Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Tipping,

I can understand tipping for service above and beyond. But the concept of the tip being a certain
% of the final bill makes zero sense to me. Why should a waitress receive a higher amount just because I ordered a beer or soda?
If a guide “lives” off tips then they need to revise their fee structure.
Tipping is getting out of hand. And the worse it gets the less inclined I am to tip.
Tuesday I stopped at a bakery to buy some cookies and they were not inexpensive ($4 each and worth it). Picked out 4 and while the young lady hit the cash register she asked me if I would like to tip.
What did she do above and beyond? Nothing.
Politely told her she should be happy I was there to spend my money in the first place.

I had started this thread back then just before I was to depart out on a big game hunt,

During the travel to and fro on that I hunt i wondered about this tipping subject,

When I parked at the airport a shuttle bus driver picked me up from long term parking and took me/us to the terminal, How many of you have tipped the shuttle driver?

Then all the attendants at the airline counter, tip?

Then on the plane the stewardess’s and the pilots, You tip them?

By the end of the hunt there were likely another half dozen people who assisted me in some form or another,

Who tips the lady who makes the breakfasts at the hotels? I’ve never seen a single person tip that ‘cook’ at any motel, ever…..

Why?

You’re expected to tip at a restaurant but in my entire life I’ve never seen a single person tip at fast food joints, what’s the diff here?

Interesting how certain people/trades expect tips. And other people/trades don’t.

Also curious on the over/under line on “assumed” hourly wage that determines tip or no tip.

Well, fess up. How did you handle it? Oh yea, how was the hunt?

I just went on. $17K moose and caribou hunt in Foundland, the owners son was one of my guides. I shot a 30" moose and Boone and Crockett caribou. I gave both guides $750 and the cook $200 for a total of $1700.

I’ll post a story on the hunt here in the near future when I have a little more spare time,

Then regarding the tipping matter, I basically fell into the same mindset most have, tip the guide yet ignore a dozen others who performed services for me,, Hell I even tipped the other guide in camp since he made breakfast once or twice and then did the dishes, Wasn’t a huge tip, but it was a tip.

One that really made me wonder, the bush pilot that flew two of us into camp, One pilot flew us in, another pilot flew us out, The fee per person was 2600 bucks RT, so at even 10% I was ‘obligated’ to hand over 260 bucks in tips to him? he had two flights that day with 8 hunters, so over 1000/2000 that day in tips? Uh-huh.

Truth be told no-one tipped that pilot that I was aware of that day,

Which is why I asked above, what’s the over /under on assumed wages that determines tip or no tip?

You mean that instead of registering your objections to the current funding process, you just got out your wallet and coughed up the customary cash 😳 ???? Good on you. Several Canadian families would certainly agree!

I wonder whether 10% of the cost of a Stone sheep hunt would be expected as a tip to the guide?

The tipping expectation is totally out of hand, and it's not limited to guided hunts. Who determined who gets tipped? The waitress always gets big tips because we'll have a few (overpriced) cocktails with our dinner. The mailman gets tipped at Christmas because, ah-ah- I don't know why. The guy who brings the fast food gets tipped even though I get charged for delivery. But a dozen other service providers don't get tipped because it's not customary????????????

I do a guided whitetail hunt every year. The "guides" aren't guiding anything and merely drive you to your stand and pick you up. There are often not enough "drivers" to get all the hunters out in a timely fashion so you may get in stupid early and get picked up stupid late because they have to run relays. They don't field dress the deer, it's subed out. But ....... they expect big tips based on what you paid for the entire hunt, including your meal plan which they aren't involved with.

I've noticed that the "guides" that like to talk about clients that leave big tips and donate binoculars or custom knives (in addition to the tip) usually don't do anything to earn it. I usually tip 10% whether the service was good or not because I feel obligated to. This year I noticed that the outfitter is recommending a 15-20% tip for the same ho-hum service that is usually provided.

To answer the original question regarding an outfitter who guides you personally:
I hunted in a Canadian bear camp where I met a very wealthy guy that killed many bears, including brown bears, polar bear and a ton of blackies. With a little reluctance he showed me pictures of his trophies and game room on hid phone. This guy was a serious hunter who hunted all over. When the issue of tipping was brought up, he said that he always provided a good tip but on this trip it was the outfitter that was guiding him. He said that it's not proper to tip the guy who you just paid for the entire hunt. He was one of two guys who did not tip on that hunt. The other guy said that he got what he paid for and saw no reason to voluntarily pay more.

If you can afford a stone sheep hunt-----Pretty sure the tip won't break the bank.

$5500 to $8000 tip?

Good question. Is there a top end on what’s expected? Any guides or outfitters here to chime in?

IMO that 10% should be applied to the daily rate charged for the hunt X the number of days of the booked hunt excluding the "trophy fee", so no.

Aren't a lot of these hunts just a fixed price for perhaps 8-10 days, rather than a rate per day plus a trophy fee?

In North America, yes. Africa can be different.

Well then that makes it simple. Go on a Barbary sheep hunt in Africa rather than a Stone sheep hunt to reduce the mandatory amount of "tip".

