaned out our wallets that day and still felt she deserved more.

I've heard of instances where tips can be disruptive as well. Mostly in third world settings with numerous low-salaried staff involved. I.e. all get wages fitting to the environment, and suddenly some sector scores a windfall from a high roller client. Such can affect the overall morale of the team involved, so again one might consult the provider.

To close this out I rarely use a guide but went that route for my most recent elk hunt. Booked a 6-day one on one hunt with an outfitter and given my hopes and expectations the guide/cook/do all packer thought we could be picky and maybe wrap up in about 3 to 4 days. We were 11 days in before spotting a bull that was less than 2 horizons over. He got a $1K tip even though he was a terrible cook.

How does one divide it all up for the cook, guide, packer, camp jack? They all contribute.

Calculus.

Sorry. Couldn't restrain myself.

Tip well, you don’t want people thinking you are a cheap MFer.
I went for years on a company lease Wifey’s Shell team was invited to. I’d tip the guide 300 bucks for having to fool with me. It was all free, meals, room, booze. One of her guys is Jesse Loving, has a band. He brought his guitar, free concert. We had a great time. This place was way south Texas. 6000 acres, high fence, big whopper bucks. I never got a big one but a couple of Wifey’s boys did. This was 3 day hunt.


If you dont intend to tip well if you have a good experience, you shouldn’t be going.

10% seems to be about the norm for a guide. I begrudgingly give the same even when the service isn't very good. I just feel obligated. The people who deserve the least tips are the same people who are always suggesting that others have given them big tips and gifts. The whole system sucks.

I hunted bears in New Brunswick and met a very wealthy hunter in the camp. He had photos of himself with grizzly bears, polar bears, etc so he wasn't a BS artist. When the topic of tipping came up he said you never tip the outfitter, only the guide. Since is was the outfitter that was taking him out every evening he was not getting a tip. He said it is the way the industry works. He said he always tips well but won't be leaving a tip on this trip. Very surprised to hear his analogy.

When I hunt whitetails out-of-state, the "guide" merely drives me to my stand and picks me up. He is essentially just a driver, providing no guiding service whatsoever. Should he expect 10% or more of your total outlay? They always do.

How much did they contribute?

Guide - 10% for the hunt, period. Whether it's one day and a kill, or full duration with no kill, and I'll do more if the extra effort is given.

Carrying my game to the processor - they'll get gas money as well.

Cook(s) - good meals, plenty of of food, and stayed up late for my sorry @ss to come dragging in with the guide well after dark - yeah - gotta take care of them.

Wrangler / Packer - gonna get a tip, he was feeding and managing horses before I was up, and usually after I went to bed, AND he gets to cover the camp / lodge chores while we're out all day hunting.

Camp Jack - the two above are usually the CJ as well, and they can make or break a hunt - if they're packing my game out - they get included.

Know the hunt, and the type of hunting before you go - do your research. If the experience changes - was it the outfitter, or more on you for not knowing / acknowledging the details of the hunt.

The "norms" are different with each year and each new crew, but most are young, living on minimum wages from the Outfitter, and the customer tips are the only "perk" they see.

I've only had one "bad" experience with a guide, but I was also very new to guided hunts, so my expectations may have been contributing to the friction.

10% is the norm. In the guiding field one needs to remember that if you’re guide is highly sought after and somehow you get that guide, a standard 10% may not get him to choose you following years. It’s a business for the guides and many make most of their money that time of year. Now if he’s subpar that’s another story.

Ask yourself if clients you work with tip you for the performance you provide on a weekly basis. Doesn't happen in the real world. Tipping on a hunt because it's expected is elitist and wrong IMO. There should be a set and agreed on price and if you want to tip then good on the client for doing so, but expecting folks to tip isn't realistic for most people who work.

I handed out $2200 in tips on a recent 7 day Wyoming elk hunt. I killed a great bull. I ate great food and had all help with horses and chores we needed. I gave my guide $1500, the cook $300 and the two wranglers each got $200. All well deserved. Trip of a lifetime for me!

Mackey

Id say this is normal unless you have an absolutely amazing experience which may depend on how successful you are anyways

On our Colorado Elk and Mule Deer hunts we have always tipped at least 10%, and as was said, more if they went above and beyond for us. We also tipped the cook at least $100 from the group for the 5 days of meals. Heck, we’ve even tipped the one guide’s young daughter for bringing us water and desert one meal. I’ve been on a really crappy spike camp horseback elk hunt, where the outfitter and guides couldn’t have given two $hit$ whether we seen an animal or not. In turn, their actions(or lack thereof), got them a bare minimum tip and not even a consideration for a future hunt. They even sent us each a $200 off certificate to book again, which we turned down. The last 3 elk hunts I’ve been on were awesome, with our groups tagging out at about 80%, and success rate around 95%. This outfit honestly cares how you do, and it shows in everything they say and do. We tip them quite well, above the “going rate” because they earn it and they flat out just deserve it. Use your own feelings and judgement, but remember if you just really enjoyed a fun and successful hunt, and plan to use them again for another future hunt…it’s better to overtip a bit, and keep the good vibes going. Just my 2 cents.

Doc_Holidude

Have a friend who cooks for an outfitter. Outfitter gives him the number of hunters & crew. They come up with the $$$ for food for the trip.
A lot of the clients were corporate types who won the trip as a bonus. Friend said it was unreal with those types cause they gave away the rifle, ammo,
knives, binos, and other assorted gear as they were not going to use those thing in the future. Said cash would have been much more appreciated.

I tip my hat as I walk on past.

When I go to Rome I do like the Romans but, honestly, I don't feel comfortable with this 10-15% tipping.

In my mind a tip is an extra, a completely discretional decision, and not something compulsory, obligated, and part of the salary which the guide needs to make his job worthwhile, and a cost which the employer transfers directly to the client.

I guess it is a matter of culture which In Europe is different to yours in the US. Here, waiters don't put a pistol in your chest to get a 15% service fee which, if needed as part of the salary, I just cant't understand why it is not included in the base prices shown in the carte.

We had one guide that worked for us that complained he didn't get a tip. After explaining in no uncertain terms "tips were discretionary and should not be expected" we no longer employ that guide.

Now what is expected is a good attitude and a certain amount of effort by the hunter, regardless of what they are paying. We will work hard during the hunt, but that is really just minimum compared to work and costs the rest of the year getting to the hunt.

So, if you tip your hat on the way out as appreciation for a job well done, we are good with that. If you tip your hat sarcastically, kinda how I took your comment, then you better hurry when leaving the gate cause it is about to hit you in your backside. Hope I misread your comment.

Having the outfitter charge you up front to compensate for no tipping would end up costing you more than if you just tip the guide directly. Outfitter would have to pay all the employment taxes on top of that money.

Do you tell your waitress this when you go out to eat? Tipping has been the defacto standard for all service industry jobs since before we were born.

If you can tip your waitress, or your guide, don't go out to eat, and don't go on any guided hunts.

When I buy what I want to eat I just go to a grocery store. I don't see any point to these Bwana faux hunts.

IF you just want some guy to point to it, hold the gun for you to pull the trigger I'd just take a side of beef and hang it on the fence. Get a lot more and better meat for your money.

I gave my guide $500 last year. So $100 a day. I didnt tip the outfitter. Not sure if that was right or not.

My guide brought his own side by side and treated me like a friend and went out of his way to get me on game every day.
I had the most opportunities out of the whole camp.
But I’m also a DIY guy and we hunted hunted, like regular dudes. When we came up to a gate, I got out and opened/closed gates like I would if I was the passenger in my camp. Helped strap down the side by in the trailer, etc…
Just because I was a paying client doesn’t mean I can’t help.
And it went a long way.

Hilarious...

You are really special.

Have been "guiding" myself for decades in Montana, along with sometimes guiding for an outfitter. If you've never done it, from either side, then you have no clue.

Plus, there are plenty of places on this planet where, if you want to hunt there, you must go with an outfitter/guide, by law. If you have no curiosity about that, well then good.

But if somebody else does, that doesn't mean they're "bad." In fact, have been guided by more than one outfitter here in Montana who asked me to guide for his outfit, one after our first day.

But just your comment, "IF you just want some guy to point to it, hold the gun for you to pull the trigger" is enough to tell you have no clue about what you're talking about.

I tip commensurate to the service and bring mega millions and power ball tickets to camp. I enjoy the reaction to the tickets and I'll be darn if some have sent me a personal note saying they won something.

(Ha!) On the other hand, have often offered guides the option of cash, or my binocular (often much better than theirs) or something similar, such as my spotting-scope tripod. So far all have taken the non-cash option.