There's a lot of data out there to sort this regardless of where the hunt is. I noticed that Stone Mountain Safaris, since bought when I hunted with them in 2008 and under new ownership, has dropped what the daily rate is. It's criminal in my view. I will not pay a tip on anything more than what the guide, cooks, wranglers, trackers, skinners. etc., have done for me. Tip on the work performed seems pretty simple.

[quote=NMpistolero]Here’s my take, if I’m forced to hunt with an outfitter I’ll usually tip. But everyone knows that outfitters are crooks and what’s wrong with hunting, just corporate type greed making money off of wildlife that we all own, even if I live across the country. I usually book with the cheapest outfitter I can find because he doesn’t over pay his guides. I make it known upfront that I believe all guides are lazy crooks and I’m getting robbed but I expect a world class hunt. I never tip more than 5% than the hunt price . And that’s where it starts and goes down from there, same as at a restaurant. I mean come on, how hard is it to fill my water and bring my food or find a 400” bull or 200” deer? And let’s face it, we all can out hike, out glass and overallout hunt these phonies. Like I said it starts there and goes down. I expect quite a bit out of my guide. Here’s just some of my criteria
Pickup older than 3 years old-deduction
Not a full size pickup with the biggest cab-deduction
Full time guide- deduction. He should do it for the love of the game not money and should question his life choices
Part time guide-deduction, his heart’s not in it and probably makes enough money at his regular job.
Doesn’t have alpha glass-deduction he’s an amateur.
If he has the latest Gen of Alpha glass-deduction, again makes too much money.
Mis-matched camo deduction. Two different patterns probably cost me an animal
If he doesn’t answer every question immediately about all wildlife related subjects or know the scientific name of every plant-deduction.
If he doesn’t carry my water or pack or toilet paper or bags to and from lodge-deduction
If he gets lucky and out walks me-deduction
I’m in it for the experience, the experience of killing a trophy preferably on the first day because a good guide would have been scouting for weeks on his own dime and have a client an animal already picked out. If not-deduction.
If the guide doesn’t set me up perfectly, arrange my rest or provide shooting sticks to make my shot as easy as it be-deduction.
If he gets irritated at me questioning all of his plans, stalks, trophy assessment or my sighs of disapproval-BIG deduction! This is my hunt and we should do what and how I want!
I don’t always tip money. Sometimes I like to tip Chinese made knives especially if has a custom. I expect swag from the outfitter, caps jackets and other stuff with his logo. I like to tip with caps from my business so I can get free advertising. If there’s a piece of equipment that I brought and used but don’t like or it fails I usually give it to the guide. It’s the thought that counts.
That’s just a small look into how I do it.
YMMV[/quote

Awesome stuff!

I’m a good tipper and I ain’t stingy but I damn sure won’t be told that I have to tip or that the tip should be a minimum of 15%+ or any other requirement regarding my option to tip or not. If you expect me to tip you then I expect you to earn the extra money that you seem to think you deserve. My brother and I were talking about this very thing earlier today. He had to hire a safe cracking company to come change the combinations and service 2 bank “safes” (vaults). They changed the 2 individual combinations for each safe which took them about 5 minutes total and handed my brother their iPad which showed him the “receipt” that would be emailed to him…the total bill to change 4 combinations was $1800!!!!! My brother said to the guys that he was told (by their boss) that it was a 2 hour job, NOT an $1800 5 minute deal. He said that now that the combinations have been changed the doors need to be balanced and both safes need to be lubricated. My brother is the most generous and fair man alive but he ain’t no sucker. He told me that for $1800 those guys are going to earn it and since the quote was based upon 2 hours he was going to get what he was promised so he had those guys actually work…which they didn’t appreciate. The iPad with his electronic receipt was handed to him so that he could decide what to tip but the “suggested” amount was prominently displayed in large font center of the screen….20%!!!…..20% was what they expected for doing their job 😫🖕. My brother was incredulous at this point and beyond disgusted, they thought they were going to charge $1800 for a “2hr” job that in reality took 5 minutes total and on top of that THEY expected a $360 tip for their 5 minutes! My brother said “hold the fu.ck on here”. He asked them if they were professionals and they said absolutely they are. He told them that they get paid as professionals because they are qualified tradesmen that ARE professionals in their field so their expectation of a 20% tip is not only unprofessional but it’s laughable. He was planning on giving each guy a $50 bill when they were done because that’s the kind of guy my brother is. My brother said that afterwards he was so disgusted with those guys and their whorehouse attitude that he wished he didn’t give them anything because those 2 douche bags were really put out that they only got $50 each for a tip.

In North America, and in those destinations/camps with a large number of North American hunters, tipping has gone completely out of hand, and puts rest-of-the-world hunters in a very embarrasing situation all the time.

Such tipping practices are well embedded in your culture and in no other's.

We see it as something discretional, and do not consider eligible the endless number of people that interact with you during the whole trip.

Basically we see it oriented to show one's appreciation to whoever went the extra mile with you. We pay it, because we don't want to start an argument or see any upset faces to a certain point. But we see it as funny way from outfitters or other employers to transfer part of their labour costs to their customers and would feel better if they paid them fair salaries, include these in the total price of the hunt, and leave tips for what they are.