I know one guy who was strictly head hunting only who signed over a huge elk carcass to the young guide with a young family.

The guide was very happy.

I have not ever used a guide but have met a few surly ones on public land, some even told me I could not go where I wanted to go. Those are the guides I tip my hat sarcastically to as I walk on by. If I were to go hunt Alaska I would use a guide and tip him what he earned.

You obviously know nothing about guided or outfitted hunts.
The meat is way better than any hormone fed beef you bought in the store but if that's what you like , enjoy.

Haven’t done much guided big game hunting as I am lucky to have had a father that taught me to hunt and to live in a place where game is plentiful. Same with fishing, but I’ve paid for a fishing guide and will do so again, and this is no different than big game hunting. I can generally catch fish wherever I go, but when I went to New Zealand I was very happy to have a guide and I tipped him well. A similar situation came up last summer on the Harriman (Railroad Ranch) section of the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. The previous summer I fished there and did okay, but this is some of the best and most difficult fly fishing in the world. Last summer my wife and I booked a guided day and it was one of our best fishing days ever. We didn’t realize when we booked that we would be with John McDaniel, who literally wrote the book on fishing this stretch. What we learned in our 8 hours with him was incredible…doubt we could have ever learned it on our own no matter how much we fished there. Point being that we can always learn more, and we will never have the local knowledge that only a long time local can have. I am very happy that there are long time locals out there who are able and willing to share their knowledge of their particular trout or elk or kudu or whatever with us. Many of us here are accomplished hunters and fisherman, and there is no threat to our manliness in hiring a guide. Quite the opposite for those of us who are willing to set our egos aside so we can learn. So anyhoo, 20% or better seems right, all else being equal.

I've seen this come up a few times and thought 15% of the hunt cost was the norm. Most of it goes to the guide but anyone that provides a significant service like a cook or wrangler should get a share as well.

Every one has a different experience and approach. I have used the same guide for 8 hunts over 20 years. We had a good hunt the first time out and got along well. I gave him a 15% tip. We went to his wedding several years (and one hunt) later. Over subsequent hunts I got to know his young kids. I'd come into town a day or two early to get used to the elevation and help get everything ready for the hunt. I'd have dinner with the family. After our 4th hunt, we no longer hunted out of the big camp with other guides and hunters, we did our own thing. I now give him a larger tip.

Bare minimum 10%. If Your guide takes care of you and you take a good animal Bump that up to 15%-20%

My best tip was to a guide who did a fantastic job and whose gear was showing lotsa wear.

I’ve guided for a few years in Wyoming. I’ve never met another guide who wasn’t at least hoping if not expecting a tip. Now whether or not they deserved one could be debated. Like someone above posted it is the de facto norm, like it or not. If you don’t tip or tip poorly you will be remembered. If you tip well it’ll be appreciated. I’ve guided guys from fairly normal incomes to extremely wealthy. One guy who was extremely wealthy, and a lazy hunter, straight up told me his tip amount would depend on how big his bull was. Which isn’t something totally in my control. That was maybe the only conversation I’ve had with a client I was guiding about tipping. Other than when the tip was actually given.

I’ve had some bad tips that I thought were too low. I can tell you I won’t guide them again. I’ve seen fellow guides get shorted by clients and I wouldn’t guide them either.

If you can’t afford a generous tip, when deserved, you can’t afford the hunt.

I think it’s funny that African outfitters charge for a rifle rental. Maybe my next client I guide I’ll charge a saddle rental.😜. But as yet another poster said when in Rome.

if the guide is a decent guy doing his job...tip him....lazy jackass...fug him......same for the cook......that doesn't mean they have to kiss your ass...just be good people.....

if you don't tip because the guide doesn't deserve it.....don't worry about them guiding you again....if the outfitter doesn't employ good hard working guides ...don't spend your money with them.....bob

I agree with this.

You folk that are paying guides and for hunts really ain’t hunting. This is just another discussion for the elites and supremacist. A paid excursion doesn’t make it hunting no matter the animal or environment.

Same goes for hunts anywhere in the world.

So if you have that trophy on the wall from a paid “hunt”, let it be a reminder of how helpless and pathetic you really are.

I do not totally disagree with this assessment, but just because you can afford a hunt, does not make you an elitist. Some people save their whole lives, for one guided hunt. I have been on one, because I happened to have the money at that point.

You have paid your money and your guide is most likely paid a wage no matter what. That being said, if there is a tip involved, most will go the extra step to earn it. If they don't earn a tip, then don't give them one.

The only guided hunt that I ever went on, was a moose hunt in Newfoundland. I had a glorious time and my guide was great. I gave him a good tip, because he damn sure deserved it.

What did he do to “earn” it, the hunters job ?

You weren’t hunting, you were on an excursion

"What a fool I am!" said the fox furiously. "These grapes are sour and not fit for eating. Why would I want them anyway?"
With that, the fox walked away.

The moral maybe one of the Supremacist. There ain’t much out of my reach and I retired at 39 years old. The reality is I can hunt and gather for myself. I could obtain the grapes as a snack because my thirst is always quenched in the first place.

All of my hunting and fishing needs have always been satisfied by the Grace of God, not with the help of others nor hunting in a high fenced petting zoo.

If you need a crew to hunt or fish and you aren’t the leader, you are on excursion

I don't agree with your logic at all. But I've guided deer and turkey hunters, and owned a charter boat. Using one's knowledge is well worth paying for in most cases.

If you tried that logic at the poker table or in a gambling establishment you’d be shot, kicked out, or in the case of Martha Stewart thrown in jail.

Its cheating, not hunting !

Pathetic!

I learned a long time ago it's hard to beat a man at his game. And no matter how dumb you think someone is you can always learn something from them. Pathetic !

Lets add Equipment(tents, vehicles,animals and other items plus permits) and employees to that .


In answer to the OP I would tip the guide, wrangler and cook without even thinking of it unless it was a pretty sour hunt. 10% minimum and most likely 15%.

Set up hunts to say Alaska or Africa, on your own, and report back. Long journey
to either place. Oh, and you have to do this at age 75 or so.

You mean set up excursions?

You are the elitist, Johnny.

I guided archery elk hunters a few years for an outfitter friend. Never expected a tip, but the worst was a lawyer from Virginia. Got him a nice 5x5, scored 300 range. Not only did I not get a tip, but the SOB forgot film for his camera (yeah, back in those days) so I gave him a roll from my pack and he never even paid me for that. Still have the bad taste in my mouth from that one.

Sounds like a tough hunt on his part. Think he tells stories about his trophy?
Lol

I could be

Not everyone can afford what they'd like to. We did a lot of Mtn goat hunts, a once in a lifetime hunt for most. The goat in the avatar was shot by a guy who had lost his business and was 2 mos. late on his house payment. He offered me $150, not a big tip by any means but all he had. I gave it back with no regrets, someone was already paying me to ride their horse through beautiful country.

Another client gave me a generous tip and later gave me a Kabar knife he inherited from his Dad. I haven't a clue where the money went but I'll always have that knife.

To the elitist who live on that moral high ground of perfection, and who evidently have access to areas that hold game and the years to learn the public access points where the targeted species exist, perfect health and the skills to locate those animals, bravo.

There are others of us who have labored work-a-day for 50 years, never having the time to scout those distant lands, procure the rights to the areas to hunt and have the ability or equipment to get an animal out of the rough stuff if good fortune were to smile...

Some of us always wanted the elk, sheep or nilgai but were not situated so that a DIY hunt was possible time or access wise, other things such as family and responsibility being more important. I guess you would deny that "excursion" to live in our minds as valuable. So would the person who always wanted to run close to the wind in a 60 footer who chartered out for a day to have that thrill, tacking to stay the course, tasting the salt spray and the heel of the ship be denied? They were not the master maybe, but if they took the wheel and knew when to call "Prepare to come about" and could read the wind, swells and trim the sheets they were By God sailing.

I saved my pennies for my two elk hunts and tipped my outfitter and especially my guides well, took the lady cook a case of good wine the second trip and tipped her well too. It may not rate as hunt for you, but it lives in my mind as a cross off a bucket list item after crawling up a vertical cow face in Montana after my guide spotted a bunch laying up mid day, we planned a stalk to a spot opposite to them, got set up and waited for them to get up to feed and I made that 400 yard shot across the hollar and dropped him where he stood.

I call that a hunt and you the termination of an alimentary canal for trying to lesson its value to me.

This thread was not about the relative value of gruntism, but rather about the percentage of remuneration for services rendered. I suggest you start your own thread about how week and pathetic those of us who do not measure up to your metrics are. Do we have a Richard Cranium Forum?

10-15% sounds reasonable.